GitLab quick actions

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

Quick actions are text-based shortcuts for common actions that are usually done by selecting buttons or dropdowns in the GitLab user interface. You can enter these commands in the descriptions or comments of issues, epics, merge requests, and commits. Quick actions are executed from both new comments and description, and when you edit existing ones.

Many quick actions are context-aware, requiring certain conditions be met. For example, to remove an issue due date with /remove_due_date, the issue must have a due date set.

Be sure to enter each quick action on a separate line to allow GitLab to properly detect and execute the commands.

Parameters

Many quick actions require a parameter. For example, the /assign quick action requires a username. GitLab uses autocomplete characters with quick actions to help users enter parameters, by providing a list of available values.

If you manually enter a parameter, it must be enclosed in double quotation marks ("), unless it contains only these characters:

  • ASCII letters
  • Numbers (0-9)
  • Underscore (_), hyphen (-), question mark (?), dot (.), ampersand (&) or at (@)

Parameters are case-sensitive. Autocomplete handles this, and the insertion of quotation marks, automatically.

Issues, merge requests, and epics

The following quick actions are applicable to descriptions, discussions, and threads. Some quick actions might not be available to all subscription tiers.

Command Issue Merge request Epic Action
/add_contacts [contact:email1@example.com] [contact:email2@example.com] Yes No No Add one or more active CRM contacts (introduced in GitLab 14.6).
/add_email email1 email2 Yes No No Add up to six email participants. This action is behind feature flag issue_email_participants and is not yet supported in issue templates.
/approve No Yes No Approve the merge request.
/assign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes No Assign one or more users.
/assign me Yes Yes No Assign yourself.
/assign_reviewer @user1 @user2 or /reviewer @user1 @user2 or /request_review @user1 @user2 No Yes No Assign one or more users as reviewers.
/assign_reviewer me or /reviewer me or /request_review me No Yes No Assign yourself as a reviewer.
/blocked_by <issue1> <issue2> Yes No No Mark the issue as blocked by other issues. The <issue> value should be in the format of #issue, group/project#issue, or the full issue URL. (Introduced in GitLab 16.0).
/blocks <issue1> <issue2> Yes No No Mark the issue as blocking other issues. The <issue> value should be in the format of #issue, group/project#issue, or the full issue URL. (Introduced in GitLab 16.0).
/cc @user Yes Yes Yes Mention a user. This command performs no action. You can instead type CC @user or only @user.
/child_epic <epic> No No Yes Add child epic to <epic>. The <epic> value should be in the format of &epic, group&epic, or a URL to an epic.
/clear_health_status Yes No No Clear health status
/clear_weight Yes No No Clear weight.
/clone <path/to/project> [--with_notes] Yes No No Clone the issue to given project, or the current one if no arguments are given. Copies as much data as possible as long as the target project contains equivalent objects like labels, milestones, or epics. Does not copy comments or system notes unless --with_notes is provided as an argument.
/close Yes Yes Yes Close.
/confidential Yes No Yes Mark issue or epic as confidential. Support for epics introduced in GitLab 15.6.
/convert_to_ticket <email address> Yes No No Convert an issue into a Service Desk ticket. Introduced in GitLab 16.9
/copy_metadata <!merge_request> Yes Yes No Copy labels and milestone from another merge request in the project.
/copy_metadata <#issue> Yes Yes No Copy labels and milestone from another issue in the project.
/create_merge_request <branch name> Yes No No Create a new merge request starting from the current issue.
/done Yes Yes Yes Mark to-do item as done.
/draft No Yes No Set the draft status.
/due <date> Yes No No Set due date. Examples of valid <date> include in 2 days, this Friday and December 31st. See Chronic for more examples.
/duplicate <#issue> Yes No No Close this issue. Mark as a duplicate of, and related to, issue <#issue>.
/epic <epic> Yes No No Add to epic <epic>. The <epic> value should be in the format of &epic, group&epic, or a URL to an epic.
/estimate <time> or /estimate_time <time> Yes Yes No Set time estimate. For example, /estimate 1mo 2w 3d 4h 5m. For more information, see Time tracking. Alias /estimate_time introduced in GitLab 15.6.
/health_status <value> Yes No No Set health status. Valid options for <value> are on_track, needs_attention, and at_risk (introduced in GitLab 14.7).
/iteration *iteration:<iteration ID> or <iteration name> Yes No No Set iteration. For example, to set the Late in July iteration: /iteration *iteration:"Late in July".
/iteration [cadence:<iteration cadence ID> or <iteration cadence name>] <--current or --next> Yes No No Set iteration to the current or next upcoming iteration of the referenced iteration cadence. For example, /iteration [cadence:"Team cadence"] --current sets the iteration to the current iteration of the iteration cadence named “Team cadence”. Introduced in GitLab 16.9.
