Understanding code review in GitHub

Sara Verdi
Sara Verdi
Graphite software engineer


Note

This guide explains this concept in vanilla Git. For Graphite documentation, see our CLI docs.


GitHub provides several built-in features to facilitate effective code review within its platform. These tools are designed to enhance collaboration, improve code quality, and streamline the overall review process. This guide gives an overview of GitHub's key code review capabilities.

At the core of GitHub's code review process is the pull request (PR) feature. Every code change begins with a pull request, allowing teams to propose changes, discuss implementation details, and coordinate on the proposed changes before they are merged into the main codebase. This fundamental process enables developers to:

  • Propose new features or changes: Developers can start a new feature or suggest modifications to existing code through a pull request. This initiates the review cycle, encouraging collaboration and feedback.

  • Collaborate effectively: By creating a pull request, team members can engage in discussions directly related to the proposed changes, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

GitHub's pull request interface includes several built-in code review tools that help streamline the review process:

  • Comments and feedback: Reviewers can leave comments directly on specific lines of code, making it easy to provide context and suggestions. This feature allows for detailed discussions and clarification of code changes.

  • Bundled comments: Reviewers can compile their feedback into a single cohesive review. This helps maintain clarity and prevents overwhelming the author with numerous comments.

  • Review requests: Reviewers can be tagged directly in a pull request, sending them notifications and prompting them to provide their feedback.

To ensure high-quality code merges, GitHub offers several quality assurance capabilities:

  • Required status checks: These checks enforce additional error prevention by ensuring that certain conditions must be met before a pull request can be merged. For instance, you can create checks that must pass, such as successful builds or passing tests.

  • Protected branches: GitHub allows teams to protect branches by restricting who can push changes and disabling force pushes. This feature helps maintain the integrity of the codebase and ensures that only reviewed code can be merged into critical branches.

GitHub enhances collaboration through permissions and visibility settings:

  • Access control: You can grant varying levels of access to team members, enabling fine-grained control over who can view or write to your repository. This ensures that only the necessary team members participate in the code review process.

  • Team visibility: Collaborators can access the repository's history, facilitating better discussions about code changes and allowing team members to review previous iterations easily.

It's important to implement limits that help manage the code review process effectively:

  • Review time limits: While GitHub doesn’t enforce time limits automatically, teams can establish guidelines to ensure that reviews are conducted within a reasonable timeframe. Setting a standard of 24-48 hours for review responses can help maintain momentum.

  • Size constraints: Encouraging smaller, more manageable pull requests can prevent reviewer fatigue and enhance focus on specific changes.

For teams looking to optimize their code review workflow, implementing Graphite can significantly enhance the built-in capabilities of GitHub. The PR inbox allows developers to manage and prioritize pull requests more effectively by consolidating notifications and prioritizing reviews based on urgency.

By utilizing GitHub's built-in code review features and integrating tools like Graphite, teams can improve their code quality and reduces the risk of errors in the codebase.

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