From 1001d934e8c36cc3b14408b46b41030bf705a294 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nick Brown <nickbroon@graphiant.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:40:31 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix: file save start_branch as a body attribute

Passing `start_branch` as kwargs results in it being passed as query
argument to the API:

```
send: b'PUT /api/v4/projects/12345678/repository/files/readme.txt?start_branch=main

send: b'{"file_path": "readme.txt", "branch": "new_branch", "content":
"Modified contents", "commit_message": "File was modified for this new
branch"}'
```

which results in error being returned:

```
{"message":"You can only create or edit files when you are on a branch"}
```

It should instead be sent a body attribute, which succeeds in creating
the branch during the save.

To be sent as body attribute it must be specified as concrete function
argument and class attribute instead of just using kwargs

Closes: #3318
---
 gitlab/v4/objects/files.py | 9 ++++++++-
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/gitlab/v4/objects/files.py b/gitlab/v4/objects/files.py
index 757d16eeb..3bcf931a2 100644
--- a/gitlab/v4/objects/files.py
+++ b/gitlab/v4/objects/files.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ class ProjectFile(SaveMixin, ObjectDeleteMixin, RESTObject):
     file_path: str
     manager: ProjectFileManager
     content: str  # since the `decode()` method uses `self.content`
+    start_branch: str | None = None
 
     def decode(self) -> bytes:
         """Returns the decoded content of the file.
@@ -41,7 +42,11 @@ def decode(self) -> bytes:
     # NOTE(jlvillal): Signature doesn't match SaveMixin.save() so ignore
     # type error
     def save(  # type: ignore[override]
-        self, branch: str, commit_message: str, **kwargs: Any
+        self,
+        branch: str,
+        commit_message: str,
+        start_branch: str | None = None,
+        **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> None:
         """Save the changes made to the file to the server.
 
@@ -50,6 +55,7 @@ def save(  # type: ignore[override]
         Args:
             branch: Branch in which the file will be updated
             commit_message: Message to send with the commit
+            start_branch: Name of the branch to start the new branch from
             **kwargs: Extra options to send to the server (e.g. sudo)
 
         Raises:
@@ -58,6 +64,7 @@ def save(  # type: ignore[override]
         """
         self.branch = branch
         self.commit_message = commit_message
+        self.start_branch = start_branch
         self.file_path = utils.EncodedId(self.file_path)
         super().save(**kwargs)
 

From 4187a69420dd7b2e60c2d833ab246aec745d35cb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nick Brown <nickbroon@graphiant.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:50:12 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix: actually define project repr_attr

While `_repr_attr=` is given to specify the attribute to use to repr the
object, that object attribute itself is not actually defined, so tools
like PyRight/MyPy complain that:

```
Type of "path_with_namespace" is unknown
```
---
 gitlab/v4/objects/projects.py | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/gitlab/v4/objects/projects.py b/gitlab/v4/objects/projects.py
index 035b9b861..751ac4c1f 100644
--- a/gitlab/v4/objects/projects.py
+++ b/gitlab/v4/objects/projects.py
@@ -178,6 +178,8 @@ class Project(
     _repr_attr = "path_with_namespace"
     _upload_path = "/projects/{id}/uploads"
 
+    path_with_namespace: str
+
     access_tokens: ProjectAccessTokenManager
     accessrequests: ProjectAccessRequestManager
     additionalstatistics: ProjectAdditionalStatisticsManager