Merge requests

{{< details >}}

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

{{< /details >}}

{{< history >}}

• 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.

{{< /history >}}

Merge requests provide a central location for your team to review code, have discussions, and track code changes. To help describe why a change was made, link a merge request to an issue and automatically close the issue when the merge request merges.

Merge requests help ensure subject matter experts review your proposed changes and your organization's security requirements are met. When you create your merge request early in the development process, your team has time to catch bugs and code quality problems.

When viewing a merge request, you see:

• A description of the request.
• Code changes and inline code reviews.
• Information about CI/CD pipelines.
• Mergeability reports.
• Comments.
• 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 >}}

{{< tab title="You're participating in" >}}

To view all merge requests on the homepage, use the <kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>m</kbd> keyboard shortcut, or:

1. In the left sidebar, select the Merge requests icon.

or:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to.
2. From the dropdown list, select Merge requests.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab title="For a project" >}}

To view all merge requests for a project:

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

Or, to use a keyboard shortcut, press <kbd>g</kbd>+<kbd>m</kbd>.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab title="For all projects in a group" >}}

To view merge requests for all projects in a group:

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

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

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab title="For a file" >}}

When viewing a file in your repository, GitLab shows a badge with the number of open merge requests that target the current branch and modify the file. This helps you identify files that have pending changes.

The availability of this feature is controlled by a feature flag. For more information, see view open merge requests for a file.

To view the open merge requests for a file:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. Go to the file you want to view.
3. In the upper right of the screen, next to the filename, look for the green badge with the number of {{< icon name="merge-request-open" >}} Open merge requests.
4. Select the badge to see a list of open merge requests created in the past 30 days.
5. Select any merge request in the list to go to that merge request.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< /tabs >}}

Filter the list of merge requests

{{< history >}}

• 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.
• Filtering by merged before and merged after introduced in GitLab 18.6.

{{< /history >}}

To filter the list of merge requests:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. In the left sidebar, 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 {{< icon name="sort-lowest" >}} for descending order, or {{< icon name="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:

• Edit changes in the Web IDE in your browser with the <kbd>.</kbd> keyboard shortcut. Use this browser-based method to edit multiple files, or if you are not comfortable with Git commands. You cannot run tests from the Web IDE.
• Edit changes in Ona, if you need a fully-featured environment to both edit files, and run tests afterward. Ona supports running the GitLab Development Kit (GDK). To use Ona, you must enable Ona in your user account.
• Push changes from the command line, if you are familiar with Git and the command line.

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. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.

2. In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.

3. In 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:

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

Participants

Participants are users who interacted with a merge request. For information about viewing participants, see participants.

Merge a merge request

During the merge request review process, reviewers provide feedback on your changes. When a reviewer is satisfied with the changes, they can enable auto-merge, even if some merge checks are failing. After all merge checks pass, the merge request is automatically merged, without further action from you.

Default merge permissions:

• The default branch, typically main, is protected.
• Only Maintainers and higher roles can merge into the default branch.
• Developers can merge any merge requests targeting non-protected branches.

To determine if you have permission to merge a specific merge request, GitLab checks:

• Your role in the project. For example, Developer, Maintainer, or Owner.
• The branch protections of the target branch.

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 role in a project.

To close merge requests in the project:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. In the left sidebar, 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.

The delete-branch action is performed by the user who sets auto-merge, or merges the merge request. If the user lacks the correct role, such as in a forked project, the source branch deletion fails.

Update merge requests when target branch merges

{{< details >}}

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

{{< /details >}}

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:
   • Squashes the commits.
   • Merges the commit.
   • Deployed the changes to staging with GitLab Pages.
7. Your production team cherry-picks the merge commit into production.

Filter activity in a merge request

{{< history >}}

• Feature flag mr_activity_filters enabled on GitLab.com in GitLab 16.0.
• Enabled on GitLab Self-Managed in GitLab 16.3 by default.
• Generally available in GitLab 16.5. Feature flag mr_activity_filters removed.
• Filtering bot comments introduced in GitLab 16.9.

{{< /history >}}

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

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.

2. In the left sidebar, 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 ({{< icon name="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.

Manage comment threads

Discussions in a merge request include single comments, and threads of comments. Open (unresolved) threads block the merge of a merge request, but single comments do not. When a thread's discussion is finished, resolve the thread to collapse its display. If a comment thread is important but should not block the merge request, move it to an issue to continue the discussion.

Expand all threads

GitLab shows the number of open threads in the upper-right corner of a merge request. This merge request has three open threads:

To see all comments in the collapsed threads, expand the threads:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
3. In the merge request, in the upper right, find the Open threads dropdown list, and select Thread options ({{< icon name="ellipsis_v" >}}).
4. Select Show all comments.

Move open threads to an issue

To move open threads to a new issue, and unblock a merge request:

{{< tabs >}}

{{< tab title="Move one thread" >}}

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

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. In the left sidebar, 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 ({{< icon name="work-item-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.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab title="Move all open threads" >}}

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

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
3. In the merge request, in the upper right, find the Open threads dropdown list, and select Thread options ({{< icon name="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.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< /tabs >}}

Prevent merge unless all threads are resolved

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

1. In the top bar, 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. In the top bar, 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: GitLab Self-Managed

{{< /details >}}

{{< history >}}

• Introduced in GitLab 16.5 with a flag named notifications_todos_buttons. Disabled by default.
• Issues, incidents, and epics also updated.

{{< /history >}}

[!flag] The availability of this feature is controlled by a feature flag. For more information, see the history.

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.

Related topics

• Protect your repository
• Review a merge request
• Authorization for merge requests
• Testing and reports
• Comments and threads
• Suggest code changes
• CI/CD pipelines
• Push options for merge requests
• Merge request title validation