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To make AI-assisted changes go through accountable review, protect the repository’s default branch, require pull requests and approvals, require relevant status checks, and route sensitive files to code owners. GitHub does not provide a separate AI-approval mode: these standard repository controls enforce a review process, but do not certify that AI-generated code is safe or correct.
Plan the review policy before changing settings
Decide which branches need protection, who may approve changes, which checks must pass, and which files need specialist review. Apply the same policy to release branches if changes there also need those safeguards. A branch rule may target a branch name or an fnmatch pattern, and the named branch does not have to exist when you create the rule, according to GitHub’s branch protection guide.
Keep patterns understandable: only one classic branch-protection rule applies at a time, so overlapping rules can make the effective policy difficult to reason about. If you need several policies to compose across branches or repositories, consider rulesets instead.
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Configure a classic branch-protection rule
- Open the repository settings. In the GitHub repository, go to Settings → Branches, then create a branch protection rule. Enter the default branch name or a pattern that matches the intended branches.
- Require pull requests. Enable Require a pull request before merging. This makes the pull request, rather than a direct change to the protected branch, the review point.
- Set the approval requirement. Choose the required number of approvals and, where appropriate, require approval from people with write access and/or code owners. One knowledgeable reviewer can be a workable baseline for a small team; higher-risk code may warrant more scrutiny. The documentation does not establish a universal approval count, so set it according to your team’s risk and capacity.
- Require the checks that matter. Enable required status checks and select checks that actually run on the relevant pull requests and have stable names. You can also require conversation resolution before merging. Avoid selecting a check that does not run for the protected branch’s pull requests: it can leave changes unable to satisfy the merge gate.
- Save the rule and verify it with a test pull request. Confirm that an unapproved change cannot merge and that required checks and discussion resolution behave as intended. Treat this as an operational verification step, not as proof that the code itself is correct.
GitHub’s setup options and their behavior are documented in Managing a branch protection rule and About protected branches.
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Keep approvals current when an AI agent pushes more commits
An approval is useful only if it covers the change that is actually being merged. If an agent may push additional commits after a reviewer approves, configure approval freshness in the pull-request rule. GitHub offers two relevant approaches:
- Dismiss stale pull request approvals when new commits are pushed: new commits invalidate earlier approvals, so reviewers must approve the updated change.
- Require approval of the most recent reviewable push: require someone other than the person who made the latest reviewable push to approve it.
These settings are not interchangeable in every workflow. The first broadly resets approval after new commits; the second focuses on approval after the latest reviewable push. Stronger freshness requirements add review work, and GitHub notes they can cause manual merge-commit pushes to fail. A changed merge base can also make approvals stale. Choose the option that fits how your team updates pull requests, then confirm its effect with a test pull request. See GitHub’s branch protection rule documentation.
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Require code-owner review for sensitive files
Use a CODEOWNERS file to route changes to security, deployment, CI, dependency, or agent-instruction specialists. Add the file to the repository, enable the branch rule’s code-owner review requirement, and verify that a pull request changing an owned path requests the expected reviewer.
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Decide whether classic rules or rulesets fit
Classic branch protection is a straightforward option for a narrow policy. Rulesets are useful when you need policies to compose across several branches or repositories, or need explicit control over bypass actors. The practical differences are:
| Decision | Classic branch protection | Rulesets |
|---|---|---|
| Policy scope | Targets branches in a repository with a branch name or pattern. | Can provide consistent rules across multiple branches or repositories, depending on configuration. |
| Composition | Only one matching classic branch-protection rule applies at a time, which can complicate overlapping patterns. | Multiple rulesets can apply together, allowing policies to be composed. |
| Bypass management | Branch-protection restrictions have default exceptions for administrators and custom roles with bypass permission; review who can bypass them. | Rulesets provide named bypass actors, such as users, teams, roles, or GitHub Apps, and bypass modes. |
For details, see About rulesets. The REST API documentation also describes a pull-request-only bypass mode for branch rulesets: Repository rules REST API.
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Review bypass access explicitly
By default, branch-protection restrictions do not apply to repository administrators or custom roles with the “bypass branch protections” permission. Decide whether that exception is acceptable for your repository, keep bypass access limited to named actors, and restrict who can dismiss reviews. A required-review policy is only as strong as its exceptions. GitHub describes the default behavior in About protected branches.
Check plan availability for private repositories
GitHub’s branch-protection setup guide notes that some branch-protection features are limited by repository visibility and plan. Before relying on a setting for a private repository, check the current eligibility information in Managing a branch protection rule. Do not assume a control is available for every repository solely because it appears in general documentation.
Verify the complete merge path
After configuring the policy, exercise the cases that matter to your team:
- Try a pull request without approval and confirm it cannot merge.
- Change a file governed by
CODEOWNERSand confirm the expected owner is requested and that approval is required. - Push another commit after approval and confirm the selected freshness setting produces the expected review state.
- Check that the required CI and security checks run on the pull request and report the status names selected in the rule.
- Review administrator, custom-role, team, and app bypass access so that exceptions are intentional.
This verification confirms that the repository enforces its configured workflow. It does not validate AI-produced code, replace reviewer judgment, or guarantee the checks themselves are sufficient.
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