GitHub has enhanced the area above the merge button to provide clearer and more detailed information about the readiness of proposed changes, significantly aiding in the understanding of whether a pull request is ready to merge or requires further work. With 119,000 repositories using automated status checks each month via the GitHub Statuses API, this improved presentation of information ensures that users can easily determine if a pull request can be merged or identify reasons for any failing checks. The update aims to streamline the merging process by making the status of pull requests more transparent and accessible.