How do I request a code review for a branch?

When to request a code review?

We recommend requesting a review when a branch is feature complete and ready for testing, but before it is actually tested. A proper code review will likely result in some code being changed, and this will cancel out any testing progress that was made.

How to request it?

To request a code review for a branch go to the Reviews page inside your repository and click the ‘Request a review’ button.

Select branches

You’ll need to select the branch you want reviewed, and which base branch you want the review to be compared to. You can change the base branch at any time to request a review between any two branches - it doesn't always have to be master or trunk.

Write a description & select the merge option

Write a brief description of your branch, then select whether or not you want your branch to be automatically merged with the base branch once the review is approved. If the merge option is selected, only users with write access to the repository can be assigned to the code review. A reviewer can also choose not to merge the branch before approving it, even if it the merge was requested.

Assign reviewers

You will need to assign one or more people to do the code review on your branch. By default only one assignee has to approve the review in order for the review to be considered completed. This can be changed to require approval from every assignee before the review can be considered complete.

Add watchers

You may also add users or teams as watchers. Watchers can participate in the code review process, and will receive email notifications every time a review is updated, but cannot approve a code review. Code review settings allow certain users or teams to be set as default watchers for all reviews.

What's next?

Each assignee will get an email notification when a code review is requested. Once requested, the review will stay in Pending state until it's approved. Assignees can immediately start working on the review by posting comments and creating issues. Developers responsible for the branch can then address those issues by pushing more commits to the branch. When all issues are resolved one or more assignee can approve the review and merge the branch into the base branch.