New pull request overview page in public preview 🚀

[ebndev]

On a long pull request, checking what’s blocking often means scrolling past dozens of comments and timeline events just to reach the merge box. And once you’re there, you still need to work out what to do next. As people need to review more and more pull requests, time spent scrolling adds up. So we’ve begun to rethink the entire experience, beginning with addressing a familiar challenge: finding what’s blocking progress and determining what to do next.

Today, we’re introducing the Overview page as an opt-in public preview, with rollout continuing through the weekend. It brings merge status and next available actions to the top of the page in a compact readiness summary. It’s the first step toward making pull requests easier to follow as code, conversations, and reviews evolve.

The merge box, distilled

We’re starting with the merge box, the place developers go to see whether a pull request can move forward. Rather than just moving it higher, we’ve also redesigned it to show the same information in less than half the space.

1. Explore the supporting signals: A compact view of checks, comments, and approvals keeps the context nearby without making every detail compete for attention.
2. Address what’s blocking: Take action to move the pull request forward, such as updating your branch.
3. See if it’s ready to merge: Check merge readiness and merge when requirements are met.

Start with the summary, then follow the detail that matters to your next step (e.g., get to failing checks, see who still needs to approve, or open the relevant comments).

Keep your place. Focus your attention.

This first preview also introduces more ways to catch up on activity and focus the conversation so you can spend less time finding your place.

1. Narrow the conversation: Filter for unresolved conversations or comments you wrote to find open questions or follow up on your feedback.
2. Read the latest comments first: Sort comments from newest to oldest instead of starting with the earliest discussion.
3. Catch up on activity: Use the summary in the upper-right to find review comments, review requests, and other updates.

You can also mark a draft ready for review or close a pull request from the header, with available actions depending on your permissions.

Try the new overview

To join, select the ✨ Try the Overview page button in the header. We’re opening this preview early so you can try the new direction on your own pull requests and help shape what comes next. You can use the same menu to return to the classic overview during the preview.

🌟 Help shape what comes next

This preview is very much a starting point, not the finished pull request experience. Try it on your next pull request. What is easier to find? Where do you still lose context? What sends you back to the classic overview?

Join the discussion and leave feedback in the comments below!

[simon-abbott]

I have a few pieces of feedback, broken out here to be easier to respond to. I'd also be happy to split this into multiple comments if that would be easier to work with.

Firstly, I like the redesign of the merge box and moving it to the top. Being able to see the status at a glance without having to scroll, no matter how active the PR is, is a huge win.

On the other hand, I don't like the redesign of the rest of the page as much, for a few reasons. Here they are in order of least-to-most blocking for my workflow:

I find newest-first sorting really hard to read (I'm in full support of having it be an option, and thank you for letting us change it back, but I think it's an odd default).

The PR body is no longer in a box, which is weird. Every other comment on GitHub, including issues, discussions, and other comments on the redesigned overview, follows the same display format, including a background color and/or a border. The new borderless design of the description feels out of place, like it fell out of its box. I can work past this, but it does make the page harder for me to read quickly, which is the opposite of the stated design goals. I see this was resolved, thank you!

The review status icons on comments are hard to see. The old Conversation view had big prominent checks and Xs making it really easy to see at a glance. This new design makes them much smaller and easier to miss. Approvals, review requests, review comments, and regular comments all look the same except for a tiny badge next to the user's profile picture (which is easy to miss) and a changed label next to the date (which is also easy to miss). I would love to see that information get much more glanceable. Seems the review status icons being that small was a bug. I'd still like them to be even more prominent if possible, but I can at least see them now.

And finally the biggest issue for me is the split timelines. I use the activity timeline a lot to see what has actually happened to a PR since I last reviewed it, especially for force pushes, so having that information inline with the review and comment history is important to my workflow. Splitting them out means that now if I want to see what happened since I last reviewed I need to manually filter the activity list in my head. Additionally, there is no longer an easy link to view a force push's diff, which is a view I use extremely frequently due to our PR process.

[thaJeztah]

And finally the biggest issue for me is the split timelines. I use the activity timeline a lot to see what has actually happened to a PR since I last reviewed it, especially for force pushes, so having that information inline with the review and comment history is important to my workflow. Splitting them out means that now if I want to see what happened since I last reviewed I need to manually filter the activity list in my head. Additionally, there is no longer an easy link to view a force push's diff, which is a view I use extremely frequently due to our PR process.

