Documentation about pull request template capabilities is incorrect/inconsistent

[serriere]

Code of Conduct

• I have read and agree to the GitHub Docs project's Code of Conduct

What article on docs.github.com is affected?

https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/using-query-parameters-to-create-a-pull-request

What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?

This page on Using query parameters to create a pull request suggests that it's possible to create a pull request template that opens with default labels, assignees, and a pull request title:

docs/content/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/using-query-parameters-to-create-a-pull-request.md

Lines 16 to 17 in 080588f

	> [!TIP]
	> You can also create pull request templates that open with default labels, assignees, and a pull request title. For more information, see [AUTOTITLE](/communities/using-templates-to-encourage-useful-issues-and-pull-requests).

But the primary page on Creating a pull request template for your repository makes no reference to being able to set default labels, assignees, or a pull request title. In fact, it appears to indicate that a pull request template only affects the pull request body.

docs/content/communities/using-templates-to-encourage-useful-issues-and-pull-requests/creating-a-pull-request-template-for-your-repository.md

Line 18 in 080588f

You can create a _PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/_ subdirectory in any of the supported folders to contain multiple pull request templates, and use the `template` query parameter to specify the template that will fill the pull request body. For more information, see [AUTOTITLE](/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/using-query-parameters-to-create-a-pull-request).

I think the tip on Using query parameters to create a pull request should be updated to reflect the fact that pull request templates only affect the body of a pull request.

Additional information

That said, it would be great if pull request templates supported the exact same front matter as issue templates so the default pull request title could be configured. Our use case is that people just leave the default title, which is often something like Update README.md when we want them to spend the time to write a descriptive PR title.

[welcome]

Thanks for opening this issue. A GitHub docs team member should be by to give feedback soon. In the meantime, please check out the contributing guidelines.

[Sharra-writes]

Thanks for opening an issue! I'm afraid that although your suggestion for changes to the way PR titles are generated sounds like a good one, it's way, way outside of anything the Docs team could help with. I'll check into the documentation side, though, for sure.

[serriere]

Thanks for the quick response @Sharra-writes 🙌

it's way, way outside of anything the Docs team could help with

Understood 🙂 Seems like I'm not the first person to want this capability anyway: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/63965

[cceneag]

#38878

[Sharra-writes]

@serriere After creating my own PR template just to test this out and checking in to make sure I'm not missing something, I can confidently say you're completely right. Not only that, but I'm struggling to understand why that tip links to a page that's ostensibly a list of articles about both issue and PR templates, but in practice is entirely about issue templates except for one article. Why not just link to the one relevant article? Anyway, the tip needs to be removed, the link to further information needs to be appended to something else, and it should link to Creating a pull request template for your repository, not where it currently links. I would recommend attaching the link to the bottom of the first paragraph, just a simple, "For more information on creating pull request templates, see..."

I'll put a "help wanted" label on this issue, so if you feel like putting in the effort to fix it, go for it. If not, someone else can jump in.