Pull Request
Pull Request
A feature for asking other developers to review your code changes and merge them into the main codebase.
In Simple Terms
A pull request is a feature that lets you ask your teammates to merge the code you've changed into the overall codebase. When multiple people are building an app together, it's used so you can have others review the new feature you made, and if there are no problems, merge it into the main codebase. This way, everyone can catch each other's mistakes and keep the project moving forward smoothly.
Behind the Name
The name "Pull Request" combines two English words: "pull" and "request." It refers to asking your fellow developers to "pull" your changes into the main codebase — in other words, requesting that your code be merged in.
Take a Closer Look!
A pull request is a feature provided by online services that manage your code, like GitHub, letting you ask other developers to review your changes and request that they be merged into the main codebase.
It's widely used when multiple people are building one piece of software together, so everyone can check that a change doesn't break any other part of the project.
First, you use a version control system called Git to edit the code on your own machine and save each change as a record. This is called a "commit," and developers make commits at their own natural breakpoints in the work, whether or not they're planning to open a pull request.
Once you've built up a certain number of commits, you create a request on a service like GitHub saying "please merge this change in" — that's the pull request. This feature doesn't exist in Git itself; it's something each service, like GitHub, provides on its own. Once a pull request is opened, your teammates can look at the changed code right in their browser and leave advice or suggest edits.
Thanks to this system, there's a record of who made what change and when, which helps keep flawed code from making its way straight into production.
Because the whole team can review and agree on a change before it's merged in, pull requests have become an essential step in collaborative development.