Agree on this one; it's useful to be able to audit order of events; a PR was reviewed (and approved), after which the contributor (or a maintainer) may have done a rebase; it's common for the person performing those actions to leave a comment to explain the action done for future reference (and being able to "audit" the action after the fact).

While rebases / force pushes are most common, there's also other situations where context is relevant;

• "Rebased the PR after <other PR> was merged" or "Rebased the PR to get a fresh run of CI (no changes)"
• "Removed this from the XYZ milestone, because ...."
• "Added <needs-backport> label, because the XYZ release branch also needs this fix"
• "Added release-blocker label because this was a regression that must be fixed before we do the next release"
• "Closed/reopened the PR, because GitHub actions had an outage and didn't trigger all checks"

[simon-abbott]

@madsbolaris Are you officially affiliated with GitHub? Looking at your profile, you seem to be just a regular user.

@vivodi They belong to the Microsoft org, so seems pretty official to me.

[jsoref]

https://api.github.com/users/madsbolaris says they're a site_admin. So more than just "Microsoft org", but actually "github employee acknowledging fairly god-like powers".

[joehorsnell]

@madsbolaris - one other important thing I think is missing from the current overview preview is timeline mentions (e.g. "X mentioned this pull request in #456"), which are hidden by default on the Overview page.

I've added a top-level comment here with some suggested mockups: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/212186#discussioncomment-19516744

Overall though I think this change is good and brings together a lot of the important PR context to the top of the page.

[robrayjr]

'Notifications' section to subscribe to PR updates is completely missing in the new overview. This needs to be added!

[mungojam]

This looks like a great improvement. A related thing to that activity pane is on the notifications screen where a new notification for an existing PR doesn't give any indication of what's new, so when there are many notifications, I have no idea which ones have re-requested my review or tagged me in a new comment

[nayuta]

I would like to submit a suggestion regarding color accessibility. While the display appears sufficiently legible in dark mode, the thin bar in light mode may present contrast and readability issues. Adjusting the color or increasing the contrast ratio for light mode would greatly improve accessibility for all users.

[bmesuere]

I'm having the same issue. When multiple segments are shown it's ok because of the positional encoding, however I have difficulty seeing the difference between everything is pending and everything is green.

[renbaoshuo]

It seems that there is an error in styling?

[madsbolaris]

Yes, that looks like a bug. Thanks for reporting!

[srothgan]

very cool design, i really like it 👍

[chspe]

I don't like it.
I want to read the whole timeline and the comments, in order from oldest (top) to newest (bottom), before I click on "Merge" on the very bottom of the page.
I don't want to have to click to see timeline/merge box at all.

[arthurvalinlm]

I completely agree, I feel like this new UI makes the important information harder to find. The standard UI is exactly what I need, the whole timeline. This new UI splits all the info for some reason, I really don't like it.

[baev]

Can we get rid of the scroll jump after approving a PR? In 90% of cases, my next action after clicking Approve is to merge, but the merge button is now at the top.

[mfsbo]

I would love if it can show the project fields like iteration and when they change on PR. We manage testing on PR so when it moves from swimlane to swimlane that is visible but other project fields are not.

[Szendvics]

Please keep the diff stat in a fixed position, independent of branch name length, so it's easier to compare stacked PR sizes.

[samuelfullerthomas]

I assume that this is progressively rolling out to users? I've not seen the Try the Overview page yet - keen to have a look 😃

[aryanranderiya]

same, am i missing something? i would really like to try this out

[madsbolaris]

Yes! We expect for it to be fully rolled out by Monday

[tomasz-pazdziurek-cko]

Would love to try it out as well. Do you know what "by Monday" means? Is it any specific timezone and / or exact time? 😁
All my teammates already have the new view available and I'm the only one being left out. 😅

EDIT 2026-11-10T08:15:00Z: Monday has finally come! (i.e. I can finally try the overview page) 🚀

[Cerbrus]

I just approved a PR made by a colleague, but the default "Unresolved" comment filter does not show said comment:

The "All" filter does show it:

I'd expect approval messages to be shown by default.

