diff --git a/runbot_merge/__manifest__.py b/runbot_merge/__manifest__.py
index 8b1f11be..2aeca524 100644
--- a/runbot_merge/__manifest__.py
+++ b/runbot_merge/__manifest__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     'name': 'merge bot',
-    'version': '1.4',
+    'version': '1.5',
     'depends': ['contacts', 'website'],
     'data': [
         'security/security.xml',
diff --git a/runbot_merge/migrations/13.0.1.5/pre-migration.py b/runbot_merge/migrations/13.0.1.5/pre-migration.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..85e0c67a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/runbot_merge/migrations/13.0.1.5/pre-migration.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+def migrate(cr, version):
+    """ copy required status filters from an m2m to branches to a domain
+    """
+    cr.execute("""
+    ALTER TABLE runbot_merge_repository_status
+    ADD COLUMN branch_filter varchar
+    """)
+    cr.execute('''
+    SELECT status_id, array_agg(branch_id)
+    FROM runbot_merge_repository_status_branch
+    GROUP BY status_id
+    ''')
+    for st, brs in cr.fetchall():
+        cr.execute("""
+        UPDATE runbot_merge_repository_status
+        SET branch_filter = %s
+        WHERE id = %s
+        """, [
+            repr([('id', 'in', brs)]),
+            st
+        ])
+    cr.execute("DROP TABLE runbot_merge_repository_status_branch")
diff --git a/runbot_merge/models/pull_requests.py b/runbot_merge/models/pull_requests.py
index 55de5ca3..218df00a 100644
--- a/runbot_merge/models/pull_requests.py
+++ b/runbot_merge/models/pull_requests.py
@@ -236,14 +236,18 @@ class StatusConfiguration(models.Model):
 
     context = fields.Char(required=True)
     repo_id = fields.Many2one('runbot_merge.repository', required=True, ondelete='cascade')
-    branch_ids = fields.Many2many('runbot_merge.branch', 'runbot_merge_repository_status_branch', 'status_id', 'branch_id')
+    branch_filter = fields.Char(help="branches this status applies to")
+    # FIXME: migrate branch_ids -> branch_filter = [('id', 'in', branch_ids.ids)]
     prs = fields.Boolean(string="Applies to pull requests", default=True)
     stagings = fields.Boolean(string="Applies to stagings", default=True)
 
     def _for_branch(self, branch):
         assert branch._name == 'runbot_merge.branch', \
             f'Expected branch, got {branch}'
-        return self.filtered(lambda st: not st.branch_ids or branch in st.branch_ids)
+        return self.filtered(lambda st: (
+            not st.branch_filter
+            or branch.filtered_domain(ast.literal_eval(st.branch_filter))
+        ))
     def _for_pr(self, pr):
         assert pr._name == 'runbot_merge.pull_requests', \
             f'Expected pull request, got {pr}'
diff --git a/runbot_merge/tests/test_by_branch.py b/runbot_merge/tests/test_by_branch.py
index ea688f8b..768ab293 100644
--- a/runbot_merge/tests/test_by_branch.py
+++ b/runbot_merge/tests/test_by_branch.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def repo(env, project, make_repo, users, setreviewers):
                 # require the lint status on master
                 (0, 0, {
                     'context': 'lint',
-                    'branch_ids': [(4, project.branch_ids.id, False)]
+                    'branch_filter': [('id', '=', project.branch_ids.id)]
                 }),
                 (0, 0, {'context': 'pr', 'stagings': False}),
                 (0, 0, {'context': 'staging', 'prs': False}),
diff --git a/runbot_merge/views/mergebot.xml b/runbot_merge/views/mergebot.xml
index a4624709..0a987a4f 100644
--- a/runbot_merge/views/mergebot.xml
+++ b/runbot_merge/views/mergebot.xml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
                     <field name="status_ids">
                         <tree editable="bottom">
                             <field name="context"/>
-                            <field name="branch_ids" widget="many2many_tags"/>
+                            <field name="branch_filter" widget="domain"/>
                             <field name="prs"/>
                             <field name="stagings"/>
                         </tree>