Over 40% of pull requests start with an agent. Who reviews them?

In short

• In September 2026, more than 40% of pull requests started from an agent's first draft, versus 17% in March, according to GitHub. In volume: 110 million in September alone.
• Over the 12 months to 9/30/2026: 17.9 billion pushes, 34.3 billion commits and 1.3 billion merged pull requests, private repos included.
• Merged in under two weeks: 83% of PRs with an agent in February, 90% in September (GitHub doesn't label them the same way), versus about 86% for the others. On code quality, nothing.

What came out

Octoverse is the annual report GitHub draws from its own activity, from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, public and private repos combined unless stated otherwise.

The counters took the elevator, according to GitHub's chart:

• Pushes: 5.2 billion (2024), 6.7 billion (2025), 17.9 billion (2026). 2024 and 2025 combined make 11.9 billion: 2026 is well above both.
• Commits: 10.0, then 12.9, then 34.3 billion, i.e. about 3.4 times 2024.
• Merged pull requests: 402 million, 538 million, then 1.3 billion, "an average of 3.5 million a day".

For scale: 17.9 billion pushes in a year is about 49 million a day.

What actually changes

The headline figure only holds for September: more than 40% of pull requests started with "an agent's first draft". GitHub adds "about 6x March's volume", which puts March at around 18 million, versus 110 million in September.

The definition matters: an "agent-started pull request" is a pull request "whose first draft came from a coding agent that we can detect". Two consequences:

• an agent GitHub doesn't spot isn't counted: GitHub presents its agent signals as a floor;
• "first draft" doesn't mean "written by the agent all the way". How many lines were rewritten afterward? Not published.

On speed, GitHub gives a comparison:

• February 2026: 83% of PRs with an agent merged in under two weeks, versus about 86% with no agent detected;
• September 2026: 90% versus about 86%.

Careful with "with an agent": in February GitHub talks about "agent-involved" PRs, in September about "agent pull requests", and its table says "agent-authored" for both. The post doesn't say whether it's the same group as the "agent-started" PRs in the headline.

Translation: out of 1,000 pull requests of each kind, about 900 quick merges on the agent side versus 860 on the other. A small lead, not a tidal wave.

What we don't know yet (GitHub says nothing)

• Quality. No figures on bugs, reverts or security flaws in agent PRs. "Merged within two weeks" measures speed, not correct code.
• Who reviews. GitHub writes that review is "how developers shape what comes back" and that use of AI-assisted review grew more than 90% year over year, with no baseline. How many agent PRs were reviewed, and by whom (a person, another agent)? Not published.
• Which agents. Each agent's share (Copilot, Claude Code, Codex…) of the 110 million: not given.
• The total. The total number of pull requests in September isn't published. We can only say it's under about 275 million, since 110 million is more than 40% of it.

The report ends on a sentence I find honest: someone still has to decide "whether it works, whether it belongs, and whether it's good". Exactly: that's the measurement that's missing.

Key terms

• Pull request (PR): a proposed change to a project. Someone reviews it, then "merges" it into the code, or rejects it.
• Commit: "a saved snapshot of changes to a repository".
• Push: sending those changes to GitHub; one push can contain several commits.
• Coding agent: an AI you hand a task to and that works on it on its own, all the way to proposing code.

About the source

• Who announces it: GitHub, post signed "GitHub Staff".
• Date: 10/28/2026, 16:07 UTC according to the page metadata.
• Link: https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
• The octoverse.github.com page only shows a title and a "Read now" link to this post.

Source passages

Show the 14 sources

Ref.	Quote (original language)	URL
S1↑1↑2	"Developers pushed code to GitHub 17.9 billion times in the past 12 months, more than in 2024 and 2025 combined."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S2↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6	"By September 2026, more than 40% of pull requests on GitHub started with an agent's first draft, up from 17% in March. That is 110 million in September alone, about 6x March's volume." / "For a growing share of work, the first move is now directing an agent, and review is how developers shape what comes back."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S3↑1↑2↑3↑4	"Commits across all repo types (public and private) climbed even faster to 34.3 billion, more than three times where they stood two years ago. Merged pull requests more than tripled to 1.3 billion over the same period, an average of 3.5 million a day."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S4↑1↑2	"Agent-started pull request: A pull request whose first draft came from a coding agent that we can detect." / "Agent signal: An observed sign of agent involvement in telemetry, such as an agent-opened pull request. It is a floor, since not all agent use may be detected."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S5↑1↑2↑3	"The Octoverse year runs October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, inclusive. Unless noted, metrics include public and private repositories." / "2024 and 2025 figures are recalculated on the same definitions and window"	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S5b↑1↑2	"Commit: A saved snapshot of changes to a repository." / "Push: Sending saved changes to GitHub. One push can carry many commits."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S6↑1↑2↑3↑4	"In February, 83% of agent-involved pull requests merged within two weeks, a touch behind the roughly 86% for pull requests without detected agent involvement. By September, agent pull requests were at 90%, while the comparison group held at about 86%."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S7↑1↑2	"Among GitHub Copilot's monthly active users, 55% now use agentic features, up from 35% a year ago." / "Copilot cloud agent, where a developer assigns a task and an agent works on it independently, grew 230% year over year, against 85% for agent chat."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S8↑	"Review is where developers shape what comes back, and more tooling is being built for it." / "Usage of AI-assisted code review and GitHub Advanced Security both grew more than 90% year over year."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S9↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5	Graphique « The year of momentum » du billet : Pushes 5.2B / 6.7B / 17.9B ; Commits 10.0B / 12.9B / 34.3B ; Merged pull requests 402M / 538M / 1.3B (2024 / 2025 / 2026) ; « Includes public and private repositories. Each year is the 12 months ending September 30 »	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S10↑	Vignette : « >40% of pull requests are agent generated » / « 110M PRs were started by an agent in Sept 2026 » ; tableau : « Agent-authored pull requests » / « Pull requests without detected agent involvement » / « Merged within 2 weeks February 2026 » 83% / ~86% ; « September 2026 » 90% / ~86%	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S11↑	"None of that activity changes who decides what the code should do." / "And someone still has to decide whether it works, whether it belongs, and whether it's good."	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S12↑1↑2↑3	Byline "GitHub Staff", displayed date "October 28, 2026"; metadata article:published_time "2026-10-28T16:07:40+00:00"	https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commits-pushes-reach-new-highs-in-2026-as-developers-build-with-agents/
S14↑	"Octoverse report 2026" / "Developer activity reaches new highs on GitHub" / "Read now" (lien vers le billet du blog GitHub)	https://octoverse.github.com/

Our math

• R1 5.2 + 6.7 = 11.9 billion pushes (2024 + 2025) S9.
• R2 34.3 ÷ 10.0 ≈ 3.4 (2026 commits versus 2024) S9.
• R3 17.9 billion ÷ 365 days ≈ 49 million pushes a day S1.
• R4 110 million ÷ 6 ≈ 18 million in March; "about 6x" is rounded by GitHub, so an order of magnitude S2.
• R5 Out of 1,000 pull requests: 90% = 900, 86% = 860; a gap of 40 S6. A projection, not a measurement.
• R6 110 million ÷ 0.40 = 275 million; since the share is above 40%, the total is below about 275 million ("110 million" is itself rounded by GitHub) S2.