How to create pull request github

Creating a pull request

In this article

Create a pull request to propose and collaborate on changes to a repository. These changes are proposed in a branch, which ensures that the default branch only contains finished and approved work.

Anyone with read access to a repository can create a pull request.

If you want to create a new branch for your pull request and do not have write permissions to the repository, you can fork the repository first. For more information, see «Creating a pull request from a fork» and «About forks.»

You can specify which branch you’d like to merge your changes into when you create your pull request. Pull requests can only be opened between two branches that are different.

Note: To open a pull request in a public repository, you must have write access to the head or the source branch or, for organization-owned repositories, you must be a member of the organization that owns the repository to open a pull request.

You can link a pull request to an issue to show that a fix is in progress and to automatically close the issue when someone merges the pull request. For more information, see «Linking a pull request to an issue.»

Changing the branch range and destination repository

By default, pull requests are based on the parent repository’s default branch. For more information, see «About branches.»

If the default parent repository isn’t correct, you can change both the parent repository and the branch with the drop-down lists. You can also swap your head and base branches with the drop-down lists to establish diffs between reference points. References here must be branch names in your GitHub repository.

When thinking about branches, remember that the base branch is where changes should be applied, the head branch contains what you would like to be applied.

When you change the base repository, you also change notifications for the pull request. Everyone that can push to the base repository will receive an email notification and see the new pull request in their dashboard the next time they sign in.

When you change any of the information in the branch range, the Commit and Files changed preview areas will update to show your new range.

Tips:

Creating the pull request

Tip: After you create a pull request, you can ask a specific person to review your proposed changes. For more information, see «Requesting a pull request review.»

After your pull request has been reviewed, it can be merged into the repository.

To learn more about GitHub CLI, see «About GitHub CLI.»

To create a pull request, use the gh pr create subcommand.

For more information on creating pull requests in GitHub Codespaces, see «Using GitHub Codespaces for pull requests.»

About pull requests

In this article

Pull requests let you tell others about changes you’ve pushed to a branch in a repository on GitHub. Once a pull request is opened, you can discuss and review the potential changes with collaborators and add follow-up commits before your changes are merged into the base branch.

About pull requests

Note: When working with pull requests, keep the following in mind:

You can create pull requests on GitHub.com, with GitHub Desktop, in GitHub Codespaces, on GitHub Mobile, and when using GitHub CLI.

After initializing a pull request, you’ll see a review page that shows a high-level overview of the changes between your branch (the compare branch) and the repository’s base branch. You can add a summary of the proposed changes, review the changes made by commits, add labels, milestones, and assignees, and @mention individual contributors or teams. For more information, see «Creating a pull request.»

Once you’ve created a pull request, you can push commits from your topic branch to add them to your existing pull request. These commits will appear in chronological order within your pull request and the changes will be visible in the «Files changed» tab.

Other contributors can review your proposed changes, add review comments, contribute to the pull request discussion, and even add commits to the pull request. By default, in public repositories, any user can submit reviews that approve or request changes to a pull request. Organization owners and repository admins can limit who is able to give approving pull request reviews or request changes. For more information, see «Managing pull request reviews in your organization» and «Managing pull request reviews in your repository.»

You can see information about the branch’s current deployment status and past deployment activity on the «Conversation» tab. For more information, see «Viewing deployment activity for a repository.»

After you’re happy with the proposed changes, you can merge the pull request. If you’re working in a shared repository model, you create a pull request and you, or someone else, will merge your changes from your feature branch into the base branch you specify in your pull request. For more information, see «Merging a pull request.»

If status checks are required for a repository, the required status checks must pass before you can merge your branch into the protected branch. For more information, see «About protected branches.»

You can link a pull request to an issue to show that a fix is in progress and to automatically close the issue when someone merges the pull request. For more information, see «Linking a pull request to an issue.»

Tips:

You can visit your dashboard to quickly find links to recently updated pull requests you’re working on or subscribed to. For more information, see «About your personal dashboard.»

Draft pull requests

Draft pull requests are available in public repositories with GitHub Free for organizations and legacy per-repository billing plans, and in public and private repositories with GitHub Team, GitHub Enterprise Server 2.17+, and GitHub Enterprise Cloud. For more information, see «GitHub’s products.»

When you create a pull request, you can choose to create a pull request that is ready for review or a draft pull request. Draft pull requests cannot be merged, and code owners are not automatically requested to review draft pull requests. For more information about creating a draft pull request, see «Creating a pull request» and «Creating a pull request from a fork.»

When you’re ready to get feedback on your pull request, you can mark your draft pull request as ready for review. Marking a pull request as ready for review will request reviews from any code owners. You can convert a pull request to a draft at any time. For more information, see «Changing the stage of a pull request.»

