diff --git a/packages/app/src/git/policy.test.ts b/packages/app/src/git/policy.test.ts
index c11d2221f..4b21be423 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/git/policy.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/git/policy.test.ts
@@ -366,45 +366,62 @@ describe("git-actions-policy", () => {
     );
   });
 
-  it("respects the ship preference when choosing between PR merge and local merge", () => {
-    const prPreferredActions = buildGitActions(
+  it("promotes ready PR merge over update-from-base", () => {
+    const actions = buildGitActions(
       createInput({
         hasRemote: true,
         isOnBaseBranch: false,
         aheadCount: 2,
+        behindBaseCount: 3,
         hasPullRequest: true,
         pullRequestUrl: "https://example.com/pr/456",
         pullRequestState: "open",
         pullRequestMergeable: "MERGEABLE",
-        pullRequestGithub: githubStatus(),
-        shipDefault: "pr",
-      }),
-    );
-    const localMergePreferredActions = buildGitActions(
-      createInput({
-        hasRemote: true,
-        isOnBaseBranch: false,
-        aheadCount: 2,
-        hasPullRequest: true,
-        pullRequestUrl: "https://example.com/pr/456",
-        pullRequestState: "open",
-        pullRequestMergeable: "MERGEABLE",
-        pullRequestGithub: githubStatus(),
-        shipDefault: "merge",
+        pullRequestGithub: githubStatus({ mergeStateStatus: "CLEAN" }),
       }),
     );
 
-    expect(prPreferredActions.primary).toMatchObject({
+    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({
       id: "merge-pr-squash",
       label: "Squash and merge",
     });
-    expect(localMergePreferredActions.primary).toMatchObject({
+  });
+
+  it("promotes local merge over update-from-base", () => {
+    const actions = buildGitActions(
+      createInput({
+        hasRemote: true,
+        isOnBaseBranch: false,
+        aheadCount: 2,
+        behindBaseCount: 3,
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({
       id: "merge-branch",
       label: "Merge locally",
     });
-    expect(
-      localMergePreferredActions.secondary.some((action) => action.id === "merge-pr-squash"),
-    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("promotes ready PR merge over local merge", () => {
+    const actions = buildGitActions(
+      createInput({
+        hasRemote: true,
+        isOnBaseBranch: false,
+        aheadCount: 2,
+        hasPullRequest: true,
+        pullRequestUrl: "https://example.com/pr/456",
+        pullRequestState: "open",
+        pullRequestMergeable: "MERGEABLE",
+        pullRequestGithub: githubStatus(),
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({
+      id: "merge-pr-squash",
+      label: "Squash and merge",
+    });
+    expect(actions.secondary.some((action) => action.id === "merge-branch")).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("keeps the merge-pr actions in the feature branch menu", () => {
@@ -648,7 +665,7 @@ describe("git-actions-policy", () => {
       }),
     );
 
-    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({ id: "pr", label: "View PR" });
+    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({ id: "merge-branch", label: "Merge locally" });
     expect(actions.secondary.some((action) => action.id.startsWith("enable-pr-auto-merge"))).toBe(
       false,
     );
@@ -748,7 +765,7 @@ describe("git-actions-policy", () => {
       }),
     );
 
-    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({ id: "pr", label: "View PR" });
+    expect(actions.primary).toMatchObject({ id: "merge-branch", label: "Merge locally" });
     expect(
       actions.secondary.some((action) =>
         ["merge-pr-squash", "merge-pr-merge", "merge-pr-rebase"].includes(action.id),
diff --git a/packages/app/src/git/policy.ts b/packages/app/src/git/policy.ts
index 5388dd8c4..f249df4d7 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/git/policy.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/git/policy.ts
@@ -336,24 +336,21 @@ function getPrimaryActionId(input: BuildGitActionsInput): GitActionId | null {
   if (canPush(input)) {
     return "push";
   }
+  if (canMergePr(input)) {
+    return getDefaultDirectPullRequestMergeActionId(input);
+  }
+  if (canEnablePrAutoMerge(input)) {
+    return getDefaultEnablePullRequestAutoMergeActionId(input);
+  }
+  if (!input.isOnBaseBranch && input.aheadCount > 0) {
+    return "merge-branch";
+  }
   if (!input.isOnBaseBranch && canMergeFromBase(input)) {
     return "merge-from-base";
   }
-  if (canMergePr(input) && input.shipDefault === "pr") {
-    return getDefaultDirectPullRequestMergeActionId(input);
-  }
-  if (canEnablePrAutoMerge(input) && input.shipDefault === "pr") {
-    return getDefaultEnablePullRequestAutoMergeActionId(input);
-  }
-  if (!input.isOnBaseBranch && input.aheadCount > 0 && input.shipDefault === "merge") {
-    return "merge-branch";
-  }
   if (input.githubFeaturesEnabled && input.hasPullRequest && input.pullRequestUrl) {
     return "pr";
   }
-  if (!input.isOnBaseBranch && input.aheadCount > 0) {
-    return "pr";
-  }
   return null;
 }