LowPR-scope Plug & play

Link an issue or ticket reference

Reference at least one tracking ID (e.g., JIRA/GitHub issue) in the PR description using a consistent format (e.g., 'Refs: ABC-123').

Why this matters

Traceability ties changes to requirements and makes auditing simpler.

Side-by-side examples engineers can pattern-match during review.

Avoid

No linked issues.

Prefer

Refs: PAY-742
Closes: GH-1189

Bad

Implements new thing

Good

Refs: OPS-22; Closes: #4512

From the same buckets as this rule.

High
Avoid mixed concerns in one PR
Do not combine mechanical changes (formatting, renames) with behavioral changes. If unavoidable, separate commits and call out which commits are mechanical.
pr-hygienereadability-refactor+1
High
Behavioral changes must add or update tests
If files under src/ change behavior, the PR must include tests/ updates or a PR description line no-tests: <reason> explaining why tests are unaffected.
testing-qualitypr-hygiene
High
Bugfix PRs must match the real production failure (root cause, not band-aid)
If the PR claims to fix a specific issue (e.g., 'Fixes #123' / 'Fix PAY-123'), validate it against the real production error. - If an observability MCP is available (Sentry/Datadog/Bugsnag): fetch the event/stack trace and confirm the change addresses the root cause. - Require a regression test (or a clearly documented reason why a test cannot be added). Call out fixes that only hide symptoms (catch-and-ignore, broader retries, defaulting values) without removing the underlying failure mode.
pr-hygieneerror-handling+2