You've made some fantastic contributions to your project on GitHub! Now it's time to bring those changes back into the main line of development and let others review your work. This is where Pull Requests (often abbreviated as PRs) shine.
A Pull Request is a formal way to propose that changes you've made in one branch (your feature branch, for example) be merged into another branch (like the main branch). Think of it as asking, "Can you pull my changes into your code?" It's the core mechanism for collaboration and code review on GitHub.
graph TD
A[Your Feature Branch] --> B{Create Pull Request};
B --> C[Reviewers Comment and Suggest];
C --> D{Approve or Request Changes};
D -- Changes Requested --> A;
D -- Approved --> E[Merge Pull Request];
E --> F[Changes Integrated into Main Branch];
Here's how the Pull Request process typically unfolds:
- Creating a Pull Request: Once you've committed your changes to your branch and pushed it to GitHub, you'll navigate to your repository on GitHub. You'll usually see a prominent button or notification suggesting you create a Pull Request for your recently pushed branch. You'll then select the base branch (where you want to merge into, usually
mainormaster) and the compare branch (your branch containing the changes).
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b my-new-feature
# ... make your changes ...
git add .
git commit -m "Implement amazing new feature"
git push origin my-new-feature- Adding Context: When creating the PR, you'll provide a title and a detailed description. This is your chance to explain what changes you've made, why you've made them, and any relevant context for reviewers. Good descriptions are crucial for effective code reviews.
- Code Review: Other collaborators can then view your proposed changes, compare them side-by-side with the base branch, and leave comments directly on specific lines of code. They can ask clarifying questions, suggest alternative approaches, or point out potential issues.