PR channel lifecycle

Creation

PR channels are created automatically whenever...

• ... a new pull request is opened if at least one of: the author, the assignees or the reviewers; has its GitHub user associated with a Slack user (as described in the setup).
• ... a new reviewer or assignee who has its GitHub ↔ Slack association configured is added to an open pull request, if the channel has not been previously created (as in the scenario where none of the involved members is properly associated).
• ... a draft pull request becomes a pull request ready for review.

Getting archived

By default, PR channels are archived automatically whenever...

• ... its associated pull request gets merged.
• ... its associated pull request gets closed.

Automatic archiving can be disabled in the settings page.

PR channel elements

Every Slack channel contains a header with information that can be seen at all times. This is the perfect space to have a well designed title, a desriptive topic and useful bookmarks.

The header of a PR channel created by Pullpo looks like:

Title

The title of a PR channel follows the format: _pr_<repository name>_<pull request title>

Both the repository name and the pull request title are visible in the channel's title so that it can be easily found in Slack's channel navigation bar.

The prefix "_pr_" is used so that all PR channels appear grouped in the navigation bar for those teams that do not have Slack's paid plan. Slack's premium tier allows you to create sections to organize channels, however, Pullpo's bot is limited to creating PR channels under the "Channels" section. Our recomendation is to keep your own channels under a dedicated section (with your organization's name as title, for instance), so that new channels get automatically grouped and do not interfere with your own.

Topic

The topic contains the Slack handle of the author of the pull request, as well as its title and repository. In the case where the author's GitHub ↔ Slack association is not configured, the topic will contain "GitHub user [<github_handle>]" instead of the author's Slack handle.

Bookmarks

1. Link to the pull request's conversation page.
2. Link and state of the workflows associated to the pull request.
3. Link and state of the mergeability check (pull request conflicts).
4. Link to the full list of commits that are part of the pull request.
5. and 6. Number of files changed and lines of code added and deleted; both linked to the files page of the pull request.

Information retrieval

Since channels are archived, they can later be consulted by going to "Channels" > "Manage" > "Browse channels". The title's format lets you look up old channels for pull requests of a certain repository or by the title itself.

Using the searchbar (or with the Ctrl+K shortcut) you can search for any file or function name and Slack will show you all code review threads that contain that name. We include the file path in these types of GitHub comments for your convinience when searching for any information found in old discussions about the desired file.

For further information on messages and alerts that Pullpo sends through a PR channel, continue to the notifications page.