GitHub blocks PR merges when test coverage drops

GitHub added test-coverage merge protection for pull requests (June 30): use branch rulesets to block PRs from merging when coverage drops below thresholds your team sets.

Key points

• Two threshold types, used separately or together: minimum coverage (%) and a maximum allowed drop versus the default branch.
• An evaluate mode lets you observe the impact on real PR flow first, then switch to active mode to enforce merge blocking.
• Goal: a practical quality gate right at merge time, reducing accidental regressions and keeping testing standards consistent as code changes.
• Now in public preview for all GitHub Code Quality users on github.com; Code Quality is available for GitHub Enterprise Cloud and Team (not yet Enterprise Server) and is free during the preview.
• Per the previously announced timeline, GitHub Code Quality goes GA on July 20, 2026.

For teams enforcing coverage with homegrown CI jobs (JaCoCo + scripts, etc.), this moves the quality gate into the platform layer — configured via rulesets instead of custom checkers.