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pull request (PR)

A pull request is a proposal to incorporate someone's code changes into the shared program after others have reviewed and approved them.

In plain terms

Imagine that several people are writing a book together. You do not write directly into the final manuscript but submit the corrected chapter on a separate sheet to the editor: "I would change this, review it, and if it is good, include it." A pull request is the same in software development: a request to merge your changes into the shared code.

It is useful because changes are not inserted unnoticed. It is visible exactly which lines were modified; others can add comments, request corrections, and automatic checks run on them. Only after approval does it become part of the program.

In the AI era, it has taken on a new role. Coding agents often do not edit the shared code directly but open pull requests, especially those working independently in the background. Thus, the human is the gatekeeper: they decide whether the agent's work can be included.

How it works

1. The developer or coding agent opens a separate working version, called a branch, from the code and works on it, so the common version remains untouched. External contributors often work on their own copy of the entire project (fork).
2. Once finished, it opens the pull request: it describes what and why it changed, and the system shows the differences line by line.
3. Automated tests run and flag it if the change has broken something.
4. One or more colleagues review the change, ask questions, request corrections, and the author updates their work accordingly.
5. After approval, the modification is merged into the shared code, closing the pull request. The entire conversation remains searchable later.

An everyday example

Who is affected

A common misconception

Limits and risks

• The quality of review depends on the human: routine approval gives a false sense of security.
• Coding agents can open a huge number of pull requests in a short time, making human review a bottleneck.
• A pull request that is too large and modifies too many things at once is almost impossible to review thoroughly.
• In open projects, malicious or low-quality, mass-generated submissions can also arrive, and filtering these burdens the maintainers.

Similar, but not the same

• commit – A commit is a single saved set of changes, while a pull request is a proposal to merge one or more commits, together with discussion.
• code review – Code review is the act of inspection itself, while a pull request is the framework in which this typically occurs.
• merge – Merge is the actual integration operation, while the pull request is the preceding request and approval process.

Related concepts

A brief history

The term originates from the Git version control 'pull' operation: after Git launched in 2005, developers requested each other's changes via email. The pull request itself is not part of Git but a feature of code repository services. GitHub, launched in 2008, made this the standard workflow for collaborative software development with a web interface and discussion tools. Other platforms, such as GitLab, offer the same under the name 'merge request'.

Where things stand

At the end of 2026, the pull request is the basic way of working in team software development. With the spread of coding agents, more and more pull requests are opened not by humans but by agents, and AI tools have also appeared in the review process.

Status: 2026 November

In the news

• Copilot Cowork generated 1,211 pull requests in a single dayNov 2, 2026 · Code
• GitHub adds prompt-injection scanning to AI agent pull requestsOct 28, 2026 · Code
• GitHub launches Copilot Fusion, which picks and routes models for each taskOct 26, 2026 · Code
• Jellyfish: agents touch 27.7% of pull requests, while "software factories" remain rareOct 26, 2026 · Code
• Copilot gains Agent Merge, Automations and agents in Dev Containers with VS Code 1.137Oct 26, 2026 · Code
• Greptile: DIY AI code reviewer costs $3 to $25 per pull request and still misses the key bugOct 26, 2026 · Code
• GitHub Copilot comes to Teams, and Azure DevOps to Microsoft CopilotOct 23, 2026 · Code
• Linux Foundation: AI halves coding time, but a quarter of new pull requests are slopOct 19, 2026 · Code

Also known as

pull request · PR · pull-request · merge request · MR · merge request · pull request · pull request

Sources

• GitHub Docs – About pull requests
• Git documentation – git-request-pull

This entry was machine-edited and has undergone machine expert review; the “In the news” section updates automatically from Agent Age stories.