GitHub Pro private repos lack deployment approval gates; workaround exists

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GitHub's built-in environment protection rules, including required reviewers and wait timers, are restricted to public repositories on Free, Pro, and Team plans, with private repository support requiring an Enterprise subscription. Developers using GitHub Pro who attempt to configure approval reviewers on private repos receive an HTTP 422 error, which reflects a plan limitation rather than a billing issue. A practical workaround is to trigger deployments via the workflow_dispatch event, meaning a deploy runs only when a team member manually clicks 'Run workflow' in GitHub Actions, effectively making that action the approval step. This approach costs nothing extra, works on private repositories, and cleanly separates the merge step from the deployment step. For teams needing the native auto-pause-then-approve UI, the only options are making the repository public or upgrading to GitHub Enterprise.

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