Pull Requests and Code Review

What is a Pull Request (PR)?

A Pull Request is a proposal to merge your changes into another branch. It's the standard way teams review and discuss code before it goes live.

The PR Workflow

1. Create a branch     →  git switch -c feature/add-search
Make changes        →  (edit files)
Commit              →  git add . && git commit -m "Add search"
Push to GitHub      →  git push origin feature/add-search
Open a PR           →  (on GitHub website)
Team reviews        →  (comments, suggestions)
Make requested changes → (more commits)
Merge               →  (click Merge on GitHub)

Anatomy of a Good PR

Title

• ✅ "Add search functionality to navigation bar"
• ❌ "fix stuff"

Description

• What you changed
• Why you changed it
• How to test it
• Screenshots if it's visual

Example PR Description

## What
Added a search bar to the top navigation.
Why
Users requested a way to search directly from any page (Issue #42).
How to Test
Click the search icon in the nav bar
Type a search query
Results should appear in a dropdown
Screenshots
[before/after screenshots]

Code Review Best Practices

As a Reviewer

• Be constructive, not critical
• Explain why something should change
• Approve when it's good enough, not perfect
• Use suggestions for small fixes

As an Author

• Keep PRs small (under 400 lines ideally)
• Respond to every comment
• Don't take feedback personally

Summary