iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
A useful pull request template asks contributors for the context reviewers cannot reliably infer: what changed and how the author checked it. A survey of 80 popular open-source repositories found that 19 had no pull request template, while the rest showed a range from two short prompts to specialized forms for release notes, risk, and contribution routing. The findings are a snapshot of selected repositories, not a measure of which template works best.
What the 80-repository survey found
In a September 23, 2026 snapshot of default branches, Khasky reported that 19 of 80 surveyed repositories had no pull request template. The examples named include Vue core, webpack, React Router, Playwright, Express, TensorFlow, DuckDB, and LLVM. That result describes this popularity-based sample; it is not a census of open source, and the article does not provide a full repository inventory or detailed selection protocol. Read Khasky’s survey.
Among repositories with templates, the compact pattern the author describes centers on two prompts. Bun’s wording, reproduced in the article, asks: “What does this PR do?” and “How did you verify your code works?” Those questions capture the change and a contributor’s verification context without requiring a long form.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallCrashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWhat should a pull request template ask?
Start with the change and its verification
For a small project, the survey author’s recommendation is to begin by asking what the pull request changes and how the contributor verified it. An issue link can be added when the project actually tracks work through issues. These are practical recommendations drawn from examples, not results of a controlled study of template effectiveness.
#1 Best Overall
Verification context is most useful when it adds information beyond automated checks. A short description of a manual test, affected scenario, or reason a test could not be run can help a reviewer understand the submission. A template should not ask contributors to restate results already reported clearly by CI.
Add fields only for real workflows
Broader templates in the survey reflected differing project processes. Angular separates current behavior from proposed behavior, asks about breaking changes, and has contributors select a pull request type. Grafana’s questions focus on what a feature is, why it is needed, and who it serves. PyTorch offers three selectable templates for different contribution types.
Release-note fields appeared in examples including Moby, Terraform, Envoy, Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Zed. Grafana uses pull request titles to generate changelog entries. These examples illustrate that release documentation may be handled through a form section or through another convention; the right choice depends on the repository’s release workflow.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Some forms also ask about risk or rollback. Khasky describes such questions in Terraform and Envoy, and says a .NET servicing template asks about customer impact, regressions, and risk. AI-use disclosure prompts appear in examples attributed to Kubernetes, Django, pandas, and Caddy. They are examples from the survey, not confirmation that those projects’ templates remain the same today.
Short prompts versus detailed checklists
The survey includes templates that are much longer than the compact two-question form. Khasky reports a 92-line Kubernetes template with seven headings, including reviewer notes and AI-use disclosure. The article also reports checklist lengths of 119 lines for Home Assistant, 91 for Transformers, and 86 for Storybook. These are line counts from the author’s snapshot, not quality scores or evidence that longer templates produce better pull requests.
When deciding whether to add a field, consider what it elicits beyond CI, how much work it creates for contributors, whether it fits issue and release workflows, whether it enables useful routing or automation, and what happens if the information is missing. Detailed checklists can make specialized requirements visible, but they also ask more of every contributor. Keep only fields with a clear use in review, triage, release, or maintenance.
Rank #4
How GitHub displays and organizes templates
GitHub says that contributors automatically see a repository’s pull request template contents in the pull request body. Its documentation supports template files in the repository root, docs/, or .github/. Multiple templates can be stored in a PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE directory and selected with the template query parameter. GitHub’s examples of useful prompts include a related issue, a description of proposed changes, or reviewer mentions. See GitHub’s pull request template documentation.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteWhat this snapshot can—and cannot—tell maintainers
The survey is useful for seeing the range of questions real projects request: minimal change-and-verification prompts, contribution-type selection, release-note information, risk context, and checklists. But templates change quickly, and a default-branch snapshot cannot establish that the examples are still current. The author also notes that popular projects may use heavier templates than typical repositories.
Best Value
Most importantly, the survey records what templates ask, not whether contributors complete the fields or whether any particular question improves review speed or quality. Treat the examples as design options, then choose fields based on your repository’s own review and release process. A concise form is a sensible starting point when the project has no specialized workflow; add complexity only when it supplies information people actually use.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