/iteration <--current or --next> Yes No No Set iteration to the current or next upcoming iteration when a group has one iteration cadence. For example, /iteration --current sets the iteration to the current iteration of the iteration cadence. Introduced in GitLab 16.9.
/label ~label1 ~label2 or /labels ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Add one or more labels. Label names can also start without a tilde (~), but mixed syntax is not supported.
/link Yes No No Add a link and description to linked resources in an incident (introduced in GitLab 15.5).
/lock Yes Yes No Lock the discussions.
/merge No Yes No Merge changes. Depending on the project setting, this may be when the pipeline succeeds, or adding to a Merge Train.
/milestone %milestone Yes Yes No Set milestone.
/move <path/to/project> Yes No No Move this issue to another project. Be careful when moving an issue to a project with different access rules. Before moving the issue, make sure it does not contain sensitive data.
/page <policy name> Yes No No Start escalations for the incident.
/parent_epic <epic> No No Yes Set parent epic to <epic>. The <epic> value should be in the format of &epic, group&epic, or a URL to an epic.
/promote_to_incident Yes No No Promote issue to incident. In GitLab 15.8 and later, you can also use the quick action when creating a new issue.
/promote Yes No No Promote issue to epic.
/publish Yes No No Publish issue to an associated Status Page.
/react :emoji: Yes Yes Yes Toggle an emoji reaction. Renamed from /award in GitLab 16.7. /award is still available as an aliased command.
/ready No Yes No Set the ready status (Introduced in GitLab 15.1).
/reassign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes No Replace current assignees with those specified.
/reassign_reviewer @user1 @user2 No Yes No Replace current reviewers with those specified.
/rebase No Yes No Rebase source branch on the latest commit of the target branch. For help, see troubleshooting information.
/relabel ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Replace current labels with those specified.
/relate #issue1 #issue2 Yes No No Mark issues as related.
/remove_child_epic <epic> No No Yes Remove child epic from <epic>. The <epic> value should be in the format of &epic, group&epic, or a URL to an epic.
/remove_contacts [contact:email1@example.com] [contact:email2@example.com] Yes No No Remove one or more CRM contacts
/remove_due_date Yes No No Remove due date.
/remove_epic Yes No No Remove from epic.
/remove_estimate or /remove_time_estimate Yes Yes No Remove time estimate. Alias /remove_time_estimate introduced in GitLab 15.6.
/remove_iteration Yes No No Remove iteration.
/remove_milestone Yes Yes No Remove milestone.
/remove_parent_epic No No Yes Remove parent epic from epic.
/remove_time_spent Yes Yes No Remove time spent.
/remove_zoom Yes No No Remove Zoom meeting from this issue.
/reopen Yes Yes Yes Reopen.
/severity <severity> Yes No No Set the severity. Issue type must be Incident. Options for <severity> are S1 … S4, critical, high, medium, low, unknown.
/shrug Yes Yes Yes Add ¯\＿(ツ)＿/¯.
/spend <time> [<date>] or /spend_time <time> [<date>] Yes Yes No Add or subtract spent time. Optionally, specify the date that time was spent on. For example, /spend 1mo 2w 3d 4h 5m 2018-08-26 or /spend -1h 30m. For more information, see Time tracking. Alias /spend_time introduced in GitLab 15.6.
/submit_review No Yes No Submit a pending review.
/subscribe Yes Yes Yes Subscribe to notifications.
/tableflip Yes Yes Yes Add (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻.
/target_branch <local branch name> No Yes No Set target branch.
/timeline <timeline comment> \| <date(YYYY-MM-DD)> <time(HH:MM)> Yes No No Add a timeline event to this incident. For example, /timeline DB load spiked \| 2022-09-07 09:30. (introduced in GitLab 15.4).
/title <new title> Yes Yes Yes Change title.
/todo Yes Yes Yes Add a to-do item.
/unapprove No Yes No Unapprove the merge request.
/unassign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes No Remove specific assignees.
/unassign_reviewer @user1 @user2 or /remove_reviewer @user1 @user2 No Yes No Remove specific reviewers.
/unassign_reviewer me No Yes No Remove yourself as a reviewer.
/unassign_reviewer or /remove_reviewer No Yes No Remove all reviewers.
/unassign No Yes No Remove all assignees.
/unlabel ~label1 ~label2 or /remove_label ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Remove specified labels.
/unlabel or /remove_label Yes Yes Yes Remove all labels.
/unlink <issue> Yes No No Remove link with to the provided issue. The <issue> value should be in the format of #issue, group/project#issue, or the full issue URL. (Introduced in GitLab 16.1).
/unlock Yes Yes No Unlock the discussions.
/unsubscribe Yes Yes Yes Unsubscribe from notifications.
/weight <value> Yes No No Set weight. Valid values are integers like 0, 1, or 2.
/zoom <Zoom URL> Yes No No Add a Zoom meeting to this issue or incident. In GitLab 15.3 and later users on GitLab Premium can add a short description when adding a Zoom link to an incident.

