The HeyDeer Review check
HeyDeer reports each review as a GitHub check named HeyDeer Review on the commit it reviewed. The check carries the summary and the complete review, and you can require it before merging.
What the check shows
The check shows a review’s progress, then completes with one of the conclusions below. Its Details link opens the review in HeyDeer.
The summary starts with the number of findings, unresolved previous threads and failed repository checks, and says whether a follow-up review covered only the changes since HeyDeer’s previous review. The check’s page then shows the complete review: warnings, every issue, concerns declined in discussion, and the approval decision when Automatic approval is on. See Reading a review.
Conclusions
| Conclusion | Title | When |
|---|---|---|
| Success | Review completed — no issues found / Review completed with findings | No issues, or issues with Fail the check when issues are found off. |
| Neutral | Review completed with warnings / Review completed with findings | The review has a warning, and the setting is off. |
| Failure | Review found issues that need attention / Review incomplete | Issues or a warning, with the setting on. Review incomplete also appears, whatever the setting, when a repository check or an earlier finding wasn’t assessed. |
| Failure | Review could not run / Review failed | HeyDeer couldn’t start or finish the review. The summary says why. |
| Timed out | Review timed out | The review ran out of time. |
| Cancelled | Review cancelled / Review superseded | The review was canceled, or the result is for an older commit or target branch. |
| Skipped | Review skipped / No reviewable files | Your automatic review filters exclude the pull request (drafts by default), or every changed file is outside the review scope. |
| Skipped or Action required | Review skipped / Review required | The commit wasn’t reviewed automatically, for example under Manual only, after Once per PR used its review, or when out of credits. It is Action required when the setting is on. |
When a commit wasn’t reviewed or the review didn’t finish, the summary says what to do next, usually to comment @heydeer review.
Fail the check when issues are found
This setting is off by default, so a completed review passes even when it reports issues. Turn it on under Publish results; see Publishing results.
Issues are findings within the review’s feedback scope, including ones the discussion already raised, and HeyDeer’s earlier threads that are still open. Concerns someone with write access declined don’t count. See Follow-up reviews.
Require the check before merging
- Let HeyDeer review at least one pull request in the repository, so the check exists.
- In GitHub, open the branch protection rule or ruleset for your target branch and turn on required status checks.
- Add HeyDeer Review and select HeyDeer as its source.
- Turn on Fail the check when issues are found. Otherwise the check passes even when a review reports issues.
GitHub treats Success, Neutral and Skipped as passing, and Failure, Action required, Timed out and Cancelled as blocking. Once HeyDeer publishes checks in a repository, every pull request update gets a check result, so a required check never waits forever. In a merge queue, the check confirms that each queued pull request meets its review requirements, without reviewing the combined code or using credits; your CI should still check the merge group.
In a Manual only repository, HeyDeer publishes no check until its first review there. See Automatic reviews.
Request a review from the check
Re-run, Re-run all and the Review this revision button each work like commenting @heydeer review as the person who clicked, for that check’s commit. Review this revision appears when a review is the next step. See PR comment commands.