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How do I track pull requests?

Monitor PR status, reviews, and progress through your Zenhub workflow with automated connections and visual indicators

Pull requests represent the completion of development work, and tracking their progress effectively ensures smooth code reviews and timely merges. Zenhub brings pull request tracking directly into your project workflow, so you can see code status alongside task progress without switching between tools.

Understanding pull request tracking in Zenhub

When you connect pull requests to issues in Zenhub, you create a unified view of both the development task and its implementation. Instead of managing issues and pull requests separately, you can track them together as they progress through your team's workflow.

NOTE: GitHub has its own linking system for connecting issues and pull requests, but Zenhub's connections are different. Zenhub's system provides workflow automation and visual tracking on your Work Tracker that GitHub's native linking doesn't offer.

Zenhub gives you several ways to track pull request progress. You can connect PRs to issues so they move through your workflow together, or track standalone PRs as independent cards. Either way, you'll see review status indicators that show whether changes have been approved, requested, or are still pending review.

Connecting pull requests to issues for automatic tracking

The most effective way to track pull requests is by connecting them to issues. This creates a unified workflow where both the development work (issue) and the code implementation (PR) move together through your process.

Using GitHub keywords for automatic connections

The simplest method is using GitHub's closing keywords when creating pull requests. When you include phrases like "Fixes #123", "Closes #456", or "Resolves #789" in your PR description, Zenhub automatically connects the PR to those issues. When you merge the PR, it closes the connected issue, and both remain linked in the Closed pipeline for future reference. As you move issues through pipelines on your Work Tracker, connected PRs move with them automatically.

Manual connections during PR creation

When creating a pull request in GitHub, you'll see Zenhub options below the "Create pull request" button (requires the Zenhub browser extension). The first option lets you choose a default pipeline where new PRs automatically appear on your Work Tracker. This setting applies to all future PRs, streamlining your workflow setup. The second option lets you connect the PR to existing issues in your Workspace, including issues from different repositories.

Connecting existing pull requests to issues

For pull requests already created, navigate to the PR in GitHub and use Zenhub's connection dropdown to link it with issues from your Workspace. You can connect a single PR to multiple issues when one code change addresses several requirements, or connect multiple PRs to a single issue when implementing complex features across multiple code changes.

CAUTION: Zenhub prevents connection conflicts to avoid unexpected behavior. If PR #9 connects to issue #1, it cannot also connect to issue #5 if that issue already connects to a different PR. This ensures clear workflow movement on your Work Tracker.

Tracking pull request status and reviews

Zenhub enhances PR cards with visual indicators that help you understand status at a glance without opening individual pull requests.

Pull request status indicators

PR cards on your Work Tracker show colored status icons that indicate the current state of your pull request:

  • Grey - Draft PR that's still being developed
  • Blue - Open PR that's ready for review
  • Purple - Merged PR (successfully integrated)
  • Red - Closed PR (closed without merging)

When pull requests are merged or closed, the repository name shows with a strikethrough, but the PR remains connected to its issue for tracking completed work.

Clicking on a PR card will open the pull request in Zenhub's web interface by default. If you prefer to open pull requests directly in GitHub, you can enable the "Open all Pull Request links in GitHub" setting in your profile preferences at https://app.zenhub.com/settings/profile under Connected accounts.

Review status tracking

Each reviewer on a PR card shows a colored dot that indicates their review status at a glance:

  • Red dot - Reviewer requested changes (blocks merging)
  • Green dot - Reviewer approved the changes
  • Grey dot - Reviewer left comments (not blocking)
  • Yellow dot - Review is pending (not yet reviewed)

This visual system helps you quickly identify bottlenecks in your review process and follow up with specific reviewers when needed.

Managing pull requests on your Work Tracker

When issues and PRs are connected, you'll see nested grey cards within the main issue card that show the connection relationship. These nested PR cards move together when you drag the issue between pipelines. If a single PR connects to multiple issues, the PR appears as a nested card on each connected issue, and moving any connected issue automatically moves all related issues and the PR to the same pipeline.

You can customize how pull requests appear on your Work Tracker using the view settings. This lets you show or hide pull requests independently from issues, filter by specific repositories, or collapse pipelines that aren't relevant to your current focus. These settings save to your URL, so bookmarking customized views preserves your preferences.

If your Workspace includes multiple GitHub repositories, PRs from any connected repository can be linked to issues from any other repository. This supports workflows where code changes span multiple codebases but relate to unified feature development.

Monitoring pull request progress with automation

Zenhub's workflow automation ensures pull requests move through your process without manual updates, reducing context switching for developers.

When you connect PRs to issues, both move together automatically through your workflow. Moving an issue from "In Progress" to "In Review" also moves connected PRs, and moving connected PRs updates the pipeline location of related issues. Merging PRs can trigger issue closure when using GitHub keywords, keeping your Work Tracker accurate without requiring developers to update project management tools manually.

You can also use Zenhub's Workflows feature to automate PR handoffs between teams. For example, when your development team moves a PR to "Ready for QA", automation can move the same PR to "QA Backlog" on the QA team's Workspace. This eliminates manual communication about PR readiness and ensures immediate visibility across teams.

Using reports to track pull request metrics

Zenhub's reporting features provide insights into pull request performance and team productivity.

Zenhub's GitHub Productivity Insights provide metrics specifically focused on pull request performance. You can track PR throughput (the number of pull requests merged within a time period), code review time (average days from review start to completion), and PR merge ratio (the ratio of merged to opened PRs). These metrics help identify bottlenecks in your review process and optimize team collaboration.

Sprint reports also include pull request progress alongside issue completion. Sprint Burndown shows PR completion contributing to story point progress, Sprint Summary includes merged PRs in completed work calculations, and Team Velocity factors PR completion into overall team capacity planning.

Troubleshooting pull request tracking issues

Common challenges and solutions for effective PR tracking:

If pull requests aren't appearing on your Work Tracker, first verify that the PR's repository is connected to your Workspace and that you have appropriate permissions to access it. Also check that the PR isn't filtered out by your current view settings.

For connection issues between PRs and issues, confirm that both items exist in repositories connected to your Workspace and verify that no connection conflicts exist. If you're using GitHub keywords for connections, ensure you're using proper syntax like "fixes #123" in your PR descriptions.

Missing review status indicators usually means reviewers haven't been formally assigned in GitHub (just mentioning them in comments isn't enough), or Zenhub may need a few minutes to sync after GitHub changes. Verify that Zenhub has permission to access the repository's PR data if problems persist.

FAQ

Q: Can I connect a pull request to multiple issues?
A: Yes, you can connect a single PR to multiple issues. This is useful when one code change addresses several feature requirements or bug fixes.

Q: Do pull requests automatically close issues when merged?
A: Only when you use GitHub's closing keywords (fixes, closes, resolves) in the PR description. Otherwise, merged PRs remain connected to open issues until manually closed.

Q: Can I track pull requests from external contributors?
A: Yes, PRs from external contributors appear on your Work Tracker if they target repositories in your Workspace. You can connect them to issues using the same methods.

Q: Why don't I see review status on some pull request cards?
A: Review status only appears when reviewers are formally assigned in GitHub. PRs without assigned reviewers won't show review status indicators.

Q: Can I set different default pipelines for different types of pull requests?
A: The default pipeline setting applies to all new PRs. However, you can manually move PRs to appropriate pipelines after creation or use workflow automation to route them based on criteria.

Q: How do I track pull requests that aren't connected to issues?
A: Standalone PRs appear as individual cards on your Work Tracker. You can move them through pipelines independently and use the same visual status indicators for tracking progress.