Reviewing Pull Requests Inside Visual Studio Is Exactly the Kind of Friction Reduction I Like

Emiliano Montesdeoca — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The browser has been stealing too much of the code review workflow for too long.

So I am very happy to see Visual Studio pushing further into end-to-end pull request review inside the IDE.

This is one of those features that may not generate huge headlines, but it can absolutely improve everyday development.

The main value is simple: less context switching

When your review loop lives partly in the IDE and partly in the browser, the friction adds up:

open the PR elsewhere
inspect changes in one tool
jump back to the solution for deeper investigation
switch again to comment or approve

It is not catastrophic. It is just inefficient.

If Visual Studio can let you open, inspect, comment, approve, and merge from the same working environment, that is a real productivity win.

The “review without checkout” option is especially nice

One part I particularly like is the ability to review without checking out the PR branch.

That sounds small, but it is perfect for:

quick review passes
interrupt-driven feedback requests
keeping your current branch and local state intact

That is exactly the kind of flexibility good code review tooling needs.

My take

This is not a revolutionary feature.

It is something better: a practical one.

For teams spending most of their day in Visual Studio, tighter PR review support means fewer workflow breaks and a smoother path from inspection to action.

That is a worthwhile improvement in my book.

Original post: Review pull requests without leaving Visual Studio

Pull Requests | The .NET Blog

Reviewing Pull Requests Inside Visual Studio Is Exactly the Kind of Friction Reduction I Like

The main value is simple: less context switching

The “review without checkout” option is especially nice

My take