Differences between commits on compare and pull request pages

The compare and pull request pages use different methods to calculate the diff for changed files:

Creating a pull request from a fork

You can create a pull request to propose changes you’ve made to a fork of an upstream repository.

Anyone with write access to a repository can create a pull request from a user-owned fork.

If your pull request compares your topic branch with a branch in the upstream repository as the base branch, then your topic branch is also called the compare branch of the pull request. For more information about pull request branches, including examples, see «Creating a pull request.»

Note: To open a pull request in a public repository, you must have write access to the head or the source branch or, for organization-owned repositories, you must be a member of the organization that owns the repository to open a pull request.

Navigate to the original repository where you created your fork.

Above the list of files, click

On the Compare page, click compare across forks.

In the «base branch» drop-down menu, select the branch of the upstream repository you’d like to merge changes into.

In the «head fork» drop-down menu, select your fork, then use the «compare branch» drop-down menu to select the branch you made your changes in.

Type a title and description for your pull request.

On user-owned forks, if you want to allow anyone with push access to the upstream repository to make changes to your pull request, select Allow edits from maintainers.

Warning: If your fork contains GitHub Actions workflows, the option is Allow edits and access to secrets by maintainers. Allowing edits on a fork’s branch that contains GitHub Actions workflows also allows a maintainer to edit the forked repository’s workflows, which can potentially reveal values of secrets and grant access to other branches.

To create a pull request that is ready for review, click Create Pull Request. To create a draft pull request, use the drop-down and select Create Draft Pull Request, then click Draft Pull Request. For more information about draft pull requests, see «About pull requests.»

Tip: After you create a pull request, you can ask a specific person to review your proposed changes. For more information, see «Requesting a pull request review.»

Creating a pull request

In this article

Create a pull request to propose and collaborate on changes to a repository. These changes are proposed in a branch, which ensures that the default branch only contains finished and approved work.

Anyone with read access to a repository can create a pull request. Members of an enterprise with managed users can only propose changes in repositories that are part of their enterprise.

If you want to create a new branch for your pull request and do not have write permissions to the repository, you can fork the repository first. For more information, see «Creating a pull request from a fork» and «About forks.»

You can specify which branch you’d like to merge your changes into when you create your pull request. Pull requests can only be opened between two branches that are different.

Note: To open a pull request in a public repository, you must have write access to the head or the source branch or, for organization-owned repositories, you must be a member of the organization that owns the repository to open a pull request.

You can link a pull request to an issue to show that a fix is in progress and to automatically close the issue when someone merges the pull request. For more information, see «Linking a pull request to an issue.»

Changing the branch range and destination repository

By default, pull requests are based on the parent repository’s default branch. For more information, see «About branches.»

If the default parent repository isn’t correct, you can change both the parent repository and the branch with the drop-down lists. You can also swap your head and base branches with the drop-down lists to establish diffs between reference points. References here must be branch names in your GitHub repository.

When thinking about branches, remember that the base branch is where changes should be applied, the head branch contains what you would like to be applied.

When you change the base repository, you also change notifications for the pull request. Everyone that can push to the base repository will receive an email notification and see the new pull request in their dashboard the next time they sign in.

When you change any of the information in the branch range, the Commit and Files changed preview areas will update to show your new range.

Tips:

Creating the pull request

Tip: After you create a pull request, you can ask a specific person to review your proposed changes. For more information, see «Requesting a pull request review.»

After your pull request has been reviewed, it can be merged into the repository.

To learn more about GitHub CLI, see «About GitHub CLI.»

To create a pull request, use the gh pr create subcommand.

For more information on creating pull requests in GitHub Codespaces, see «Using GitHub Codespaces for pull requests.»

How to do a GitHub pull request

How do I create and/or send a pull request to another repository hosted on GitHub?

8 Answers 8

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Couple tips on pull-requests:

Assuming that you have first forked a repo, here is what you should do in that fork that you own:

After a Pull Request

Regarding the last point, since April, 10th 2013, «Redesigned merge button«, the branch is deleted for you:

Deleting branches after you merge has also been simplified.
Instead of confirming the delete with an extra step, we immediately remove the branch when you delete it and provide a convenient link to restore the branch in the event you need it again.

That confirms the best practice of deleting the branch after merging a pull request.

pull-request vs. request-pull

pull request isn’t an official «git» term.
Git uses the request-pull (!) command to build a request for merging:
It «summarizes the changes between two commits to the standard output, and includes the given URL in the generated summary.»
Github launches its own version on day one (February 2008), but redesigned that feature in May 2010, stating that:

e-notes for «reposotory» (sic)

That (pull request) isn’t even defined properly by GitHub!

Fortunately, a true business news organization would know, and there is an e-note in order to replace pull-replace by ‘e-note’:

So if your reposotory needs a e-note. ask Fox Business. They are in the know.