diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/base.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/base.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/base.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/base.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ FILEMODE_EXECUTABLE = 0100755
 Reference = collections.namedtuple('Reference', ('type', 'name', 'commit_id'))
 MergeResponse = collections.namedtuple(
     'MergeResponse',
-    ('possible', 'executed', 'merge_commit_id', 'failure_reason'))
+    ('possible', 'executed', 'merge_ref', 'failure_reason'))
 
 
 class MergeFailureReason(object):
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/repository.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/repository.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/repository.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/repository.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ from rhodecode.lib.utils import safe_uni
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs import connection, path as vcspath
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.base import (
     BaseRepository, CollectionGenerator, Config, MergeResponse,
-    MergeFailureReason)
+    MergeFailureReason, Reference)
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.git.commit import GitCommit
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.git.diff import GitDiff
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.git.inmemory import GitInMemoryCommit
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ class GitRepository(BaseRepository):
             return MergeResponse(
                 False, False, None, MergeFailureReason.MISSING_COMMIT)
 
-        merge_commit_id = None
+        merge_ref = None
         merge_failure_reason = MergeFailureReason.NONE
         try:
             shadow_repo._local_merge(merge_message, merger_name, merger_email,
@@ -885,6 +885,7 @@ class GitRepository(BaseRepository):
             # be used to easily identify the last successful merge commit in
             # the shadow repository.
             shadow_repo.set_refs('refs/heads/pr-merge', merge_commit_id)
+            merge_ref = Reference('branch', 'pr-merge', merge_commit_id)
         except RepositoryError:
             log.exception('Failure when doing local merge on git shadow repo')
             merge_possible = False
@@ -905,7 +906,7 @@ class GitRepository(BaseRepository):
             merge_succeeded = False
 
         return MergeResponse(
-            merge_possible, merge_succeeded, merge_commit_id,
+            merge_possible, merge_succeeded, merge_ref,
             merge_failure_reason)
 
     def _get_shadow_repository_path(self, workspace_id):
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ from rhodecode.lib.utils import safe_uni
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs import connection
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.base import (
     BaseRepository, CollectionGenerator, Config, MergeResponse,
-    MergeFailureReason)
+    MergeFailureReason, Reference)
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.hg.commit import MercurialCommit
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.hg.diff import MercurialDiff
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.hg.inmemory import MercurialInMemoryCommit
@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
             return MergeResponse(
                 False, False, None, MergeFailureReason.MISSING_COMMIT)
 
-        merge_commit_id = None
+        merge_ref = None
         merge_failure_reason = MergeFailureReason.NONE
 
         try:
@@ -706,6 +706,7 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
             # used to easily identify the last successful merge commit in the
             # shadow repository.
             shadow_repo.bookmark('pr-merge', revision=merge_commit_id)
+            merge_ref = Reference('book', 'pr-merge', merge_commit_id)
         except RepositoryError:
             log.exception('Failure when doing local merge on hg shadow repo')
             merge_possible = False
@@ -743,8 +744,7 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
             merge_succeeded = False
 
         return MergeResponse(
-            merge_possible, merge_succeeded, merge_commit_id,
-            merge_failure_reason)
+            merge_possible, merge_succeeded, merge_ref, merge_failure_reason)
 
     def _get_shadow_instance(
             self, shadow_repository_path, enable_hooks=False):