GitHub Pull Request Best Practices

This Skill provides comprehensive guidance for creating high-quality pull requests following industry best practices and conventional commit standards.

Capabilities

• Generate conventional commit formatted PR titles
• Structure PR descriptions with proper sections
• Support multiple languages (English/Japanese)
• Follow GitHub PR template conventions
• Avoid common PR mistakes

When to Use

Use this Skill when you need to:

• Create a new pull request
• Write PR titles and descriptions
• Format commit messages
• Follow conventional commit standards
• Generate PR content in English or Japanese

PR Title Format

Conventional Commits Standard

PR titles must follow Conventional Commits format:

<type>(<scope>): <description>

Important: NO emojis in PR titles or descriptions.

Common Types

• feat: New feature
• fix: Bug fix
• docs: Documentation changes
• style: Code style changes (formatting, no logic change)
• refactor: Code refactoring
• test: Adding or updating tests
• chore: Maintenance tasks, dependencies

Scope (Optional but Recommended)

The scope should indicate what part of the codebase is affected:

• Module name: feat(auth): add OAuth2 support
• Component name: fix(button): resolve click handler issue
• Area of code: docs(api): update endpoint documentation

Description

• Use imperative mood ("add" not "added" or "adds")
• No capitalization of first letter
• No period at the end
• Clear and concise (under 50 characters when possible)

Examples

Good:

feat(auth): add OAuth2 authentication
fix(api): resolve timeout on large requests
docs(readme): update installation instructions
refactor(database): optimize query performance
test(auth): add integration tests for login flow
chore(deps): update dependencies to latest versions

Bad:

✨ Add new feature  (has emoji)
Fixed bug  (not following format, wrong tense)
Update.  (vague, has period)
FEAT: NEW STUFF  (all caps, vague)

PR Description Structure

Standard Template

## Summary
- Brief description of changes (1-3 bullet points)
- Focus on what and why, not how
- Keep each point concise

## Test plan
- [ ] Test case 1
- [ ] Test case 2
- [ ] Verified no regressions

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Key Principles

1. Summary Section

   • 1-3 bullet points maximum
   • Explain what changed and why
   • Avoid implementation details (those are in the code)
   • Use present tense

2. Test Plan Section

   • Use checkbox format (- [ ])
   • List specific test scenarios
   • Include regression testing
   • Be specific and actionable

3. Signature

   • Always include the Claude Code signature
   • Placed at the bottom

Detailed Explanation (When Needed)

For complex PRs, add additional sections before the signature:

## Summary
- Main changes

## Background
Context or motivation for changes

## Implementation Details
High-level overview of approach

## Test plan
- [ ] Tests

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Multi-Language Support

English (Default)

Use English when no language is specified or when language is en:

## Summary
- Add user authentication with OAuth2
- Implement token refresh mechanism
- Add comprehensive error handling

## Test plan
- [ ] Test OAuth2 login flow
- [ ] Test token refresh
- [ ] Test error scenarios

Japanese

Use Japanese when language is ja:

## 概要
- OAuth2によるユーザー認証を追加
- トークンリフレッシュ機能を実装
- 包括的なエラーハンドリングを追加

## テスト計画
- [ ] OAuth2ログインフローのテスト
- [ ] トークンリフレッシュのテスト
- [ ] エラーシナリオのテスト

Language Selection Guidelines

• Default to English if no language specified
• Use the language specified by the caller
• Be consistent throughout the entire PR
• Don't mix languages within a single PR

PR Template Integration

Using Project Templates

If the project has a PR template at .github/pull_request_template.md:

1. Read the template file
2. Follow its structure exactly
3. Don't modify section headers
4. Don't add custom sections
5. Fill in all required sections (use "N/A" if not applicable)

Template Best Practices

• Preserve section headers: Keep them exactly as in template
• Complete all sections: Even if marking as "N/A"
• Follow order: Maintain the template's section order
• Don't improvise: Stick to template structure

GitHub CLI Best Practices

Creating PRs with gh

Basic command structure:

gh pr create --draft --title "feat(scope): description" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
- Changes

## Test plan
- [ ] Tests

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
EOF
)"

Important notes:

1. Use HEREDOC format for multi-line descriptions
2. Start with --draft flag for work in progress
3. Use cat <<'EOF' (with quotes) to prevent variable expansion
4. gh pr create automatically pushes the branch (no manual push needed)

Draft vs Ready

Start as draft when:

• Work is still in progress
• Tests are not complete
• Need early feedback

Convert to ready when:

gh pr ready <PR-NUMBER>

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Manual Push Before PR Creation

   • ❌ git push -u origin branch && gh pr create
   • ✅ gh pr create (handles push automatically)

2. Including Emojis

   • ❌ ✨ feat: add new feature
   • ✅ feat: add new feature

3. Incorrect Conventional Commit Format

   • ❌ Add new feature
   • ✅ feat: add new feature

4. Vague Descriptions

   • ❌ ## Summary\n- Updated stuff
   • ✅ ## Summary\n- Add OAuth2 authentication support

5. Ignoring Language Argument

   • ❌ Always using English
   • ✅ Using specified language (en/ja)

6. Modifying Template Structure

   • ❌ Adding custom sections to template
   • ✅ Following template structure exactly

Analyzing Commits for PR

Use All Commits, Not Just Latest

When creating a PR, analyze ALL commits from the merge base:

# Get merge base
MERGE_BASE=$(git merge-base origin/main HEAD)

# Get ALL commits from merge base
git log $MERGE_BASE..HEAD

Why this matters:

• PR should represent all work on the branch
• Latest commit might not capture full scope
• Users expect PR to reflect entire branch

Extracting PR Content from Commits

# Get commit messages for summary
git log --format="- %s" $MERGE_BASE..HEAD

# Get changed files for context
git diff --name-only $MERGE_BASE..HEAD

# Get commit count
git log --oneline $MERGE_BASE..HEAD | wc -l

Quality Checklist

Before creating a PR, verify:

• [ ] Title follows conventional commit format
• [ ] No emojis in title or description
• [ ] Summary is clear and concise (1-3 points)
• [ ] Test plan is specific and actionable
• [ ] Language matches specified preference
• [ ] Template structure is followed (if exists)
• [ ] All commits are analyzed (not just latest)
• [ ] Claude Code signature is included

Related Skills

• git-analysis: Use to gather commit and branch information
• Project-specific templates: Check .github/pull_request_template.md

Additional Resources

See REFERENCE.md for:

• Detailed conventional commits specification
• Language-specific examples
• Advanced PR patterns
• GitHub CLI command reference