How to optimize GitHub notifications for pull requests

Since pull requests (PRs) play a central role in collaborative code reviews, you want to get the right GitHub notifications for efficient project management. In this guide, we'll explore how to optimize GitHub notifications for pull requests and show you how to tailor notification settings to your specific needs.

Why optimize GitHub notifications for PRs?

GitHub sends notifications for almost every event, including pull requests, issues, comments, and more. Without customizing these notifications, users can be flooded with unnecessary updates. On the other hand, missing out on key PR notifications could lead to delays in code reviews, overlooked comments, or slower merges.

Step-by-step guide to customizing GitHub PR notifications

Here, we'll walk through the process of setting up GitHub notifications specifically for pull requests:

1. Access your notification settings

First, head to your GitHub settings:

1. Go to your GitHub profile and click on the profile icon in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
3. In the left-hand sidebar, select Notifications.

This is where you can adjust how you receive notifications, whether that's via email, web, or via GitHub's mobile app.

2. Customize global notification preferences

In your Notification settings, you'll see several options for how GitHub delivers notifications. While these settings apply to all GitHub events, they directly impact how you receive PR notifications:

• Web and mobile: These notifications appear in GitHub’s web interface and the mobile app. Select this option if you regularly monitor GitHub throughout the day.
• Email: This option sends notifications directly to your email. Useful for staying up-to-date when you’re away from the web interface.

3. Set up custom notification filters for repositories

If you're part of multiple projects, you may want to customize notifications for each repository. GitHub allows you to do this with the Watch settings:

1. Navigate to the repository where you want to optimize notifications.

2. At the top right of the repo page, click the Watch button.

3. Choose one of the following options:

   • Watching: You’ll receive notifications for all issues, PRs, and comments.
   • Participating and @mentions: Only get notified when you are involved in the conversation.
   • Ignoring: No notifications.

To optimize your pull request notifications, the "Participating and @mentions" option is often the best balance between staying informed and avoiding notification overload.

4. Customize notifications for specific pull requests

Sometimes, you may want to follow or ignore notifications for individual pull requests. To do this:

1. Go to the pull request in question.
2. In the right-hand sidebar, look for the Notifications section.
3. Click the Subscribe or Unsubscribe button depending on whether you want updates for this PR.

This allows for granular control, so you'll only get notifications for PRs that matter to you.

5. Utilize GitHub’s notification inbox

A relatively new feature in GitHub, the Notifications Inbox, gives you a centralized place to manage all notifications. This is an ideal way to filter through pull request notifications while keeping track of open reviews:

1. Click on the tray icon in the top-right corner of any GitHub page, or use the keyboard shortcut g n, to open the Notifications Inbox.
2. Use filters such as Open, Closed, or Participating to view relevant pull request notifications.
3. You can also Mark as Read or Unsubscribe from notifications directly in this inbox, which helps keep things tidy.

Advanced notification management: using GitHub Actions for PR notifications

If the built-in notification system isn’t flexible enough for your team’s workflow, you can also take advantage of GitHub Actions to create customized PR notifications. Here's how you can set up an action to trigger a notification when a pull request is opened:

name: PR Notification
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened]

jobs:
  notify:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Send Notification
        run: echo "A new pull request has been opened!"

In this example, the GitHub Action sends a custom notification each time a pull request is opened. You can extend this by integrating with Slack or other notification tools using GitHub Actions.

Using Graphite for pull request notifications

Graphite also provides an enhanced notification system that integrates with GitHub notifications but adds a layer of customization to the mix. Let's take a look at how to take advantage of Graphite's Pull Request Inbox to optimize pull request management:

Why use Graphite Notifications?

While GitHub’s native notification system is comprehensive, it doesn’t prioritize notifications by urgency or code relevance. Graphite elevates this experience by sending smarter, more targeted notifications to help you focus on the PRs that matter most.

For example's sake, let’s say you are part of a large repository with multiple open PRs. Without Graphite, you may receive notifications for every comment or review change. With Graphite, you can filter based on PRs based on author, CI status, reviews, labels, and much more, helping you focus on the pull requests that need your immediate attention.

By leveraging Graphite alongside GitHub notifications, teams can streamline the notification workflow to make sure critical pull requests don’t fall through the cracks.

Tips for balancing pull request notification volume

Here are a few additional tips to prevent notification overload while staying informed about pull requests:

• Set up filters in Graphite's notification inbox to prioritize PRs.
• Unsubscribe from unnecessary repositories where you are no longer involved in code reviews.
• Enable Slack or other integrations for immediate alerts on high-priority pull requests.

Customize your GitHub notifications setup

By tailoring your GitHub notification preferences and leveraging Graphite, you can receive timely, high-priority updates about pull requests without being overwhelmed by less critical alerts. Plus, optimizing your notifications for pull requests helps improve focus, accelerate reviews, and reduce inbox clutter. By following the strategies in this guide, you'll be able to create an effective notification system that helps you stay updated on important pull requests while minimizing distractions.