create-pr

---
name: create-pr
description: Create pull requests following Sentry conventions. Use when opening PRs, writing PR descriptions, or preparing changes for review. Follows Sentry's code review guidelines.
license: MIT
---

# Create Pull Request

Create pull requests following Sentry's engineering practices.

**Requires**: GitHub CLI (`gh`) authenticated and available.

## Process

### Step 1: Verify Branch State

```bash
# Check current branch and status
git status
git log main..HEAD --oneline
```

Ensure:
- All changes are committed
- Branch is up to date with remote
- Changes are rebased on main if needed

### Step 2: Analyze Changes

Review what will be included in the PR:

```bash
# See all commits that will be in the PR
git log main..HEAD

# See the full diff
git diff main...HEAD
```

Understand the scope and purpose of all changes before writing the description.

### Step 3: Write the PR Description

Follow this structure:

```markdown
<brief description of what the PR does>

<why these changes are being made - the motivation>

<alternative approaches considered, if any>

<any additional context reviewers need>
```

**Do NOT include:**
- "Test plan" sections
- Checkbox lists of testing steps
- Redundant summaries of the diff

**Do include:**
- Clear explanation of what and why
- Links to relevant issues or tickets
- Context that isn't obvious from the code
- Notes on specific areas that need careful review

### Step 4: Create the PR

```bash
gh pr create --title "<type>(<scope>): <description>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
<description body here>
EOF
)"
```

**Title format** follows commit conventions:
- `feat(scope): Add new feature`
- `fix(scope): Fix the bug`
- `ref: Refactor something`

### Step 5: Add Reviewers (if known)

```bash
# Request review from specific people
gh pr edit --add-reviewer username1,username2

# Or request from a team
gh pr edit --add-reviewer @getsentry/team-name
```

Limit to 1-3 reviewers to maintain clear ownership.

## PR Description Examples

### Feature PR

```markdown
Add Slack thread replies for alert notifications

When an alert is updated or resolved, we now post a reply to the original
Slack thread instead of creating a new message. This keeps related
notifications grouped and reduces channel noise.

Previously considered posting edits to the original message, but threading
better preserves the timeline of events and works when the original message
is older than Slack's edit window.

Refs SENTRY-1234
```

### Bug Fix PR

```markdown
Handle null response in user API endpoint

The user endpoint could return null for soft-deleted accounts, causing
dashboard crashes when accessing user properties. This adds a null check
and returns a proper 404 response.

Found while investigating SENTRY-5678.

Fixes SENTRY-5678
```

### Refactor PR

```markdown
Extract validation logic to shared module

Moves duplicate validation code from the alerts, issues, and projects
endpoints into a shared validator class. No behavior change.

This prepares for adding new validation rules in SENTRY-9999 without
duplicating logic across endpoints.
```

## Issue References

Reference issues in the PR body:

| Syntax | Effect |
|--------|--------|
| `Fixes #1234` | Closes GitHub issue on merge |
| `Fixes SENTRY-1234` | Closes Sentry issue |
| `Refs GH-1234` | Links without closing |
| `Refs LINEAR-ABC-123` | Links Linear issue |

## Guidelines

- **One PR per feature/fix** - Don't bundle unrelated changes
- **Keep PRs reviewable** - Smaller PRs get faster, better reviews
- **Explain the why** - Code shows what; description explains why
- **Mark WIP early** - Use draft PRs for early feedback

## References

- [Sentry Code Review Guidelines](https://develop.sentry.dev/engineering-practices/code-review/)
- [Sentry Commit Messages](https://develop.sentry.dev/engineering-practices/commit-messages/)