Edit pending pull request review comments before submitting the review

[ipanasenko]

Note

🤖 Written by Claude Opus 5.5 on behalf of Illia

Asking for maintainer approval of this direction and scope. #26404 was closed because it didn't have that approval yet. It's linked below as a reference implementation.

Area

apps/web, which also covers desktop.

Problem or use case

While reviewing a pull request, I add line comments with Add to review. They stay pending until I press Submit review. On web and desktop, the only action on a pending comment is discard. To fix a typo or sharpen a comment before submitting, I have to delete it, select the same lines again, and retype the whole thing.

GitHub and GitLab both let you edit a pending comment before submitting.

Feature parity with mobile

T3 Code's mobile app already has this, so web and desktop are behind it.

On mobile:

• The review sheet lists each pending comment with Tap to edit (PullRequestReviewSheet.tsx).
• Tapping a pending comment in the diff opens the same editor (PullRequestRouteScreen.tsx).
• That editor is titled Edit review comment and offers Save draft and Delete draft (PullRequestInlineCommentScreen.tsx).
• A comment edited during submission stays pending (clearSubmittedReview, covered by this test).

On web and desktop, the pending comment card only offers discard (PullRequestReviewAnnotation.tsx).

Proposed solution

Add a pencil next to the trash on a pending review comment. It replaces the comment text with a textarea prefilled with that text, plus Cancel and Save.

• Save, or Cmd/Ctrl+Enter, replaces the text. The comment keeps its id, its line, and its place in the list.
• Cancel, or Escape, leaves the comment as it was.

Today	Proposed

Editing:

Smallest useful scope

• Web and desktop only.
• Pending pull request review comments in the Code tab and in Guide excerpts, which share the same card.
• No contract, server, or mobile change. Pending comments stay client state until the review is submitted, so this works the same on every source control host.
• Out of scope: comments already posted to the host, which are already editable, and the local comments for the agent covered by [Feature]: Edit saved review comments in the diff panel and file preview #14570.

Alternatives considered

• Keep deleting and re-adding the comment. That's the current flow, and it means selecting the lines and retyping the text.
• Extend [Feature]: Edit saved review comments in the diff panel and file preview #14570. It proposes the same action for a different kind of comment, and it lists pending pull request review comments as out of scope, so this needs its own approval.

Risks or tradeoffs

• One more action on the pending comment card.
• A comment edited while a review is being submitted needs care: the old text has already gone to the host. In feat(web): pending review comments can be edited before submitting #26404 the edited version stays pending instead of being dropped, so nothing is lost silently, but it can be submitted again. The review summary already works this way, and mobile clears submitted comments the same way.
• An edit that is still open and unsaved when you press Submit review isn't included. The saved text is sent.
• feat(review): add missing Git and pull request review actions #19703 is open and rewrites the same card, and it saves pending comments to GitHub as private drafts. It doesn't add editing. If it lands first, an edit would also have to update that hosted draft, so this would need rework.

Examples or references

• feat(web): pending review comments can be edited before submitting #26404: reference implementation with before/after screenshots and a focused store test. It was closed for missing approval, and the branch still merges cleanly with main.
• feat(web): edit saved review comments in place #12087: made local comments for the agent editable, and left pending pull request review comments as a follow-up.
• [Feature]: Edit saved review comments in the diff panel and file preview #14570: the discussion for that local comment work.

Contribution

• I would be open to helping implement this. Once this scope is approved, I'll open a fresh PR from feat(web): pending review comments can be edited before submitting #26404 and link the approval.