Pull Requests

A Pull Request (PR), or Merge Request in some platforms like GitLab, is a mechanism for a developer to notify team members that they have completed a feature or bug fix on a separate branch and are ready to have it merged into the main codebase (e.g., the `main` branch). It's a core component of the collaborative workflow on platforms like GitHub. Instead of directly merging your branch into `main` on your local machine and pushing, you first push your feature branch to the remote repository on GitHub. Then, through the GitHub interface, you open a Pull Request. This PR serves several critical purposes. First, it's a formal proposal of your changes. It shows a 'diff'—a clear, line-by-line comparison of the changes between your feature branch and the target branch. Second, it's a forum for discussion and code review. Team members can review your code, ask questions, suggest improvements, and leave comments directly on the lines of code that need attention. This process helps maintain code quality, catch bugs early, and share knowledge among the team. Third, it often triggers automated checks, such as running a test suite (part of CI/CD), to ensure the new code doesn't break existing functionality. Once the code has been reviewed, any issues have been addressed, and all checks have passed, the PR can be approved and merged into the main branch, integrating the new feature.