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Creating an issue or pull request from GitHub Desktop

In this article

You can create an issue or pull request to propose and collaborate on changes to a repository.

Who can use this feature

Anyone can create an issue in a public repository that has issues enabled. Anyone with read permissions to a repository can create a pull request, but you must have write permissions to create a branch.

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About issues and pull requests

You can use issues to track ideas, bugs, tasks, and other information that's important to your project. You can create an issue in your project's repository with GitHub Desktop. For more information about issues, see "About issues."

After you create a branch and make changes to files in a project, you can create a pull request. With a pull request, you can propose, discuss, and iterate on changes before you merge the changes into the project. You can create a pull request in your project's repository with GitHub Desktop. For more information about pull requests, see "About pull requests."

Prerequisites

Before you create a pull request, you'll need to push changes to a branch on GitHub.

Creating an issue

  1. In the menu bar, select Repository, then click Create Issue on GitHub.

    Screenshot of the menu bar on a Mac. In the expanded "Repository" dropdown menu, the cursor hovers over "Create Issue on GitHub".

    Screenshot of the "GitHub Desktop" menu bar on Windows. In the expanded "Repository" dropdown menu, an option labeled "Create Issue on GitHub" is outlined in orange.

  2. On GitHub, click Get started to open an issue template or click Open a blank issue.

Note: If issue templates aren't enabled in your current repository, GitHub Desktop will direct you to a blank issue on GitHub.

Creating a pull request

  1. Click Preview Pull Request. GitHub Desktop will open a preview dialog showing the diff of the changes between your current branch and the base branch.

    Screenshot of the "No local changes" view. A button, labeled "Preview Pull Request", is highlighted with an orange outline.

    Screenshot of the "No local changes" view. A button, labeled "Preview Pull Request", is highlighted with an orange outline.

    Alternatively, to go straight to GitHub to create your pull request, select the dropdown icon and click Create Pull Request.

  2. Confirm that the branch in the base: dropdown menu is the branch where you want to merge your changes. Screenshot of the "Open a Pull Request" dialog window. A button with a dropdown icon, labeled "base: development", is outlined in orange.

    GitHub Desktop will advise you whether the current branch can be automatically merged into the base branch. Screenshot of the "Open a Pull Request" dialog window. A status label stating "Can't automatically merge" is highlighted with an orange outline.

  3. Click Create Pull Request. GitHub Desktop will open your default browser to take you to GitHub.

  4. Type a title and description for your pull request.

  5. To create a pull request that is ready for review, click Create Pull Request. To create a draft pull request, use the drop-down and select Create Draft Pull Request, then click Draft Pull Request. For more information about draft pull requests, see "About pull requests."

Further reading