---
title: Preparing a Pull Request
---

# Preparing a pull request

- Try to keep the pull requests small. A pull request should try its very best
  to address only a single concern.
- Make sure all tests pass and add additional tests for the code you submit.
  Check out the [testing guide](/tests).
- Document your reasoning behind the changes. Explain why you wrote the code in
  the way you did. The code should be clear enough to explain what it does.
- If you are making changes to the API, make sure to update the version in the
  docs. Check out [the guide here](/contributing_api).
- If there's an existing issue related to the pull request, reference to it by
  adding something like `References/Closes/Fixes/Resolves #305`, where 305 is
  the issue number. See [GitHub's own guide on closing issues via
  PR](https://github.com/blog/1506-closing-issues-via-pull-requests).
- If you follow the pull request template, you can't go wrong.

_Please note: all commits in a pull request will be squashed when merged, but
when your PR is approved and passes our CI, it will be live on production!_

If the pull request affects the public API in any way, a post on DEV from the
DEV Team account should accompany it. This is the duty of the core team to carry
out.
