---
title: The product-change pipeline
description: How Thally turns configured product changes into reviewable documentation updates while keeping people responsible for what publishes.
url: https://pr-9-a9c4e9fe1b6c.thally.app/product-change-pipeline
---

# The product-change pipeline

How Thally turns configured product changes into reviewable documentation updates while keeping people responsible for what publishes.

Product changes can affect documentation, API and SDK references, tutorials,
release notes, examples, and AI context. Thally connects an exact GitHub change
to the documentation your customers use and prepares a pull request for people
to review.

## How it works today

#### A configured event starts the check

    You choose whether Track runs for trusted, same-repository, non-draft pull
    request updates, merged changes, a UTC schedule, or a combination of those
    triggers. Track keeps the exact source revision that started each run.

#### Track reviews the product change and current docs

    Track reads the connected Product source and documentation repository, then
    proposes the customer-facing documentation changes it considers relevant for
    review.

#### Track prepares and checks the update

    Track updates the relevant pages and validates the proposed documentation.
    If no documentation change is needed, the run finishes without opening a
    pull request.

#### A person decides what publishes

    When an update is needed, Track opens a ready-for-review GitHub pull
    request. Reviewers can accept, correct, or reject it; Track never merges its
    own work.

#### One reviewed source feeds every output

    After approval and publication, the same structured source powers HTML,
    Markdown, JSON, JSON-LD, search, embeddings, and agent context.

## The trust contract

#### You choose the starting point

    Configure pull request, merge, and scheduled checks for the way your team
    ships product changes.

#### The exact change stays attached

    Every run keeps the Product source and revision that reviewers need to
    understand why the documentation proposal exists.

#### No-change is a valid result

    Track can finish without a pull request when the source revision does not
    require a customer-facing documentation update.

#### Humans approve communication

    Automation removes discovery and drafting work, not accountability for what
    customers read.

## What Thally handles today

| Area            | Current behavior                                                                                                     |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Product sources | Connected GitHub repositories, branches, and optional watched paths                                                  |
| Triggers        | Trusted, same-repository, non-draft pull request updates; merged changes; and UTC daily, weekly, or custom schedules |
| Progress        | Persistent activity from change receipt through preparation, writing, checking, and pull request creation            |
| Output          | A ready-for-review documentation pull request, no docs change, or a needs-attention result                           |
| Approval        | Your existing GitHub review and deployment workflows                                                                 |

> **Note:**
  Track prepares a proposal. The live documentation changes only after your team
  reviews and merges it and the normal publishing checks pass.

## Put the pipeline to work

- [See how Thally works](/architecture) for the customer-facing publishing and
  update workflow.
- [Set up Thally Track](/guides/thally-track) to connect a Product source and
  choose its triggers.
- [Use the docs agent](/guides/docs-agent) for self-managed authoring tasks.
- [Add provenance](/guides/provenance) so people and agents can see when pages
  were updated and last verified.
- Run [`thally check`](/guides/cli-reference) in CI to validate reviewed source
  before it publishes.