What is a pull request (PR)?
Why Interviewers Ask This
Foundational questions like this help interviewers calibrate the rest of the interview. A confident, accurate answer signals that you have solid Git & GitHub basics — a prerequisite for any developer role.
Answer
A pull request (PR) — called a merge request (MR) in GitLab — is a feature of hosted Git platforms (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) that provides a structured way to propose, review, and merge changes from one branch to another. It is NOT a Git feature — it's a collaboration workflow on top of Git. A PR notifies team members that you've pushed changes and requests them to review and "pull" (merge) your branch. PR features: (1) Code review: reviewers can comment on specific lines, request changes, or approve; (2) Discussion: threaded conversations about the changes; (3) Diff view: easy to see all changes; (4) CI/CD integration: automated tests run on the PR; (5) Merge options: merge commit, squash merge, or rebase merge; (6) Branch protection: require approvals before merging. Good PR practices: small, focused changes; descriptive title and description; link related issues; respond to feedback promptly; don't ignore review comments. Draft PRs signal "work in progress" and request early feedback without being ready to merge.
Common Mistake
Many candidates answer correctly but can't explain the 'why'. Always be prepared to justify your answer with a concrete example or use case from your Git & GitHub experience.