This is out of scope for this PR: Politely drawing the line while respecting the scope

Today's English Expression 9/30 · Stage: PR Description. All example sentences are created for this article. They are not taken from actual repository PRs, and feature names are examples.

Table of Contents

• At a Glance
• 1. Meaning and Nuance
• 2. Example Sentences
• 3. Similar Expressions and Differences
• 4. Common Mistakes Made by Koreans
• 5. One-Line Practice
• Sample Answer
• References

At a Glance

1. Meaning and Nuance

"Scope" refers to the "extent" or "range" covered by work or discussion. "In scope" means within the range, and "out of scope" means outside the range. "This is out of scope for this PR" does not mean "the suggestion is wrong," but rather means "it isnot within the scope this PR is intended to cover." Therefore, you can keep the PR small without invalidating the other person's suggestion.

Keeping PRs small is an important principle in open source. Reviewers have a limited amount they can understand at once, and the broader the scope, the slower the merging process. However, using this phrase alone can sound somewhat abrupt. It is customary to present an alternative together. By showing that the task will not be lost—such as saying "I'll open a separate issue" or "I'll handle it in a follow-up PR".

Reviewers also use this expression. This is when a contributor mixes unrelated changes into a PR and the reviewer says, "Please remove this part as it's out of scope." In this case, it is used together with a request, such as: Could you drop this change? It's out of scope for this PR.

2. Example Sentences

Situation 1: Declaring the scope in the PR description in advance

Out of scope: This PR doesn't change the CLI output format. I'll open a separate issue for that.

Writing In scope / Out of scope in the PR description in advance prevents the same questions from being repeated in reviews.

Situation 2: Responding to a reviewer's suggestion

Good idea, but I think it's out of scope for this PR. I've opened #2345 to track it so we don't lose it.

"so we don't lose it" means "so we don't forget about it," signaling respect for the suggestion.

Situation 3: When a reviewer asks to narrow the scope

The formatting changes in utils.go look unrelated. Could you move them to a separate PR? They're out of scope here and make the diff harder to review.

3. Similar Expressions and Differences

• I'd rather keep this PR focused. Means "I'd like to focus on one thing in this PR," a softer way of saying it's out of scope.
• Beyond the scope of this PR. Means the same thing and is slightly more formal. Often used in documentation or design docs.
• Let's handle that separately. Directly proposes a solution without mentioning scope. Short and cooperative.

4. Common Mistakes Made by Koreans

• It is not my job. Sounds like "That's not my job," which can be rude. Rephrase it in terms of scope.
  • Corrected sentence: That's out of scope for this PR, but I'm happy to look at it in a follow-up.
• This is out of range of this PR. "Range" is used for numbers or values. The scope of work is "scope".
  • Corrected sentence: This is out of scope for this PR.
• I can't do it in this PR. Sounds like a matter of capability. Clarify that it is being divided intentionally.
  • Corrected sentence: I'd prefer to do it in a separate PR to keep this one small.

5. One-Line Practice

Rewrite the following Korean sentence as a review reply.

That's a good point, but I think it's out of the scope of this PR. I've opened a separate issue for it.

Sample Answer

Good point, but I think this is out of scope for this PR. I've opened a separate issue to track it.

"to track it" means "to trace it," meaning to manage it without forgetting. Frequently used when stating the purpose of opening an issue in open source.

Titi's Word. If you say "I'm not doing it here, I'll do it there" rather than just "I'm not doing it," your relationship remains intact even if you draw a line.

References

• Merriam-Webster, "scope": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scope
• Google Engineering Practices, Small CLs: https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/developer/small-cls.html