GitHub Streamlines Pull Request Reviews With Unified Comments Panel

GitHub rolled out a quality-of-life update on February 19, 2026 that consolidates pull request comments directly into the Files changed page, addressing a long-standing workflow friction point for developers reviewing code.

The change eliminates the constant tab-switching between Files changed and Conversation pages that's been a minor annoyance for anyone who's reviewed more than a handful of PRs. General comments now appear in a dedicated Comments panel alongside the code diff, letting reviewers track high-level discussions without losing their place.

Beyond just viewing, developers can now add new comments and use quote reply directly from this panel. The update also fixes filter behavior for resolved and unresolved comments—states now display and update correctly, which sounds basic but apparently wasn't working as expected before.

One practical tweak: when requesting changes, you can skip writing a summary if you've already left inline comments. Small thing, but it removes unnecessary friction from the review flow.

Part of Broader Files Changed Overhaul

This update builds on GitHub's public preview of an improved Files changed page that launched in June 2025, which focused on faster diff rendering, better accessibility, and improved keyboard navigation. The platform has been methodically addressing performance and usability issues in its core PR workflow throughout the past year.

The timing aligns with GitHub's broader push into AI-assisted development. Just two days earlier, on February 17, the company announced technical preview access for Agentic Workflows—AI agents that run automatically in GitHub Actions to handle tasks like PR reviews and issue triage. The platform also recently added support for Copilot agents to auto-fill PR templates.

What's Coming Next

GitHub has previewed Pull Request Stacks for early 2026, which would allow developers to break large changes into interdependent PRs that can merge individually or as a set. Combined with November 2025's Actions improvements—YAML anchors, expanded cache capacity, and deeper reusable workflow nesting—the platform is clearly betting that smoother PR workflows translate to faster shipping.

Developers experiencing issues with the new Files changed page can submit feedback through GitHub's dedicated preview discussion thread.