review requested from codeowners but no review submitted: PR stuck

TL;DR

CODEOWNERS auto-requested reviewers who never responded. Ping them directly, request specific individuals instead of the whole team, or check that the CODEOWNERS patterns actually match your changed files.

Error

Review requested from @org/team  -  2 of 2 required reviews pending, no activity for 6 days.

Steps

1. Check what CODEOWNERS matched: the PR shows which rule requested which team. Expected: you see the owning team for your files.
2. Request specific people, not just the team - team requests notify everyone and therefore no one. Expected: named reviewers get notified.
3. Ping in the team's channel with the PR link and what you need reviewed. Expected: a reviewer picks it up.
4. If the team is wrong for the files, fix the CODEOWNERS pattern in a separate PR. Expected: future PRs route to the right owners.

When to use

• CODEOWNERS requested reviews that never arrived and the PR is stuck.
• The owning team exists but is unresponsive.

When not to use

• The CODEOWNERS file itself has a syntax error - fix the file first.
• Reviews were requested from individuals who responded; the block is elsewhere.

Tool compatibility

• GitHub / GitLab code owners.
• Any repo with a CODEOWNERS file.

Variant phrasings

CODEOWNERS matched the wrong team

Patterns are last-match-wins; reorder or narrow the patterns.

Team has no active members

Update the team roster or the CODEOWNERS entry.

Why it happens

CODEOWNERS routes review requests by file path, but a request is just a notification - nothing compels a response. PRs stall when the request goes to a large team or to people who no longer own the code.

Edge cases

• Do not dismiss the requirement by removing the CODEOWNERS entry in the same PR; that is a policy change needing its own review.
• Some orgs let you proceed after N days with no response - know your policy before waiting indefinitely.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_9jFYKaTkMDqVPLFRmu5OJA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_9jFYKaTkMDqVPLFRmu5OJA

Thread query: review requested from codeowners but no review submitted: PR stuck

TL;DR: CODEOWNERS auto-requested reviewers who never responded. Ping them directly, request specific individuals instead of the whole team, or check that the CODEOWNERS patterns actually match your changed files.