Pull Request Skills
Guidelines for creating comprehensive pull request descriptions and submitting PRs efficiently.
Philosophy
- •Reviewer-first - Optimize for the person reviewing, not the author
- •Context over detail - Explain why, link to how
- •Scannable - Busy reviewers skim; make it easy
- •Actionable - Clear testing steps, obvious risks
- •Honest - Flag complexity, don't hide it
Gathering Context
Before creating a PR, gather information about the changes:
bash
# Compare branch changes against main git diff main...HEAD # List modified files git diff main...HEAD --name-only # Review commit history git log main..HEAD --oneline # Get detailed commit messages git log main..HEAD --format="%B---" # Get files changed with stats git diff main...HEAD --stat
Quick Reference
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Sizing and splitting PRs | pr-sizing.md |
| Writing PR descriptions | pr-description.md |
Creating PRs with gh CLI | pr-creation.md |
When to Use Each Guide
PR Sizing
Use pr-sizing.md when you need:
- •Size category definitions (small/medium/large)
- •Signs a PR should be split
- •Strategies for splitting large PRs
- •Guidance on when large PRs are acceptable
PR Description Writing
Use pr-description.md when you need:
- •Templates for small, medium, or large PRs
- •Section writing guidelines (summary, changes, testing, etc.)
- •Commands to gather context from git history
PR Creation
Use pr-creation.md when you need:
- •
gh pr createcommand syntax and options - •HEREDOC pattern for multi-line bodies
- •Draft PRs, reviewers, labels, and milestones
- •Troubleshooting common errors