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Merge requests

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated

  • Sidebar actions menu changed to also move actions on issues, incidents, and epics in GitLab 16.0.
  • Generally available in GitLab 16.9. Feature flag moved_mr_sidebar removed.

A merge request (MR) is a proposal to incorporate changes from a source branch to a target branch.

When you open a merge request, you can visualize and collaborate on the changes before merge. Merge requests include:

  • A description of the request.
  • Code changes and inline code reviews.
  • Information about CI/CD pipelines.
  • A comment section for discussion threads.
  • The list of commits.

Create a merge request

Learn the various ways to create a merge request.

Use merge request templates

When you create a merge request, GitLab checks for the existence of a description template to add data to your merge request. GitLab checks these locations in order from 1 to 5, and applies the first template found to your merge request:

Name Project UI
setting		 Group
default.md 		Instance
default.md 		Project
default.md 		No template
Standard commit message 1 2 3 4 5
Commit message with an issue closing pattern like Closes #1234 1 2 3 4 5 *
Branch name prefixed with an issue ID, like 1234-example 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 *

NOTE: Items marked with an asterisk (*) also append an issue closing pattern.

View merge requests

You can view merge requests for your project, group, or yourself.

::Tabs

:::TabTitle Assigned to you

To view all merge requests assigned to you, use the Shift + m keyboard shortcut, or:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. From the dropdown list, select Merge requests assigned to me.

or:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests ({merge-request}).
  2. From the dropdown list, select Assigned.

:::TabTitle For a project

To view all merge requests for a project:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests.

Or, to use a keyboard shortcut, press g + m.

:::TabTitle For all projects in a group

To view merge requests for all projects in a group:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests.

If your group contains subgroups, this view also displays merge requests from the subgroup projects.

::EndTabs

Filter the list of merge requests

  • Filtering by source-branch introduced in GitLab 16.6.
  • Filtering by merged-by introduced in GitLab 16.9. Available only when the feature flag mr_merge_user_filter is enabled.
  • Filtering by merged-by generally available in GitLab 17.0. Feature flag mr_merge_user_filter removed.

To filter the list of merge requests:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests.
  3. Above the list of merge requests, select Search or filter results.
  4. From the dropdown list, select the attribute you wish to filter by. Some examples:
    • By environment or deployment date.
    • ID: Enter filter #30 to return only merge request 30.
    • User filters: Type (or select from the dropdown list) any of these filters to display a list of users:
      • Approved-By, for merge requests already approved by a user. Premium and Ultimate only.
      • Approver, for merge requests that this user is eligible to approve. (For more information, read about Code owners). Premium and Ultimate only.
      • Merged-By, for merge requests merged by this user.
      • Reviewer, for merge requests reviewed by this user.
  5. Select or type the operator to use for filtering the attribute. The following operators are available:
    • =: Is
    • !=: Is not
  6. Enter the text to filter the attribute by. You can filter some attributes by None or Any.
  7. Repeat this process to filter by more attributes, joined by a logical AND.
  8. Select a Sort direction, either {sort-lowest} for descending order, or {sort-highest} for ascending order.

By environment or deployment date

To filter merge requests by deployment data, such as the environment or a date, you can type (or select from the dropdown list) the following:

  • Environment
  • Deployed-before
  • Deployed-after

NOTE: Projects using a fast-forward merge method do not return results, as this method does not create a merge commit.

When filtering by an environment, a dropdown list presents all environments that you can choose from.

When filtering by Deployed-before or Deployed-after:

  • The date refers to when the deployment to an environment (triggered by the merge commit) completed successfully.
  • You must enter the deploy date manually.
  • Deploy dates use the format YYYY-MM-DD. Wrap them in double quotes (") if you want to specify both a date and time ("YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").

Add changes to a merge request

If you have permission to add changes to a merge request, you can add your changes to an existing merge request in several ways. These ways depend on the complexity of your change, and whether you need access to a development environment:

Assign a user to a merge request

To assign the merge request to a user, use the /assign @user quick action in a text area in a merge request, or:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.

  2. Select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.

  3. On the right sidebar, expand the right sidebar and locate the Assignees section.

  4. Select Edit.

  5. Search for the user you want to assign, and select the user. GitLab Free allows one assignee per merge request, but GitLab Premium and GitLab Ultimate allow multiple assignees:

    Two assignees for merge requests sidebar

GitLab adds the merge request to the user's Assigned merge requests page.

Close a merge request

If you decide to permanently stop work on a merge request, close it rather than deleting it.

Prerequisites:

  • You must be the author or assignees of the merge request, or
  • You must have the Developer, Maintainer, or Owner roles in a project.

To close merge requests in the project:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
  3. Scroll to the comment box at the bottom of the page.
  4. Following the comment box, select Close merge request.

GitLab closes the merge request, but preserves records of the merge request, its comments, and any associated pipelines.

Delete the source branch on merge

You can delete the source branch for a merge request:

  • When you create a merge request, by selecting Delete source branch when merge request accepted.
  • When you merge a merge request, if you have the Maintainer role, by selecting Delete source branch.

