Code Review Best Practices

We started a code review best practices thread in our community

What about you? Share some of your best practices in the comments 👇

Code reviews are one of the most important aspects of today’s software development workflow. With that in mind, I want to share some code review best practices with you. It is not an exhaustive list, but it can be a good starting point for you and your team.

For code author

Aim for small changes
Group code changes that are related
Read through your code carefully
before submitting it for review
Run tests before submitting the code for review
Use commit templates
Describe the purpose of the code change
Add junior developers to the review to let them learn
Add experienced developers if you need them
Do not add too many reviewers
Be open to comments and suggestions
Show respect to the reviewers
Thank the reviewer for their comments and suggestions

For code reviewer

Give respectful and constructive feedback
Give clear and actionable suggestions or recommendations
Specify the changes that the author needs to make and their level of importance
Ensure traceability for decisions
Give feedback on time
Focus mainly on core issues
Talk directly with the author, if necessary
Reduce multitasking and task switching as it reduces productivity
Don’t forget that great feedback include praise
Use a code review checklist

💡 If you want to dive deeper into code reviews, we created a guide that explains in detail what code reviews are and how to optimize them. We even give you checklists to help you become the best code reviewer you can be. Check it out!