Slicing Pull Requests
Build and split a feature as interface, then core integrations, then helpers, then final integration and tests, with one reviewable PR per slice.
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🌱 A rough idea, planted recently. Expect rough edges — it will grow.
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Order the work so each slice compiles and reviews on its own: interface first, integration and tests last.
The sequence
- Design and implement the interface: types, contracts, stubs.
- Core integrations: the main pieces wired to real dependencies.
- Helper methods: the supporting logic.
- Final integration and tests: wire it together end to end.
Split the change into PRs along those lines. Where a slice is still too big, bisect it again. The history stays tidy and each PR is easy to understand on its own.
Why it works
- Reviewers see the contract before the implementation, so design feedback comes early, while it’s cheap to act on.
- Smaller batches mean fewer conflicts and faster feedback. The same friction-and-batch-size argument as in Growing a Platform: Breadth, Depth and Gear Shifting.
- It suits coding agents well: one PR per sub-feature, each with its own fresh context and short session notes (Working with AI Coding Agents).
- It pairs nicely with Git Worktrees: A Desk per Branch when several slices are in review at once.
When it doesn’t fit
A genuinely tiny change doesn’t need four PRs. And if the interface is still being discovered, a throwaway spike first is better than freezing a contract you’ll rewrite; slice once you know the shape.
- #pull-requests
- #code-review
- #git
- #batch-size
- #ways-of-working
↩ Linked from (4)
…ed, why, how to test it, screenshots) and smaller, focused changes, so reviews became faster and more useful (Slicing Pull Requests). Ran regular syncs. A short, regular team sync plus a wider UI guild across departments…
Fast Feedback from Deploy Previews · A Testing Strategy Teams Actually Adopted · Slicing Pull Requests · Playwright
It's a good first task to hand to a coding agent too, as long as you check what it reports (Working with AI Coding Agents). Once you start changing things, keep the changes small: Slicing Pull Requests.
Starting in an unfamiliar repo? Baseline its health first: First Week in a New Codebase. Splitting the work into reviewable pieces: Slicing Pull Requests. The platform view: Agentic Development Platforms.
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