A required reviewer is an approved person or role whose review must be completed before certain source changes can be merged or released. It matters because human review remains a key control against rushed, unsafe, or malicious changes reaching important code paths.
What is Required Reviewer?
Required reviewers help enforce separation of duties, accountability, and domain-specific oversight. In security-sensitive repositories, they reduce the chance that one compromised account or careless contributor can push unchallenged changes into trusted branches.
What Required Reviewer Commonly Supports
Common uses include branch protection, release approval, code governance, and separation of duties.
Required Reviewer vs. Optional Informal Review
A required reviewer creates an enforced checkpoint. Optional informal review depends more on habit and may be skipped under pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why require reviewers?
Because critical changes deserve another informed human set of eyes before they affect production or security.
Can required review become a bottleneck?
Yes, if designed poorly. Good workflows balance speed with genuine risk-based oversight.
