Navigating Pull Request Pitfalls with Reviewpad Check
Last week, we launched the first in our series of posts on Reviewpad Check titled "Highlighting Friction Points in the Review Process With Help of Reviewpad Check." In it, we delved deep into the intricacies of the long-pick-up-time, many-comments, and many-review-iterations checks. Today's post shifts the focus to another trio of checks: stale, large, and long-lived. These particular checks are invaluable for identifying pull requests that are exceptionally bulky, drag on for an extended period, or receive little to no attention. Such PRs often become stumbling blocks in the development process, hampering efficient collaboration and bogging down progress.
Understanding those Three Key Checks
Stale Pull Requests
Identified by the stale check, these pull requests see no activity for a set number of days, with "no activity" defined as a lack of new commits or comments.
Neglecting such pull requests can inhibit project progression and jeopardize code quality. The older they get, the more out-of-sync they become with the main codebase, making their integration harder and their context less relevant. A collection of stale pull requests can also indicate broader issues in your review process, like communication gaps or bottlenecks.
Large Pull Requests
The large check identifies pull requests that add a significant number of lines to the codebase.
Such pull requests, while sometimes necessary, can be daunting to review. The complexity introduced by their size can make errors easy to miss and muddy the clarity of changes, especially when those changes tackle multiple functionalities. A systematic approach to dissecting these large pull requests is crucial to ensure code review quality
Long-lived Pull Requests
With the long-lived check, pull requests that remain open for an extended period are flagged.
These pull requests indicate inefficiencies in the development workflow. Extended open times suggest infrequent code integrations, which can result in complicated merges and a higher potential for conflicts. This disrupts team workflow and can delay feature releases, affecting overall project timelines.
Activating those three Checks
Wondering how to track these pull requests using Reviewpad? It's effortless. By default, these checks are active when you enable Reviewpad Check. Identified pull requests will be automatically labeled by Reviewpad, giving you an immediate heads-up.
However, if you need customization, you can modify the behavior of these checks using the reviewpad.yml configuration file:
1checks:2 stale:3 parameters:4 max-idle-days: 155 label: stale67 large:8 parameters:9 max-lines: 40010 label: large1112 long-lived:13 parameters:14 max-days: 3015 label: long-lived
Conclusion
As we explore the diverse checks offered by Reviewpad in this series, it becomes abundantly clear that proactive pull request management is the cornerstone of efficient development workflows. With the spotlight on stale, large, and long-lived PRs today, we aim to equip tech leads and senior developers with the tools to sidestep common pitfalls and foster robust collaboration. Stay tuned for more insights in upcoming posts!
