How to showcase bug fixes in pull requests without creating specific documentation examples?

[cchaos]

[When] the code example is given in sandbox and the code modified can be locally run and seen on elastic documentation website. So many a times when I fix an issue and the bug is reproduced in codesandbox, Its hard for me to replicate that in locally build doc website. Can you please tell us what to do in these cases?

Originally posted by @hetanthakkar1 in #4816 (comment)

[cchaos]

There are a couple ways to approach this in the pull request and would depend on how complicated the problem is to replicate.

1. If the bug is a simple use-case scenario, replicate it locally and past before/after screenshots in the PR summary.

This obviously also only applies to fixes that are visual based, not purely code fixes. A great example is this PR #4738 which fixes a bug and shows the before/after screenshot so we know what to look for/that the fix worked.

2. If the bug is more complicated to replicate, but shouldn't have a specific doc example (use-case dependent), create a commit that is called Revert me with one of the doc examples updated for reviewers to test. Then revert that commit before merging.

For example, this PR's commit log includes a documentation tweak for testing the PR only.

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No matter which option you choose, it's always good to explain, in detail, your approach to fixing the issue. Don't just say Fixes #issuenumber. Write out all your decision points in the PR summary and include screenshots/gifs.

[cee-chen]

2023 answer/follow-up: we should prefer to use Storybook for visual bugs in the future if possible, and visual snapshots.