# How to Test a Pull Request Locally Before Merging.

So your repository got a new Pull Request?, You don't want to merge it before
testing it out yourself locally on your machine. How do you go about it?

The pull request is available on this git ref ``pull/{ID}/head`` which you can
fetch using this, where ID is the pull request id. In this tutorial, I would show you how to check, test, and make changes to a pull request before merging.

## REQUIREMENTS

- Make sure you have a cloned version of the repository on your machine,
Check *[here](https://help.github.com/articles/cloning-a-repository/)* to learn
how to clone repositories from GitHub.

- Have your cloned Repository integrated into your
[IDE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_development_environment)
preferably *[Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/)* [In this
tutorial, I used VsCode]

- Be conversant with *[git](https://git-scm.com/)* commands

## GETTING STARTED

- Go to your repository folder

- Initialize git (you can do that by right-clicking in the root folder)

- Ensure your work tree is clean (you can do that by running `git status`)

- Run the following commands to FETCH the pull request from GitHub where **ID**
is the pull request's ID

```
git fetch origin pull/ID/head && git checkout FETCH_HEAD
```

Or, if you only want to [cherry pick](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-cherry-pick)
it, instead of checking it out, you can use

```
git fetch origin pull/ID/head && git cherry-pick FETCH_HEAD
```

- Open your IDE (VsCode) Your folder structure should change now pending on the
contents of the PR.

What you have now is the contents of the pull requests and not your master
branch, run your checks and tests to determine if the pull request is worth
merging.

At this point, you can do anything you want with this branch. You can run some
local tests, or merge other branches into it, including `master`. Make
modifications as you see fit!

Once satisfied `git checkout master` to return to the master branch.

You can also make changes to the pull request and push it back to GitHub as a new
commit or pull request.

After making your changes:

```
git add --all
git commit -m "Modified PR"
git push origin BRANCHNAME (e.g master or test)
```

That's it, you have tested the pull request and made changes!

If this article helped you, please share!