When AI Teammates Meet Code Review: Collaboration Signals Shaping the Integration of Agent-Authored Pull Requests
Organizations: Idaho State University, USA
Abstract
Autonomous coding agents increasingly contribute to software development by submitting pull requests on GitHub; yet, little is known about how these contributions integrate into human-driven review workflows. We present a large empirical study of agent-authored pull requests using the public AIDev dataset, examining integration outcomes, resolution speed, and review-time collaboration signals. Using logistic regression with repository-clustered standard errors, we find that reviewer engagement has the strongest correlation with successful integration, whereas larger change sizes and coordination-disrupting actions, such as force pushes, are associated with a lower likelihood of merging. In contrast, iteration intensity alone provides limited explanatory power once collaboration signals are considered. A qualitative analysis further shows that successful integration occurs when agents engage in actionable review loops that converge toward reviewer expectations. Overall, our results highlight that the effective integration of agent-authored pull requests depends not only on code quality but also on alignment with established review and coordination practices.
Figures & tables
| Primary Driver | # | Merged | Not Merged | Primary Outcome |
| Actionable review loop | 32 | 30 | 2 | Success |
| Design disagreement | 10 | 0 | 10 | Failure |
| Incomplete solution | 7 | 0 | 7 | Failure |
| Process or policy issue | 3 | 0 | 3 | Failure |
| Coordination break | 2 | 0 | 2 | Failure |
| Incorrect or failing CI | 2 | 0 | 2 | Failure |