What is Pull Request Health?
A composite score of how healthy a pull request is — size, review, and flow.
Definition
Pull request health is a composite quality signal that combines factors like PR size, review depth, rework (changes requested), and time-in-stage into a single score. It surfaces risky or neglected PRs before they become problems.
How it’s measured
Score each PR against factors such as lines changed, number of reviewers, changes-requested count, and cycle time, then aggregate. Smaller, well-reviewed, quickly-merged PRs score highest.
What good looks like
Aim for small PRs (a few hundred lines or fewer), at least one substantive review, and low rework. Large, lightly-reviewed PRs correlate with higher change failure rates.
Why it matters
PR health is a leading indicator of change failure rate — it catches quality risk at review time rather than in production. It also keeps review culture healthy and code maintainable.
Related terms
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