Integrate ApproveMan in Slack
with Axolo

ApproveMan is a GitHub application that automates the approval process for pull requests that only modify files in user-defined safe locations. It identifies these pull requests and automatically approves them, exempting them from the review policies set up for protected branches.

The motivation behind ApproveMan is to maintain the health of repositories by setting up review policies for protected branches, while also allowing developers to quickly iterate on experiments in safe locations like [project_root]/playground/${github_username}. This helps to streamline the development process and increase productivity by reducing the time and resources required for manual approval processes.

To use ApproveMan, users can add rules to the .github/approveman.yml file, specifying the directory matching rules for personal projects and documentation. The default configuration contains playground/{{username}}/**/* if no config file is provided in the repository. However, it's important to note that all pull requests that modify files within the .github directory are denied for safety reasons, regardless of the rules in the configuration.

Overall, ApproveMan is a valuable tool for developers and teams looking to balance the need for review policies with the desire for fast iteration on early-stage experiments.

List of ApproveMan features:
- Identifies pull requests that only modify files in user-defined safe locations
- Automatically approves pull requests that meet the safe location criteria
- Allows for fast iteration on early-stage experiments by exempting safe locations from review policies
- Configurable behavior through rules added to .github/approveman.yml
- Includes default configuration for playground/{{username}}/**/* if no config file is provided in the repository
- Denies pull requests that modify files within .github directory for safety

The pricing for ApproveMan's GitHub application is free for the preview version.

Integrating ApproveMan in Slack with Axolo is beneficial because it allows for faster and more efficient code reviews by automatically approving pull requests that only modify files in user-defined safe locations, such as playground/${github_username}. This saves time and resources by eliminating the need for human attention on pull requests that do not require it, while still maintaining the health of repositories through review policies for protected branches.