AZ-400 Configure processes and communications Practice Question
Your organization uses GitHub Flow with branch protections. Developers must link every pull request to an issue using a closing keyword (e.g., 'Fixes #123'). You need to enforce this linking automatically. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the 'Require a linked issue' branch protection rule (which only enforces a UI-based link) with the need to validate the PR description text for a closing keyword, leading them to incorrectly select option C.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a GitHub Actions workflow that validates the PR description contains a closing keyword.
A GitHub Actions workflow can be configured to run on pull request events and parse the PR description for a closing keyword pattern (e.g., regex matching 'Fixes #\d+'). If the keyword is missing, the workflow can fail the check, blocking the merge via branch protection rules that require status checks to pass. This directly enforces the linking requirement without relying on human compliance or third-party tools.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a GitHub Actions workflow that validates the PR description contains a closing keyword.
Why this is correct
A GitHub Actions workflow can be triggered on the pull_request event and inspect the PR description for a closing keyword such as 'closes', 'fixes', or 'resolves' followed by an issue number. The workflow can use a regex or a simple string check to validate the pattern, and then be configured as a required status check in branch protection, making it a reliable first-party enforcement mechanism.
- ✗
Configure an issue template with a closing keyword prompt.
Why it's wrong here
Issue templates are designed for creating issues, not pull requests, and they have no effect on PR descriptions. Even if you prompt for a closing keyword in an issue template, it does not validate or enforce anything when a pull request is opened, so this option cannot satisfy the requirement.
- ✗
Add a branch protection rule requiring a linked issue.
Why it's wrong here
Branch protection rules in GitHub regulate merge conditions such as required reviews, required status checks, and linear history, but they do not include a built-in toggle to mandate that a pull request's description references or closes an issue. The available rule settings evaluate commit status, review approval, and merge state, not the free-text content of the PR body or the 'Linked issues' sidebar. Therefore, simply adding a branch protection rule cannot enforce a closing keyword; you would need a custom status check (e.g., a GitHub Actions workflow) to inspect the description and then require that check via branch protection.
- ✗
Use a required status check from a third-party app.
Why it's wrong here
While some third-party apps can provide a status check that validates PR descriptions, this approach relies on external services and is not a built-in GitHub feature. Configuring such an app and requiring its status check in branch protection is possible, but it is less straightforward than using a native GitHub Actions workflow, making it a less ideal first-party solution.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managing Infrastructure as Code Using Azure
Key term
Check
A Check in Azure DevOps is a gating mechanism that evaluates predefined conditions before allowing a pipeline deployment to proceed to a specific environment.
Key term
Regex
Regex (regular expression) is a sequence of characters that defines a search pattern, used to match, find, or manipulate text in strings.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every AZ-400 question from scratch — 823 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-400 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-400 exam.