Merge request approvals

{{< details >}}

• Tier: Premium, Ultimate
• Offering: GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

{{< /details >}}

Merge request approval rules prevent users from overriding certain project settings. When enabled, these settings are enforced for all projects and groups in the instance.

These merge request approval settings can be set for the entire instance:

• Prevent approval by merge request creator. Prevents project maintainers from allowing merge request authors to approve their own merge requests.
• Prevent approvals by users who add commits. Prevents project maintainers from allowing users to approve merge requests if they have submitted any commits to the source branch.
• Prevent editing approval rules in projects and merge requests. Prevents users from modifying the approvers list in project settings or in individual merge requests.

The following are also affected by rules for the entire instance:

• Project merge request approval rules.
• Group merge request approval settings.

Enable merge request approval settings for an instance

Prerequisites:

• Administrator access.

To enable merge request approval settings:

1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
2. Select Push rules.
3. Expand Merge request approvals.
4. Select the checkbox for any of the approval rules.
5. Select Save changes.