[frederikja163]

An approval is not an unresolved comment. Unresolved comments are comments on the code itself where no one has clicked "resolve"

[Cerbrus]

@frederikja163 I know... However, by default, the approval message is now hidden, because they're not "unresolved" comments.
Hence my request:

I'd expect approval messages to be shown by default.

If approval messages are hidden by default, then what's the point of having a text field there at all?

[frederikja163]

Ah makes sense. I think in most cases approval messages are just LGTM or something like that, but if they contain more important information it is more hidden now than it probably should be.

[gannett-ggreer]

I frequently will approve with a message of things that I would like to see changed but are optional, so hiding the message is definitely not appreciated.

[kubo6472]

no frame around the initial message

which check failed here?

[gromer]

Yeah, I also am not a fan of how that is worded. A check is in progress, but hasn't failed. I've seen the same thing:

Could say "Checks in progress" or "Checks running", and "Some non-required checks are [in progress/running]".

[hanneswernery]

Could say "Checks in progress" or "Checks running", and "Some non-required checks are [in progress/running]".

I second that. The title "Checks failing" is very misleading when some checks are simply in progress.
Other than that, I like the new UI.

[jinder]

It would be useful to be able to pin a comment to the top. There are often comments or bot feedback that get lost in the noise that are important top level content.

[shoowack]

I’d love a "back to top" button 😄 Both in the Overview and in the Changed files sections.

[nerdtronik]

I added one in a browser extension for all GH pages 😅, because why does this service with lots of timelines, logs, long files, doesn't have that already?

[adamstickley]

clicking the PR title in the top bar will jump you to the top, in all sections

[ctsstc]

I see others with a chevron, I have a lock icon. It's a bit confusing.
I thought it might persist which would have been bad, but for me "locking" it to sit over the PR Body/description seems odd.

[kubo6472]

yes, the lock should move the PR text down, like a sticky thing

[emanuelen5]

Bug: merge is blank

Sometimes I cannot merge at all because the whole merge box is blank (second time in two days).

How I got here:

1. change merge strategy from rebase to merge commit
2. press merge (it will be blank)

Workaround for now

1. open the "Merge status" panel
2. change merge strategy from rebase to merge commit
   
3. press merge (it will be blank - see image)
   
4. press "Cancel"
5. press "merge" again and it will work

It's easy to reproduce by going back and forth between merge/rebase strategy. It will be blank each time after I do such a switch.

[diannosaur]

How do I see when someone was added as a reviewer?

[mfsbo]

How do I see when someone was added as a reviewer?

In activity you can remove the filter to see all activities including when reviewers were added.

[netspencer]

I cannot seem to figure out how to "Apply suggestions" on PR comments that have code change suggestions.

[jyxjjj]

I’m genuinely trying my best to remain polite and constructive here, but I must admit that this experience is making it exceptionally difficult to do so.

[robclancy]

yeah because the changes are amateur trash

[fnune]

• Before the update, the latest comment was deterministically at the bottom of the page. Now, how much you have to scroll to find the last comment depends on the size of the PR description. This is frustrating.
• The first few times I missed the Merge when ready button on the top right of PR status, and clicked on Merge status (top right of the screen), then Merge when ready.

[jukkafeldt]

The View reviewed changes button seems to be gone from the new UI. Previously you could open the reviewed code in the diff view, but I couldn't find anything related from the new overview page.

[adamjmurray]

For a few of my projects I need to look at the last few commits and clearly see the build status for each commit. There are some strict rules that every commit must be a green build in CI and I need to check on this periodically. The UX has gotten a lot worse on desktop - I have to scroll down further with no collapsed commit groupings in the middle, and the page is slow to load with per-commit build results taking time to appear. Worse: on mobile I see no way to view the per-commit build status on the commits tab, which is a deal-breaker for me. I'll be very unhappy if the new UI rolls out in its current form and I can't do what I need to do on mobile anymore.

[belanasaikiran]

The new overview page makes it much harder to navigate stacked PRs. I used to be able to see the PR titles in the stack right away, whereas now I have to open another page. Could we show stacked PRs by default—either in the sidebar or along the top bar?

[ArtofBugs]

Would love to have a "resolved" tab for comments as well. :) Also hope the ... button to expand a commit message beyond the first line can be brought back; it's annoying to click open each one (especially ones that don't actually have an extended message; the button used to distinguish them).

