Writing Your First Pull RequestLesson 3.3

What is a PR review checklist and how to self-review before submitting

self-review process, diff reading, test coverage check, documentation updates, style guide compliance, security considerations, breaking change identification

Review Your Own PR First

Reading your own diff as if you are the reviewer catches the mistakes you would be embarrassed to have pointed out. Open the PR in GitHub, switch to Files Changed, and go through every line before requesting review.

What to Check

Tests: Does every changed behavior have a test? Run the test suite locally before pushing.

Docs: If you added a function, updated an API, or changed behavior -- is the documentation updated?

Debug code: Search your diff for console.log, print statements, TODO, and FIXME. Remove or address them.

Unintended files: Check for accidentally staged config files, .env files, IDE folders, or lock file changes you did not intentionally make.

Breaking changes: Does your change affect any public API, function signature, or behavior that existing users depend on? If yes, document it explicitly.

A Quick Self-Review Command

# Check what you are about to push
git diff main...HEAD --stat

# View the full diff
git diff main...HEAD

# Confirm test suite passes
npm test
# or: python -m pytest

The five minutes you spend on self-review saves the maintainer time and gets your PR merged without a round of basic fixes.