Using the PR Review Status Check for Quality Gating

The PR Review Status Check provides a reliable and consistent way to control whether pull requests can be merged. Instead of relying on reviewer counts or evaluating the entire target branch, this status check focuses specifically on the changes introduced by the pull request itself. This allows teams to enforce quality standards without blocking progress due to unrelated, pre-existing issues.

The PR Review Status Check is available automatically when Protect what’s new is enabled and is designed to work consistently across supported version control providers.

When a pull request is opened, Gearset evaluates the changes in that pull request against your enabled review policies. The result is surfaced as a single status check on the pull request, typically named using the target branch, such as Code Reviews Approval: UAT.
​
​

This check reflects only the delta introduced by the pull request. If the new changes introduce issues that violate your policies, the check fails. If the pull request does not introduce new problems, the check passes, even if the target branch already contains existing issues. This behavior ensures that teams are held accountable for new work without being penalized for historical technical debt.
​

Once configured as a required status check in your repository, the pull request cannot be merged until the check passes.

The PR Review Status Check is created automatically when a Clayton workspace is configured in Gearset, the repository is connected to the same version control provider, and Protect what’s new is enabled. No additional setup is required in Gearset itself.

Many teams rely on minimum reviewer requirements to control merges, but those rules can be inconsistent and easy to bypass depending on the version control provider and repository configuration. The PR Review Status Check provides a stronger and more predictable gate because it is based on policy evaluation rather than reviewer identity.
​

Because the check is enforced at the status level, it behaves consistently across providers and cannot be satisfied by automated actors unintentionally replacing required human reviewers. Teams that still require human review can continue to enforce that separately, for example through code owners or required reviewer rules, while relying on the status check for automated quality validation.
​

When using Gearset-managed connections, approval behavior can vary due to restrictions that prevent users from approving their own pull requests. In some cases, this can result in missing or inconsistent approval signals.
​

The PR Review Status Check avoids this issue by acting as the primary merge gate regardless of approval behavior. Code Reviews ensures that feedback is always left on the pull request, at minimum as comments, even when an approval cannot be applied. This makes the status check the most reliable mechanism for enforcing quality when managed connections are in use.
​

Older policy status checks evaluate the state of the entire target branch rather than the pull request itself. As a result, they can fail due to issues that existed before the pull request was created, even when no new problems are introduced.

The PR Review Status Check addresses this limitation by focusing exclusively on new changes. While legacy checks remain available to avoid disrupting existing workflows, the PR Review Status Check represents the preferred and more intuitive approach for pull request quality gating.

The PR Review Status Check offers a simpler and more accurate way to control pull request merges. By evaluating only what has changed, consolidating policy results into a single signal, and behaving consistently across version control providers, it reduces friction while improving confidence in every merge.

For teams looking to modernize their review process and avoid the limitations of branch-based or reviewer-count gating, the PR Review Status Check is the recommended solution.