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What is Pull Request?

Illustration: Pull Request
Simply put, like I'm 5 years oldA pull request is like handing your draft to an editor before it goes in the newspaper. The editor checks it, asks for fixes, and only then publishes it.

The slightly longer version

Software lives in a shared folder called a repository. GitHub is a popular website that hosts these folders. When someone wants to change the code, they do not edit the main version directly. They make their changes on the side, saved in small steps called commits. Then they open a pull request: a formal ask that says "please pull my changes into the main code."

Other people, usually humans, read the changes, leave comments, and ask for fixes. When everyone is happy, the pull request is merged, which means the changes become part of the real software. Today, AI agents (programs that can act on their own, step by step) can write code and open pull requests too. A human still has to decide whether to merge them, at least in theory.

How a pull request works

  1. Write changesA person or an AI agent changes the code on the side.
  2. Open pull requestThey ask to add those changes to the main code.
  3. ReviewOther people read the changes and ask for fixes.
  4. MergeOnce approved, the changes join the real software.
Why it matters

GitHub's Octoverse 2026 report says merged pull requests tripled in less than a year, to 220 million per month, and many people read this as a sign that agents now write a big share of code. The pull request is the moment where a human is supposed to check that work. If the number of pull requests triples but the number of reviewers does not, that checkpoint gets weaker, and the apps you use every day get code that fewer eyes have really looked at.

What to watch out for

A count of merged pull requests does not tell us who wrote the code, or if it is any good. The link between the tripling and AI agents is a reasonable reading, but the number alone does not prove it. And a merge is not proof of a real review: tired people can click "approve" without reading, and more code also means more code to secure.

Where it showed up

This notion came up in Smarter hackers, sneakier agents, and a public that is losing patience. More lessons: Learn.

Sources

Written on 2026-10-29. This explanation was accurate on that day. AI changes fast, so check the sources and the date before you rely on it.

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