Summary

Currently, all status checks configured as "required" for a branch in branch protections or repository rules must pass before a pull request can be merged or added to the queue. These same checks must also pass before a change is merged by the queue. Sometimes it's unnecessary to run certain checks in both places, but there's currently no way around this if the status check is required.

There are also cases where different sets of status checks need to be run based on the changes made in the pull request. This is usually done to reduce CI time and cost and ensure only necessary status checks are run. However, a status check that does not always run cannot be configured as required since it would block merging of changes were the check wasn't run.

The solution is giving teams more ways to configure which status checks are required in different contexts and without having to configure a fixed set of status checks upfront.

Intended Outcome

• Reduce CI costs by not running unnecessary checks
• Reduce time-to-merge
• Avoid requirement to use custom apps and workflows to rollup and report summary when the set of required checks is variable

How will it work?

Admins have other options for choosing which status checks are required. For example, one option may be to require all reported status checks must pass.