[adelton]

Force pushes which used to be part of the main comments / timeline column are now indicated only by a tiny number of the "Base changes and force pushes" link in the right pane.

That is not just inconvenient, that is actively harmful. If I review a two days old pull request and come back to it after a coffee break and finish it with a merge, I might unknowingly merge completely different content than I've been reviewing because a colleague just force-pushed an update five minutes ago.

[etoundi2nd]

This new layout feels like a redesign for its own sake. The previous one had some fundamentals right, and none of them needed changing:

1. One open a PR’s overview then got a quick but precise picture of three things: what the PR is about, what has happened to it so far, and finally what can be done with it right now. Secondary information and call to actions stayed neatly on the side. Plain, simple, obvious.
2. The event timeline was front and centre, which is arguably right. It matters to different people for different reasons. It was the backbone of the page. A PR is something that unfolds over time and the timeline is how you quickly and efficiently read it.

The new design is on the other hand dispersed. Unnecessarily so.

The CTA box at the top is the main improvement.

[max731242-droid]

On a long pull request, checking what’s blocking often means scrolling past dozens of comments and timeline events just to reach the merge box. And once you’re there, you still need to work out what to do next. As people need to review more and more pull requests, time spent scrolling adds up. So we’ve begun to rethink the entire experience, beginning with addressing a familiar challenge: finding what’s blocking progress and determining what to do next.

Today, we’re introducing the Overview page as an opt-in public preview, with rollout continuing through the weekend. It brings merge status and next available actions to the top of the page in a compact readiness summary. It’s the first step toward making pull requests easier to follow as code, conversations, and reviews evolve.

The merge box, distilled

We’re starting with the merge box, the place developers go to see whether a pull request can move forward. Rather than just moving it higher, we’ve also redesigned it to show the same information in less than half the space.

1. Explore the supporting signals: A compact view of checks, comments, and approvals keeps the context nearby without making every detail compete for attention.
2. Address what’s blocking: Take action to move the pull request forward, such as updating your branch.
3. See if it’s ready to merge: Check merge readiness and merge when requirements are met.

Start with the summary, then follow the detail that matters to your next step (e.g., get to failing checks, see who still needs to approve, or open the relevant comments).

Keep your place. Focus your attention.

This first preview also introduces more ways to catch up on activity and focus the conversation so you can spend less time finding your place.

1. Narrow the conversation: Filter for unresolved conversations or comments you wrote to find open questions or follow up on your feedback.
2. Read the latest comments first: Sort comments from newest to oldest instead of starting with the earliest discussion.
3. Catch up on activity: Use the summary in the upper-right to find review comments, review requests, and other updates.

You can also mark a draft ready for review or close a pull request from the header, with available actions depending on your permissions.

Try the new overview

To join, select the ✨ Try the Overview page button in the header. We’re opening this preview early so you can try the new direction on your own pull requests and help shape what comes next. You can use the same menu to return to the classic overview during the preview.

🌟 Help shape what comes next

This preview is very much a starting point, not the finished pull request experience. Try it on your next pull request. What is easier to find? Where do you still lose context? What sends you back to the classic overview?

Join the discussion and leave feedback in the comments below!

I really like this direction! Having merge readiness, checks, approvals, and unresolved conversations visible at the top makes it much easier to understand what needs attention without scrolling through a long pull request. I especially like the idea of filtering unresolved comments and sorting by newest first. It would also be useful to have a clear indication of exactly which requirement is blocking a merge.

[esimkowitz]

The cheeky "merge status loading" messages reek of AI and add nothing. I generally like having the merge/check status at the top of the page but I fear I won't be able to see it when I go blind from aggressive eye-rolling.

[mwisnicki]

Copilot Watch and Fix button is missing

[Menelion]

To be honest, I don't really like the new experience from the accessibility perspective. We blind people skim pages by headings and ARIA landmarks.
The thing I miss the most is my favorite "All Checks Have Passed" or not-so-favorite "Some Checks Were Not Successful" heading. Now to find out whether checks succeeded or failed, I have either to search for the word "check", or to switch to the Checks pseudo-tab, or do something as inefficient as this. If it's possible, please bring the heading back or, if not, at least make some kind of a region with this information. the merge box at the top is kinda weird also, but I guess it's matter of habit more.