set-pr-thresholds.md

title	Setting code quality thresholds for pull requests
shortTitle	Set quality thresholds
intro	Enforce your code quality standards automatically by blocking pull requests that fall below the thresholds you set, at the repository or organization level.
allowTitleToDifferFromFilename	true
versions	feature code-quality
product	{% data reusables.gated-features.code-quality-availability %}
permissions	{% data reusables.permissions.code-quality-repo-enable %}
audience	driver
contentType	how-tos
redirect_from	/code-security/code-quality/how-tos/set-pr-thresholds
category	Improve code quality

You can block pull requests that don't meet your code quality standards by adding {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %} thresholds to a ruleset. If a pull request doesn't meet a threshold, it can't be merged.

You can set thresholds for:

• {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} findings, by the lowest severity of results you require to be resolved.
• Code coverage, by the minimum percentage of code that must be covered by tests.

You can enforce these thresholds at the repository level, or at the organization level to apply the same standard across many repositories at once. Choose the organization level when you want a consistent quality bar across teams, and the repository level when a single project needs its own standard. {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %} {% data variables.code-quality.recent_suggestions %} cannot be set as a threshold.

Prerequisites

• {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %} is enabled. See AUTOTITLE
• Code in a supported language. See Supported languages.

Note

The threshold will have an impact only if the repository has code in one or more of the supported languages, see AUTOTITLE.

Confirming {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %} runs successfully on pull requests

Before you add or update a ruleset to include a threshold for {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %}, confirm that the {% data variables.code-quality.workflow_name_actions %} workflow is running and reporting results back to pull requests. Otherwise, the ruleset could block the merging of all pull requests.

1. Open a recent pull request and scroll to the "Checks" summary at the bottom of the pull request.
2. Confirm that the "{% data variables.code-quality.check_status_name %}" check ran successfully and reported its status.

For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Adding or updating a ruleset to include {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality_short %}

The following steps create or update a ruleset at the repository level. To enforce the same threshold across multiple repositories at once, create an organization ruleset with the same Require code quality results rule instead. See AUTOTITLE.

1. Navigate to the "Settings" tab of your repository.
2. In the left sidebar, under "Code and automation", expand {% octicon "repo-push" aria-hidden="true" aria-label="repo-push" %} Rules, then click Rulesets.
3. If you don't already have a ruleset to protect your default branch, expand New ruleset and click New branch ruleset. Alternatively, open your existing ruleset for the default branch and move to step 5.
4. If you are creating a new ruleset:
   • Define a name for the ruleset.
   • Set the "Enforcement status" to "Active."
   • Under "Target branches" add a target of "Include default branch."
5. Under "Branch rules", enable "Require code quality results".
6. Set "Severity" to define the lowest severity of code quality results that must be resolved before a pull request can be merged into the default branch. For example:
   • Set "Errors" to block pull requests with unresolved code quality errors being merged.
   • Set "Warnings and higher" to block pull requests with unresolved code quality warnings or errors being merged.
   • Set "Notes and higher" to block pull requests with unresolved code quality notes, warnings or errors being merged.
   • Set "All" to block pull requests with any unresolved code quality results being merged.
7. When you have finished defining or editing the ruleset, click Create or Save changes.

Setting a code coverage threshold

You can also block pull requests that fall below a code coverage threshold. This uses a separate Restrict code coverage rule, not the Require code quality results rule used above, and your repository must upload code coverage data first. For the full procedure, see AUTOTITLE.

Next steps

Learn how {% data variables.product.prodname_code_quality %} works on pull requests to prevent code quality issues from reaching your default branch. See AUTOTITLE.