Pull Request Automation Overview
Implement pull request automation to streamline code review processes, enforce quality standards, and reduce manual overhead through templated workflows and intelligent assignment rules.
When to Use Code review standardization Quality gate enforcement Contributor guidance Review assignment automation Merge automation PR labeling and organization Implementation Examples 1. GitHub Pull Request Template
.github/pull_request_template.md
Description
Briefly describe the changes made in this PR.
Type of Change
- [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
- [ ] New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
- [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
- [ ] Documentation update
Related Issues
Closes #(issue number)
Changes Made
- Change 1
- Change 2
Testing
- [ ] Unit tests added/updated
- [ ] Integration tests pass
- [ ] Manual testing completed
Checklist
- [ ] Code follows style guidelines
- [ ] Self-review completed
- [ ] Comments added for complex logic
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] No new warnings generated
- [ ] Tests pass locally
Screenshots (if applicable)
Add screenshots for UI changes
Performance Impact
- [ ] No performance impact
- [ ] Performance improved
- [ ] Potential performance implications (describe)
Dependencies
List any new dependencies or version changes
- GitHub Actions: Auto Review Assignment
.github/workflows/auto-assign.yml
name: Auto Assign PR
on: pull_request: types: [opened, reopened]
jobs: assign: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Assign reviewers uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const pr = context.payload.pull_request; const reviewers = ['reviewer1', 'reviewer2', 'reviewer3'];
// Select random reviewers
const selected = reviewers.sort(() => 0.5 - Math.random()).slice(0, 2);
await github.rest.pulls.requestReviewers({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
pull_number: pr.number,
reviewers: selected
});
- name: Add labels
uses: actions/github-script@v7
with:
script: |
const pr = context.payload.pull_request;
const labels = [];
if (pr.title.startsWith('feat:')) labels.push('feature');
if (pr.title.startsWith('fix:')) labels.push('bugfix');
if (pr.title.startsWith('docs:')) labels.push('documentation');
if (labels.length > 0) {
await github.rest.issues.addLabels({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
issue_number: pr.number,
labels: labels
});
}
- GitHub Actions: Auto Merge on Approval
.github/workflows/auto-merge.yml
name: Auto Merge PR
on: pull_request_review: types: [submitted] check_suite: types: [completed]
jobs: auto-merge: runs-on: ubuntu-latest if: github.event.review.state == 'approved' steps: - name: Check PR status uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const pr = await github.rest.pulls.get({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, pull_number: context.issue.number });
// Check if all required checks passed
const checkRuns = await github.rest.checks.listForRef({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
ref: pr.data.head.ref
});
const allPassed = checkRuns.data.check_runs.every(
run => run.status === 'completed' && run.conclusion === 'success'
);
if (allPassed && pr.data.approved_reviews_count >= 2) {
// Auto merge with squash strategy
await github.rest.pulls.merge({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
pull_number: context.issue.number,
merge_method: 'squash'
});
}
- GitLab Merge Request Automation
.gitlab/merge_request_templates/default.md
Description
Related Issue
Closes #(issue number)
Checklist
- [ ] Tests added/updated
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] Code review self-check completed
- [ ] No new console errors/warnings
Type of Change
- [ ] Bug fix
- [ ] Feature
- [ ] Breaking change
-
[ ] Documentation
-
Bors: Merge Automation Configuration
bors.toml
status = [ "continuous-integration/travis-ci/pr", "continuous-integration/circleci", "codecov/project/overall" ]
Reviewers
reviewers = ["reviewer1", "reviewer2"]
Block merge if status checks fail
block_labels = ["blocked", "no-merge"]
Automatically merge if all checks pass
timeout_sec = 3600
Delete branch after merge
delete_merged_branches = true
Squash commits on merge
squash_commits = true
- Conventional Commit Validation
!/bin/bash
commit-msg validation script
COMMIT_MSG=$(<"$1")
Pattern: type(scope): subject
PATTERN="^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|test|chore)(([a-z-]+))?: .{1,50}$"
if ! [[ $COMMIT_MSG =~ $PATTERN ]]; then echo "❌ Commit message does not follow Conventional Commits format" echo "Format: type(scope): subject" echo "Types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, test, chore" exit 1 fi
echo "✅ Commit message format is valid" exit 0
- PR Title Validation Workflow
.github/workflows/validate-pr-title.yml
name: Validate PR Title
on: pull_request: types: [opened, reopened, edited]
jobs: validate: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Validate PR title format uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const pr = context.payload.pull_request; const title = pr.title;
// Pattern: type: description
const pattern = /^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|test|chore|perf)(\(.+\))?: .{1,80}$/;
if (!pattern.test(title)) {
core.setFailed(
'PR title must follow: type: description\n' +
'Types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, test, chore, perf'
);
}
- Code Coverage Requirement
.github/workflows/coverage-check.yml
name: Coverage Check
on: [pull_request]
jobs: coverage: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v3 - uses: actions/setup-node@v3 with: node-version: '18'
- name: Run tests with coverage
run: npm run test:coverage
- name: Upload coverage
uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
with:
token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
files: ./coverage/lcov.info
fail_ci_if_error: true
minimum-coverage: 80
Best Practices ✅ DO Use PR templates for consistency Require code reviews before merge Enforce CI/CD checks pass Auto-assign reviewers based on code ownership Label PRs for organization Validate commit messages Use squash commits for cleaner history Set minimum coverage requirements Provide detailed PR descriptions ❌ DON'T Approve without reviewing code Merge failing CI checks Use vague PR titles Skip automated checks Merge to protected branches without review Ignore code coverage drops Force push to shared branches Merge directly without PR CODEOWNERS Configuration
.github/CODEOWNERS
Global owners
- @owner1 @owner2
Documentation
/docs/ @doc-owner *.md @doc-owner
Backend
/backend/ @backend-lead @backend-team /src/api/ @api-team
Frontend
/frontend/ @frontend-lead @frontend-team /src/components/ @component-team
DevOps
/infra/ @devops-team /.github/workflows/ @devops-team
Resources GitHub PR Templates GitLab Merge Request Templates Conventional Commits Bors: Merge Bot