Feature Request: API/CLI support for re-requesting PR reviews (including Copilot)

[AndyKorol]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Yes. When using automated workflows (GitHub Actions, AI coding agents like Codex, Copilot Coding Agent) that iterate on pull requests, there's currently no API or CLI way to re-request a review from a reviewer who has already submitted a review.

Current behavior:

• gh pr edit <PR#> --add-reviewer copilot or the REST API POST /pulls/{pull_number}/requested_reviewers works for the initial review request
• Once Copilot (or any reviewer) has already submitted a review, using the same API call doesn't trigger a new review
• The only way to re-request is through the GitHub web UI by clicking the "re-request review" sync icon (🔄)

Impact:
This breaks AI-agent-assisted development workflows where:

1. AI agent pushes code changes to a PR
2. Bot reviewers (Codex, Copilot Code Review) need to re-review the new changes
3. Without API support, the agent cannot programmatically trigger re-review
4. Manual intervention is required for every iteration cycle

Describe the solution you'd like

Add API/CLI support for re-requesting reviews, matching the existing web UI functionality:

REST API option:

POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{pull_number}/requested_reviewers/re-request
{
  "reviewers": ["copilot"],
  "team_reviewers": []
}

Or extend the existing endpoint with a force parameter:

POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{pull_number}/requested_reviewers
{
  "reviewers": ["copilot"],
  "force": true  // Re-request even if already reviewed
}

GraphQL:
Add a reRequestReviews mutation alongside the existing requestReviews mutation.

gh CLI:

gh pr edit <PR#> --re-request-reviewer copilot
# or
gh pr review <PR#> --re-request copilot

Describe alternatives you've considered

Workaround	Why it doesn't work
Manually clicking "re-request review" in GitHub UI	Breaks automation - defeats the purpose of CI/CD
Remove and re-add reviewer via API	Doesn't work for bot reviewers like Copilot
Close and reopen PR	Loses context, comments, approval status, creates noise
Use webhooks to detect new pushes	Still can't programmatically trigger the re-request

Additional context

Related discussions:

• No way to re-request a review on a PR created from a fork when the user is an external contributor #151024 - No way to re-request a review on a PR created from a fork
• Configuring automatic code review by Copilot #160286 - Configuring automatic code review by Copilot

Why this matters now:

As AI-assisted development tools become mainstream (GitHub Copilot Coding Agent, OpenAI Codex, Claude, Cursor, etc.), the typical workflow is:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  AI Agent Development Loop (currently broken)          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  1. Agent creates PR                                    │
│  2. Bot reviewers (Copilot, Codex) provide feedback     │
│  3. Agent addresses feedback, pushes new commits        │
│  4. ❌ NO API WAY to re-trigger bot reviews             │
│  5. Human must manually click re-request in UI          │
│  6. Repeat steps 3-5 until clean                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

With API support for re-requesting reviews, this becomes fully automatable - a critical capability for the future of AI-assisted software development.

[github-actions[bot]]

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