Disclaimer:     

The code review standard outlined in this document represents a set of best practices designed to enhance code quality, collaboration, and maintainability across our organization. We recognize that different teams may have unique release strategies, development cycles, and operational philosophies, which can influence the application of these guidelines. As such, while we strongly encourage adherence to these best practices, we acknowledge that strict alignment may not always be feasible or practical for every team.

This document sets forth a minimum set of expectations intended to create a baseline for code review practices. However, we also recognize that some teams may choose to implement more stringent requirements based on their specific needs and contexts. Teams are encouraged to adapt these guidelines to fit their workflows, maintaining the core principles of thoroughness, consistency, and constructive feedback.

The primary goal is to foster a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing, rather than impose a rigid, one-size-fits-all process. By embracing flexibility and respecting diverse approaches, we aim to support each team in achieving their highest standards of code quality and efficiency while remaining aligned with the broader organizational objectives.

The Standards:  

All Code is Reviewed:

Every piece of code written by a developer must be examined by at least one other team member before it is merged into the main codebase.  

This ensures that code quality is maintained, potential bugs are identified early, and knowledge is shared across the team.

Use pull requests or merge requests as a standard practice. Set up workflows in your version control system (e.g., GitHub, GitLab) to mandate code reviews before merges.

All Commits Have Good Hygiene:

Commits should be well-structured, meaningful, and adhere to the project's commit message guidelines.

Good commit hygiene makes the codebase history easier to read and understand, facilitates debugging, and improves collaboration.

Encourage small, incremental commits that focus on single tasks or fixes. Use clear, descriptive commit messages that explain the "what" and "why" of the changes. Enforce these practices through pre-commit hooks or automated checks.

There is a Way to Preview Changes:

Developers and reviewers must be able to see the effects of code changes before they are merged into the main codebase.

This helps catch visual or functional issues that might not be evident from the code alone, enhancing the quality of the review process.

Utilize continuous integration (CI) pipelines to deploy changes to a staging environment or use local development environments to run and test the changes. Incorporate tools like feature flags or preview links to facilitate easy access to the modified application.

Releases Happen Regularly:

The team should aim for a consistent and predictable release schedule, whether it’s daily, weekly, or another interval that fits the project needs.

Regular releases ensure that new features and bug fixes are delivered to users promptly, and feedback can be gathered continuously to inform future development.

Adopt agile methodologies or continuous delivery practices. Automate the release process as much as possible to reduce the overhead and risk associated with manual releases.

Tests are Required:

All code changes must include appropriate automated tests to verify that the functionality works as expected and to prevent regressions.

Automated testing is critical to maintaining the stability and reliability of the codebase, enabling safe and efficient code changes.

Integrate unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests into the development workflow. Use CI/CD pipelines to run these tests automatically on every commit or pull request and enforce test coverage standards to ensure comprehensive test coverage.