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Pull request description

As explained in "Looks Good to Me"

A concise, high-level account of the changes, affected files, and review focus in a pull request.

A pull request description explains why changes were made, supplies context and justification, identifies affected areas, and anticipates reviewer questions. It should clarify rather than confuse, with detail organized around the decisions and steps that led to the proposed change. section 2.3.2

Choose description elements according to the change:

  • Include context or justification for every pull request, explaining implementation choices, rejected alternatives, relevant conversations, decisions, and the path to the current change. section 2.3.2
  • For an oversized or difficult-to-navigate pull request, identify critical areas, explain the organization of the changes, and point out files or sections that are lower risk. section 8.3

Guiding a review through many files

When changes cannot be split into smaller pull requests, use the description as a review guide: explain how the files are organized, which parts deserve the closest attention, and which areas can safely receive less scrutiny. For critical changes, combine that written outline with a team review. section 8.3

Table 2.2 Description elements based on categorization prefix
If you used this categorization prefix in the title:
These are some expected components to place in the description:
feat:
Alternatives:
feat(component or project):
feature:
feature(component or project):
Context/justification
Use cases
How has this been tested?
Preview (if applicable)
Documentation
Tests
fix:
Context/justification
Linked Issue/ticket #
Before-/after-fix comparison
How to test it
Documentation
Tests
docs:
Context/justification
Linked Issue/ticket #
Use cases
Preview (if applicable)
chore:
Context/justification
breaking:
Context/justification
How has this been tested?
Affected projects
Important dates
Mitigation/next steps
Documentation
Tests

Use the categorization-prefix table to select description components for feature, fix, documentation, chore, and breaking changes. section 2.3.2

How "Looks Good to Me" covers it

How deep it goes
Explains rationale and provides category-specific components, stopping short of prescribing one mandatory team template.
Examples
Uses context questions, category-based checklists, large-review navigation outlines, and AI-generated summaries as examples.
What it assumes
Assumes familiarity with code changes and pull request review while teaching authors to provide rationale and navigational context.
What you can do after
Apply it via a pull request to clarify change rationale and direct reviewer attention across the affected files.
How it connects
Connects pull request descriptions with code review, PR titles, use cases, testing, documentation, and review workflow.

Related concepts

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of "Looks Good to Me". The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.