A manageable pull request is a distinct, clear, complete, and feasible portion of change that a reviewer can examine effectively. Gargantuan, incomplete, or continually changing PRs reduce review quality and frustrate reviewers. section 2.4.2
Make a PR manageable by:
- Breaking the work into separate portions instead of submitting one large change. section 2.4.2
- Submitting only work that is complete and ready for review; use Draft when work is unfinished. section 2.4.2
- Keeping the change well below 500 total lines of code, treated as a hard upper bound rather than a target. section 2.4.2
- Reviewing your own changes repeatedly, anticipating questions about edge cases and system architecture, and recording the answers before requesting review. section 2.4.2
Before requesting review
A large, half-complete PR with new commits still arriving is difficult to review accurately. A smaller PR that is context-filled, properly completed, and ready to view gives the reviewer a feasible unit to examine. section 2.4.2
Figure 2.10 Guidelines for creating a feasibly-portioned PR (AKA how to make your PR manageable)
Use the guidelines for judging whether a proposed change is feasibly portioned. section 2.4.2
