ping

Send emoji reactions to PR authors to get their attention without leaving a comment.

A lightweight, non-intrusive way to nudge authors — the equivalent of tapping someone’s shoulder in a hallway. GitHub shows reactions inline on the PR, so authors notice them immediately without your reaction cluttering the comment thread.

When to Use

PR has been waiting for review and you want a gentle reminder
You want to acknowledge a PR without doing a full review yet
Following up on a previously reviewed PR
When chase feels too formal but you want to do something

Synopsis

prctrl ping [OPTIONS]

Options

Flag	Description	Default
`-e, --emoji <EMOJI>`	Reaction emoji to send	`eyes`
`-p, --pr <PR>`	Target specific PR by number (shorthand, use with –send)	-
`--pr-number <PR_NUMBER>`	Target specific PR by number	-
`--pr-numbers <PR_NUMBERS>`	PR number(s) to ping (comma-separated)	Interactive
`-n, --dry-run`	Preview what would be pinged without sending	`false`
`-a, --all`	Ping all pending reviews	`false`
`--send`	Actually send the reaction (preview by default)	`false`
`-s, --since-days <DAYS>`	Only show PRs created since this many days ago	-
`--repo <REPO>`	Filter by repository name (partial match, case-insensitive)	-
`--author <AUTHOR>`	Filter by author username (partial match, case-insensitive)	-
`--json`	Output as JSON (useful for scripting)	`false`
`-P, --priority`	Show priority scores for each PR (1-5 stars based on age and size)	`false`

Available Emojis

Emoji	Name	Use Case
👀	`eyes` (default)	“I’ve seen this, looking into it soon”
🚀	`rocket`	“This is ready for launch!” or urgent follow-up
❤️	`heart`	“Love this PR!” or appreciation
👍	`+1`	Simple approval without full review
🎉	`hooray`	Celebration / milestone reached

How It Works

The ping command uses GitHub’s emoji reactions API:

Preview mode (default) — shows what would be sent without actually reacting
Send mode (--send) — actually posts the emoji reaction to the PR

Unlike comments, reactions:

Don’t generate notification spam for the author
Are visible immediately in the PR’s reaction summary
Can be added by anyone, not just reviewers

Output

Preview mode:

👀 Ping Command
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Emoji: eyes

  🔍 Will ping #4821 — Fix authentication bug by @alice (3 days old)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  💡 Use `--send` to actually send the emoji reactions
  💡 Available emojis: eyes (default), rocket, heart, +1, hooray
  💡 Use `-e rocket` or `-e heart` to change emoji

Dry-run mode:

👀 Ping Command
────────────────────────────────────────────────--
  Emoji: eyes

  🔍 Dry-run: would ping #4821 — Fix authentication bug by @alice (3 days old)

────────────────────────────────────────────────--
  (dry-run — no emoji reactions sent)

JSON output:

[
  {
    "repo": "my-service",
    "pr_number": 4821,
    "pr_title": "Fix authentication bug",
    "pr_author": "alice",
    "pr_url": "https://github.com/org/my-service/pull/4821",
    "age_days": 3,
    "emoji": "eyes"
  }
]

Send mode:

👀 Ping Command
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Emoji: eyes

  📤 Sending #4821 — Fix authentication bug by @alice (3 days old)
  📤 Sending #4822 — Update dependencies by @bob (1 days old)

⏳ Sending 2 emoji reaction(s) in parallel...

  ✅ #4821 — Fix authentication bug
  ✅ #4822 — Update dependencies

📊 Sent: 2, Failed: 0

Examples

# Preview what would happen (default)
prctrl ping

# Preview with dry-run flag (explicit preview mode)
prctrl ping --dry-run
prctrl ping -n

# Output as JSON (useful for scripting)
prctrl ping --all --json

# Ping specific PRs (interactive selection)
prctrl ping 4821
prctrl ping 4821,4815,4809

# Send 👀 (eyes) emoji — default
prctrl ping 4821 --send

# Ping a specific PR directly with --pr flag
prctrl ping --pr 4821 --send

# Send 🚀 (rocket) for urgent follow-up
prctrl ping --emoji rocket --send

# Ping all pending reviews at once
prctrl ping --all --send

# Use thumbs up 👍 instead
prctrl ping -e +1 4821 --send

# Ping PRs from a specific repository
prctrl ping --repo my-service --all --send

# Ping PRs from a specific author
prctrl ping --author alice --all --send

# Ping PRs created in the last 3 days (newer PRs only)
prctrl ping --since-days 3 --all --send

# Combine filters for targeted pinging
prctrl ping --repo api --author bob --send

Tips

Be mindful: Don’t spam the same PR with multiple reactions
Pair with chase: Use ping for gentle nudges, chase for formal reminders
Preview first: Always preview before sending (--send is explicit)
Rocket emoji: Great for signaling a PR is ready for final review

chase — Send formal comment reminders
attention — Find PRs that need your attention
focus — Focus on the most urgent PR

Keyboard shortcuts

PRCtrl