doc/user/project/merge_requests/reviews/_index.md
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The merge request review process ensures that subject matter experts review your proposed changes before they are merged. Reviewers add review comments to merge requests, and suggest changes the author can apply directly from the GitLab UI.
Reviewers can use any of these tools to review a merge request:
Approvals are one of several merge checks that ensure your merge request merges only when it's truly ready. Depending on your project configuration, reviewers can also block a merge request from merging by setting Request changes.
GitLab Premium and Ultimate provide an Assign reviewers drawer with more information to help you find reviewers who fulfill approval rules:
By following the defined review flow, each reviewer decides whether to accept or reject a merge request. The right sidebar shows the list of reviewers, and (if they follow the review flow) their review status:
<i class="fa-youtube-play" aria-hidden="true"></i> For an overview, see the merge request review video.
<!-- Video published on 2023-04-29 -->Your merge request homepage shows your merge requests in progress, and merge requests awaiting review from you. The merge requests you need to review are in the Review requested category. To see all merge requests that need your attention, use one of these methods:
To do this:
In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
Select the title of the merge request to view it.
Scroll to the merge request widget to see the mergeability and approval status for the merge request. For example, the lack of required approvals blocks this merge request:
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When you've finished preparing your changes, it's time to request a review. To assign a reviewer to
your merge request, either use the
/assign_reviewer quick action in any text field, or:
GitLab adds the merge request to the user's review requests.
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GitLab Premium and Ultimate help you more quickly find the best reviewers for your merge request. Use the Assign reviewers drawer to filter lists of reviewers. See the Code Owners for the files changed in your merge request, and the users who satisfy your project's approval rules.
In this example, the merge request requires 3 Code Owner approvals, but has none so far:
To assign eligible approvers in a merge request:
After a reviewer completes their merge request reviews,
the author of the merge request can request a new review from the reviewer.
To do this, either use the /request_review @user quick action in any text field on the merge request, or:
GitLab creates a new to-do item for the reviewer, and sends them a notification email.
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When reviewing a merge request, follow the review process instead of leaving individual comments. When you select Start a review, the Reviewers section of the right sidebar updates your status from Awaiting review ({{< icon name="dash-circle" >}}) to Reviewer started review ({{< icon name="comment-dots" >}})
To start your review of a merge request:
Either:
Find your merge request, and select the title of the merge request to view it.
Read the merge request description and comments to learn about the merge request.
Select Changes to view the diff of the proposed changes. To learn more about the Changes page, see changes in merge requests.
Suggest multi-line or single-line changes as needed. When ready to save your first review comment, select Start a review to:
Update your status in the right sidebar to Reviewer started review ({{< icon name="comment-dots" >}}).
Save your review comment, but leave it unpublished, like this:
If you select Add comment now instead of Start a review, GitLab publishes your comment immediately.
Continue writing review comments on the Changes tab or the Overview tab. Selecting Add to review keeps them unpublished until you submit your review:
Next, submit your review.
Comments can also resolve or reopen comment threads. To resolve or reopen a thread when replying to a comment:
Pending comments display information about delayed actions. These actions will execute when you submit a review.
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When you submit a review, GitLab:
To submit your review of a merge request quickly:
/submit_review quick action in the text of a non-review comment.To read through and edit your review comments when you submit your review:
On the top right, select Your review to show details about your review:
Review your pending comments. Edit them as needed.
Select the outcome of your review.
Optional. Write a summary of your review. GitLab Premium and Ultimate users can select Add summary ({{< icon name="tanuki-ai" >}}) to create a summary for you. Include any quick actions you want performed.
When you discard a review, your unpublished comments are deleted and you cannot restore them. To do this:
In the upper right, select Your review to show details about your review:
Select Discard review.
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A reviewer requesting changes blocks a merge request from merging. When this happens, the merge request reports area shows the message Change requests must be approved by the requesting user. To unblock the merge request, the reviewer who requested changes should re-review and approve the merge request.
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If you previously requested changes, you can remove your change request. You might need to do this if both of the following are true:
To remove your change request without submitting a new review:
In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
Select the title of the merge request to view it.
On the merge request Overview, scroll to the merge request reports area.
Next to Change requests must be approved by the requesting user, select Remove:
If the user who requested changes is unavailable to re-review or approve, another user with permission to merge the merge request can override this check:
In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
In the left sidebar, select Code > Merge requests and find your merge request.
Select the title of the merge request to view it.
On the merge request Overview, scroll to the merge request reports area.
Next to Change requests must be approved by the requesting user, select Bypass:
The merge reports area shows Merge with caution: Override added. To see which check a user
bypassed, select Expand merge checks ({{< icon name="chevron-lg-down" >}}) and find the
check that contains a warning ({{< icon name="status_warning" >}}) icon. In this example, the
author bypassed Change requests must be approved by the requesting user:
You can download the changes from a merge request as a diff or patch file.
Merge requests are related to these features:
reviewed and approved) to identify where your team spends the most time in the software development lifecycle. This information helps uncover actionable insights to optimize merge request workflows for groups and projects, and improve developer productivity. Read more about how we reduced MR review time with value stream analytics in the blog post.