Code Review Process
Structured code review procedure covering PR creation, review standards, feedback guidelines, and merge criteria for development teams.
Purpose
Maintain code quality, share knowledge across the team, and catch bugs early through a consistent, constructive code review process.
This is a PRO template — included with the Individual Pro plan.
Steps (6)
Prepare the Pull Request
Write a clear PR title (imperative mood). Include what changed and why, link to ticket, screenshots for UI changes, testing steps, and deployment considerations. Keep PRs under 400 lines. Self-review before requesting.
Checklist
- PR title is clear and descriptive
- Description explains what and why
- Linked to Jira ticket or GitHub issue
- Screenshots for UI changes
- Testing instructions included
- PR is under 400 lines of diff
- Self-review completed
- CI pipeline passing
Expected Output
PR is clean, well-documented, and ready for review.
Assign Reviewers
Assign at least one reviewer familiar with the codebase area. For critical areas (auth, payments, data migrations), require a senior engineer. Set a 4-hour review SLA.
Checklist
- At least one reviewer assigned
- Reviewers have context for the codebase area
- Senior reviewer assigned for critical areas
- Priority label applied if blocking
- Reviewer notified via Slack/Teams
Expected Output
Appropriate reviewers assigned and notified.
Conduct the Review
Read the PR description and linked ticket first. Review for: correctness, security, performance, maintainability, and test coverage. Don't bikeshed on style — that's for linters.
Checklist
- PR description and ticket read first
- Business logic correctness verified
- Security considerations checked
- Performance reviewed
- Test coverage assessed
- Naming is clear and consistent
- No leftover debugging code
- Database migrations reviewed for safety
Expected Output
Thorough code review completed.
Provide Constructive Feedback
Prefix comments with severity: [BLOCKER], [SUGGESTION], [QUESTION]. Explain the "why" behind feedback. Offer alternatives. Be respectful. Praise good patterns.
Checklist
- Comments prefixed with severity
- Each comment explains the why
- Alternative approaches offered
- Positive patterns called out
- Tone is respectful and constructive
- Feedback is specific and actionable
- Summary comment provided with overall assessment
Expected Output
Clear, categorized feedback provided.
Address Review Feedback
Respond to every comment. Fix blockers. Implement or explain alternatives for suggestions. Answer questions. Re-request review after addressing all feedback.
Checklist
- Every comment responded to
- Blocker issues fixed
- Suggestions implemented or alternative explained
- Questions answered
- New commits pushed (don't force-push during review)
- Review re-requested
- CI still passing
Expected Output
All feedback addressed. Ready for final approval.
Final Approval & Merge
Verify all approvals, resolved comments, and green CI. Merge using team convention (squash/merge/rebase). Delete the feature branch. Update the linked ticket.
Checklist
- All reviewers approved
- All blocker comments resolved
- CI pipeline passing
- Correct merge strategy selected
- Feature branch deleted after merge
- Linked ticket updated
- Team notified if change affects their work
Expected Output
PR merged. Branch cleaned up. Ticket updated.