Follow-up reviews
After a pull request’s first review, HeyDeer builds on what it already reviewed. It looks for new problems in what changed, rechecks its earlier findings, and doesn’t raise a concern the discussion already covers.
Review only new changes
On by default. Set it in Organization settings → Review rules, under How to review, or in a repository’s Review rules. It applies to automatic and requested reviews.
A later review searches what the pull request’s own commits changed since HeyDeer’s last successful review, and rechecks that review’s findings. Findings that still apply are kept without a new comment, so the check and approval still cover the whole pull request.
Commits merged in from the target branch are left out, but conflict resolutions are reviewed. Repository checks added or edited since the last review apply to the whole pull request.
When HeyDeer reviews the whole pull request
- The first review, or any review while Review only new changes is off.
- Someone commented
@heydeer full review. - The target branch changed, or the last review was of the same commit.
- The last review had a review warning.
- GitHub no longer has the last reviewed commit, for example after a force push.
The check’s summary and the review’s Reviewed row in HeyDeer show whether a review covered New changes or the Whole PR.
Existing discussion
HeyDeer reads the description, comments, review summaries and every review thread before posting. It doesn’t repost a problem someone already raised, but counts it as an issue until it is fixed or declined. A regression or a problem caused by a fix counts as new.
HeyDeer replies in and resolves only threads it started. With Resolve addressed HeyDeer threads on, the default, it resolves them once the current code fixes the concern or shows it was mistaken, or the concern is declined. A reply saying it’s fixed isn’t enough.
Declining a finding
Reply in the finding’s thread and say why, for example that the behavior is intended or tracked in an issue, or resolve the thread. Only people with write access or higher can decline; other replies are read as context.
HeyDeer considers the decision on the next review and accepts it unless it has concrete evidence of a serious problem the decision missed. An accepted decline isn’t posted again, doesn’t count as an issue, and is listed under Declined in discussion.
Unresolved threads
HeyDeer’s threads whose concern is still open or couldn’t be verified appear in the check’s summary, block automatic approval, and fail the check when Fail the check when issues are found is on.