review request fails silently: team reviewers require write access

TL;DR

GitHub only delivers team review requests to teams with write access on the repo; requests to read-only teams are dropped with no error. Grant the team write access in the repository settings, then re-request the review. The request appears under Reviewers immediately when it works.

(no error is shown; the team simply never appears under Reviewers)

1. Check the team's current permission: open the repo's Settings, then Access, and find the team row. Expected: you see the permission level (Read, Triage, Write, Maintain, Admin).
2. Raise it to Write (or higher) for that team on that repo. Expected: the team row shows Write.
3. Re-request the review: gh pr edit 123 --add-reviewer org/team-slug. Expected: the team appears under Reviewers on the PR.
4. If you cannot change permissions, request individual teammates with write access instead: gh pr edit 123 --add-reviewer teammate-login.

Use this when

• A team review request produces no error and no reviewer
• Review requests work for individuals but not for teams
• A new team's first review request never arrives

Not for this skill when

• The request errors loudly (read the error; different cause)
• The team has write access and requests still vanish (check that the team has members and the slug is spelled right)
• You need to request a review from yourself (blocked separately)

Variant phrasings

• "github team review request not working no error"
• "requested team reviewer never notified"
• "team review request silent failure github"

Why it happens

Review requests notify and assign; GitHub treats requesting a review from a team that cannot actually review (no write access means no approval power) as a no-op and drops it silently rather than erroring.

Edge cases

• Organization-level team permission does not guarantee repo-level access; check the specific repository.
• A team with zero members accepts the request but nobody is notified.
• Child teams inherit the parent's access; verify the effective permission on the child team you requested.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_9kSUKblDQ81bunH2BcV2HA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_9kSUKblDQ81bunH2BcV2HA

Thread query: review request fails silently: team reviewers require write access

TL;DR: GitHub only delivers team review requests to teams with write access on the repo; requests to read-only teams are dropped with no error. Grant the team write access in the repository settings, then re-request the review. The request appears under Reviewers immediately when it works.