---
title: "Review Your Own PR First"
date: 2025-01-15
tags: ["engineering-practices"]
description: "The PRs that merge cleanly are the ones authors already self-reviewed. A practical checklist before you ask."
---

Like most developers, I've been on both sides of Pull Requests. What I've noticed is that the best PRs, the ones that get merged smoothly with minimal back-and-forth, are where the author has already done a thorough self-review.

## What Happens Without Self-Review

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant Author
    participant Reviewer
    Author->>Reviewer: Push PR for review
    Reviewer->>Author: 12 comments (typos, dead code, naming)
    Author->>Author: Fix trivial issues
    Author->>Reviewer: Push fixes
    Reviewer->>Author: 5 more comments
    Author->>Author: Fix again
    Author->>Reviewer: Push fixes
    Note over Author,Reviewer: 3+ round trips before merge
```

## Why Self-Review Matters

### a. Saves Time

Clean up obvious issues yourself so reviewers focus on architecture and design.

### b. Improves Code Quality

Reading your own diff catches patterns that don't jump out when you're writing.

### c. Builds Trust

A polished PR signals respect for your colleagues' time.

## How to Self-Review

### a. View the Diff As Someone Else

Open the Files changed tab and read every line as the reviewer.

### b. Check Commit Messages

Follow conventional-commit style. Each commit should represent one logical change.

### c. Document Special Considerations

Add inline comments for non-obvious decisions.

### d. Validate Tests

Run them locally. Check coverage for success and failure paths.

### e. Check Style and Linting

Run your formatter and linter before requesting review.

## What Happens With Self-Review

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant Author
    participant Self as Self-Review
    participant Reviewer
    Author->>Self: Read own diff as reviewer
    Self->>Author: Catch 12 trivial issues locally
    Author->>Author: Fix naming, dead code, edge cases
    Author->>Reviewer: Push clean PR
    Reviewer->>Author: 1 substantive design comment
    Author->>Author: Address feedback
    Author->>Reviewer: Push final fix
    Note over Author,Reviewer: 1 round trip to merge
```

## Self-Review Checklist

```mermaid
graph TD
    Start["Open your PR diff"] --> A{"Diff readable?\nClear naming?"}
    A -->|Yes| B{"Commit messages\nclear and atomic?"}
    A -->|No| A1["Fix naming"] --> A
    B -->|Yes| C{"Tests pass?\nCoverage adequate?"}
    B -->|No| B1["Rewrite commits"] --> B
    C -->|Yes| D{"Docs updated?\nPR description clear?"}
    C -->|No| C1["Add tests"] --> C
    D -->|Yes| E{"Linting clean?"}
    D -->|No| D1["Update docs"] --> D
    E -->|Yes| F["Ready for review"]
    E -->|No| E1["Run linter"] --> E
```

The simplest habit that pays the biggest dividends: before clicking "Request Review", open the Files changed tab and read every line as if a colleague wrote it.