31

Github provides notifications via mail or web, based on watched repos. But is there a way to get more in detail? Like only watch a specific pull requet or assigned issue? I feel like i get spammed from comments on other pull requests that have nothing to do with me.

ellotheth
  • 4,333
  • 2
  • 17
  • 29
SG 86
  • 6,974
  • 3
  • 25
  • 34
  • I think you should be changing your mailing settings for NOT- to send the watched repo's. Or you can just **star** them instead of **watching** – uday Jan 30 '13 at 17:20
  • Yeah but then i receive nothing right? – SG 86 Jan 30 '13 at 17:29
  • no you will get all the changes others do to ur repo. pull req, issues, etc. – uday Jan 30 '13 at 19:04
  • 1
    Note: Since July 2017, you have the notion of code ownership, for a more fine-grained notification. See [my edited answer below](https://stackoverflow.com/a/14613419/6309) – VonC Jul 08 '17 at 20:58
  • 1
    Note: since May 2019, you now have custom thread subscription: See [my edited answer below](https://stackoverflow.com/a/14613419/6309) – VonC May 10 '19 at 07:28

3 Answers3

26

Update Nov. 2020: you now have "Custom notification controls"

This week we are giving you more control over the types of content that you are notified about on GitHub:

Watching gets granular

Watching a repository can often be a double-edged sword.
You want to stay up to date with a project, but if you have a specific interest or role within the community, you have no choice but to subscribe to updates on everything.
No more.

Beneath the watch button, you’ll find that we have made a few changes: we’ve made the language clearer so you know what you’ll receive updates about, we’ve made the interface more accessible and, we’ve introduced a new custom category.
Within this, you can select the types of content you would like to be notified about.

Do you focus on code review? Limit your notifications to pull requests.
Are you a community manager? Select Discussions.
As new types of notifications are added, you’ll find them in this menu.

You’ll find these controls on all repository pages and on your watching page where you can customize notifications for repositories you already watch.

Update May 2019: you now have "Custom thread subscriptions"

You can now limit the types of notifications you receive for any issue and pull request to be specific to merge, reopened and/or closed events.

https://github.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/custom-subscription-notifications-1.jpg?resize=1354%2C780w=1354

That should allow to further control the amount of emails received.

Update July 2017: you now can declare in the GitHub repo a code owner.
Any pull request touching a file managed by said code owner will trigger a notification to that person.

See "Repo owner automatic notification after updating a pull request"

2015: Yes, for instance, for a specific issue on a project (issue 2595), you can register by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the right side of the page (since 2015).

Once clicked, it will appear as "Unsubscribe" (for you to click if you don't want any more notifications)

notif

So you don't have to watch the all repo, you can subscribe only to specific issues.

VonC
  • 1,262,500
  • 529
  • 4,410
  • 5,250
  • How do you filter out or un-watch all threads that you were not assigned to? – ryan Jun 05 '13 at 19:18
  • @ryan right now, I don't, because I wouldn't know how to do that: that could be a question in itself. – VonC Jun 05 '13 at 19:25
3

Not sure if this has changed, but now there's a subscribe button in the top right corner:

https://help.github.com/articles/subscribing-to-conversations/

grahamrhay
  • 2,046
  • 4
  • 19
  • 29
-1

first disclaimer, Im part of the team at zigi.ai

Instead of getting notifications for every activity on Git via email or web, Zigi integrates with your Github to learn your pull request activity, Filters the information and sends you actionable notifications on your pull requests activity (from all repos) that is relevant to your work directly from Slack.

Once a PR is created in GitHub, Zigi manages the entire workflow:

  • Gathers all the communications related to a PR- that's relevant to you
  • Tells me which PRs are waiting for my review from all repos
  • Shows which of my PRs are waiting for a teammate's review and for how long
  • Makes it easy to ping teammates to remind them (without feeling awkward about bothering them)
  • Lets me add reviewers
  • Tells me when a PR is stuck or open for a long time
  • Helps me make sure the code owner approved

See here an example of a Slack message with filtered notification for pull request

Zivit Katz
  • 1