An administrator can make this option the default in the project's settings.

Update merge requests when target branch merges

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated

Merge requests are often chained together, with one merge request depending on the code added or changed in another merge request. To support keeping individual merge requests small, GitLab can update up to four open merge requests when their target branch merges into main. For example:

  • Merge request 1: merge feature-alpha into main.
  • Merge request 2: merge feature-beta into feature-alpha.

If these merge requests are open at the same time, and merge request 1 (feature-alpha) merges into main, GitLab updates the destination of merge request 2 from feature-alpha to main.

Merge requests with interconnected content updates are usually handled in one of these ways:

  • Merge request 1 merges into main first. Merge request 2 is then retargeted to main.
  • Merge request 2 merges into feature-alpha. The updated merge request 1, which now contains the contents of feature-alpha and feature-beta, merges into main.

This feature works only when a merge request is merged. Selecting Remove source branch after merging does not retarget open merge requests. This improvement is proposed as a follow-up.

Merge request workflows

For a software developer working in a team:

  1. You check out a new branch, and submit your changes through a merge request.
  2. You gather feedback from your team.
  3. You work on the implementation optimizing code with Code Quality reports.
  4. You verify your changes with Unit test reports in GitLab CI/CD.
  5. You avoid using dependencies whose license is not compatible with your project with License approval policies.
  6. You request the approval from your manager.
  7. Your manager:
    1. Pushes a commit with their final review.
    2. Approves the merge request.
    3. Sets it to auto-merge (formerly Merge when pipeline succeeds).
  8. Your changes get deployed to production with manual jobs for GitLab CI/CD.
  9. Your implementations were successfully shipped to your customer.

For a web developer writing a webpage for your company's website:

  1. You check out a new branch and submit a new page through a merge request.
  2. You gather feedback from your reviewers.
  3. You preview your changes with review apps.
  4. You request your web designers for their implementation.
  5. You request the approval from your manager.
  6. After approval, GitLab:
  7. Your production team cherry-picks the merge commit into production.

Filter activity in a merge request

To understand the history of a merge request, filter its activity feed to show you only the items that are relevant to you.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.

  2. Select Code > Merge requests.

  3. Select a merge request.

  4. Scroll to Activity.

  5. On the right side of the page, select Activity filter to show the filter options. If you've already selected filter options, this field shows a summary of your choices, like Activity + 5 more.

  6. Select the types of activity you want to see. Options include:

    • Assignees & Reviewers
    • Approvals
    • Comments (from bots)
    • Comments (from users)
    • Commits & branches
    • Edits
    • Labels
    • Lock status
    • Mentions
    • Merge request status
    • Tracking

  7. Optional. Select Sort ({sort-lowest}) to reverse the sort order.

Your selection persists across all merge requests. You can also change the sort order by clicking the sort button on the right.

Resolve a thread

When you want to finish a conversation in a merge request, resolve a thread.

GitLab shows the number of unresolved threads in the top right corner of a merge request, like this: 7 unresolved threads.

Move all unresolved threads in a merge request to an issue

If you have multiple unresolved threads in a merge request, you can create an issue to resolve them separately:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
  3. In the merge request, in the top right, find the Unresolved threads dropdown list, and select Thread options ({ellipsis_v}).
  4. Select Resolve all with new issue.
  5. Fill out the fields in the new issue, and select Create issue.

GitLab marks all threads as resolved, and adds a link from the merge request to the newly created issue.

Move one unresolved thread in a merge request to an issue

If you have one specific unresolved thread in a merge request, you can create an issue to resolve it separately:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
  3. In the merge request, find the thread you want to move.
  4. Below the last reply to the thread, next to Resolve thread, select Create issue to resolve thread ({issue-new}).
  5. Fill out the fields in the new issue, and select Create issue.

GitLab marks the thread as resolved, and adds a link from the merge request to the newly created issue.

Prevent merge unless all threads are resolved

You can prevent merge requests from merging while threads remain unresolved. When you enable this setting, the Unresolved threads counter in a merge request is shown in orange while at least one thread remains unresolved.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Settings > Merge requests.
  3. In the Merge checks section, select the All threads must be resolved checkbox.
  4. Select Save changes.

Automatically resolve threads in a merge request when they become outdated

You can set merge requests to automatically resolve threads when a new push changes the lines they describe.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Settings > Merge requests.
  3. In the Merge options section, select Automatically resolve merge request diff threads when they become outdated.
  4. Select Save changes.

Threads are now resolved if a push makes a diff section outdated. Threads on lines that don't change and top-level resolvable threads are not resolved.

Move notifications and to-dos

DETAILs: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: Self-managed

FLAG: On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available, an administrator can enable the feature flag named notifications_todos_buttons. On GitLab.com and GitLab Dedicated, this feature is not available.

Enabling this feature flag moves the notifications and to-do item buttons to the upper right corner of the page.

  • On merge requests, these buttons are shown to the far right of the tabs.
  • On issues, incidents, and epics, these buttons are shown at the top of the right sidebar.

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