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Revert changes

doc/user/project/merge_requests/revert_changes.md

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Mistakes happen in code. Version control makes it possible to fix those mistakes by reverting them.

When you revert a commit, you create a new commit (a revert commit) that reverses the bad change, rather than erasing the existence of the problem from your project's history. Revert commits provide a clear audit trail, rather than a gap where the previous commit was. The revert commit follows your project's access controls and processes, and:

  • Removes the lines added in the original commit.
  • Restores the lines removed in the original commit.
  • Restores the lines modified in the original commit to their previous state.

Reverts are not limited to just commits. If the bad change spans more than one commit, consider reverting all changes from the merge request, rather than reverting commit by commit. This approach provides a cleaner audit trail.

Revert a merge request

After a merge request merges, you can revert all changes in the merge request.

Prerequisites:

  • You must have a role for the project that allows you to edit merge requests, and add code to the repository.

  • Your project must use the merge method Merge Commit, set in your project's Settings > Merge requests.

    In GitLab 16.9 and later, you can revert fast-forwarded commits from the GitLab UI if either:

    • The commits are squashed, or
    • The merge request contains a single commit.

For more information, see issue 22236.

To revert merge request Example:

  1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests.
  3. From the secondary menu, select Merged, and select your merge request (here, Example).
  4. Scroll to the merge request reports area, and find the report showing the Merged by information.
  5. Select Revert.
  6. In Revert in branch, select the branch to revert your changes into.
  7. To revert immediately, without a merge request:
    1. Clear Start a new merge request.
    2. Select Revert, and the revert of Example is complete.
  8. To review the revert in a new merge request instead of reverting immediately, select Start a new merge request, then:
    1. Fill in the fields for your revert merge request, then select Create merge request.
    2. When the merge request merges, the revert of Example is complete.

Revert a commit

You can revert any commit in a repository into either:

  • The current branch.
  • A new merge request.

Prerequisites:

  • Your role for the project must allow you to edit merge requests, and add code to the repository.
  • The commit must not have already been reverted, as the Revert option is not shown in this case.

To do this:

  1. In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. If you know the merge request that contains the commit:
    1. In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests, then select your merge request.
    2. Select Commits, then select the title of the commit you want to revert. This displays the commit in the context of your merge request.
    3. Below the secondary menu, GitLab shows the message Viewing commit 00001111, where 00001111 is the hash of the commit. Select the commit hash to show the commit's page.
  3. If you don't know the merge request the commit originated from:
    1. In the left sidebar, select Code > Commits.
    2. Select the title of the commit to display full information about the commit.
  4. In the upper-right corner, select Options, then select Revert.
  5. In Revert in branch, select the branch to revert your changes into.
  6. To revert immediately, without a merge request:
    1. Clear Start a new merge request.
    2. Select Revert.
  7. To review the revert in a new merge request instead of reverting immediately, select Start a new merge request, then:
    1. Fill in the fields for your revert merge request, then select Create merge request.
    2. When the merge request merges, the commit revert is complete.

Revert a merge commit to a different parent commit

When you revert a merge commit, the branch you merged to (often main) is always the first parent. To revert a merge commit to a different parent, you must revert the commit from the command line, see revert and undo changes with Git.

Redact text from repository

For more information on redacting text from a repository and other techniques to remove data, see repository size.