Work items

History
  • Executing quick actions from comments introduced in GitLab 15.10.

Work items in GitLab include tasks and OKRs. The following quick actions can be applied through the description field when editing or commenting on work items.

Command Task Objective Key Result Action
/assign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes Yes Assign one or more users.
/assign me Yes Yes Yes Assign yourself.
/add_child <work_item> No Yes No Add child to <work_item>. The <work_item> value should be in the format of #iid, group/project#iid, or a URL to a work item. Multiple work items can be added as children at the same time. Introduced in GitLab 16.5.
/award :emoji: Yes Yes Yes Toggle an emoji reaction. Introduced in GitLab 16.5
/cc @user Yes Yes Yes Mention a user. In GitLab 15.0 and later, this command performs no action. You can instead type CC @user or only @user.
/checkin_reminder <cadence> No Yes No Schedule check-in reminders. Options are weekly, twice-monthly, monthly, or never (default). Introduced in GitLab 16.4 with flags named okrs_mvc and okr_checkin_reminders.
/clear_health_status Yes Yes Yes Clear health status.
/clear_weight Yes No No Clear weight.
/close Yes Yes Yes Close.
/confidential Yes Yes Yes Mark work item as confidential. introduced in GitLab 16.4.
/done Yes Yes Yes Mark to-do item as done. Introduced in GitLab 16.2.
/due <date> Yes No Yes Set due date. Examples of valid <date> include in 2 days, this Friday and December 31st.
/health_status <value> Yes Yes Yes Set health status. Valid options for <value> are on_track, needs_attention, or at_risk.
/label ~label1 ~label2 or /labels ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Add one or more labels. Label names can also start without a tilde (~), but mixed syntax is not supported.
/promote_to <type> Yes No Yes Promotes work item to specified type. Available options for <type>: issue (promote a task) or objective (promote a key result). Introduced in GitLab 16.1.
/reassign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes Yes Replace current assignees with those specified.
/relabel ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Replace current labels with those specified.
/remove_due_date Yes No Yes Remove due date.
/remove_child <work_item> No Yes No Remove the child <work_item>. The <work_item> value should be in the format of #iid, group/project#iid, or a URL to a work item. Introduced in GitLab 16.10.
/remove_parent Yes No Yes Removes the parent work item. Introduced in GitLab 16.9.
/reopen Yes Yes Yes Reopen.
/set_parent <work_item> Yes No Yes Set parent work item to <work_item>. The <work_item> value should be in the format of #iid, group/project#iid, or a URL to a work item. Introduced in GitLab 16.5.
/shrug Yes Yes Yes Add ¯\＿(ツ)＿/¯.
/subscribe Yes Yes Yes Subscribe to notifications. Introduced in GitLab 16.4
/tableflip Yes Yes Yes Add (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻.
/title <new title> Yes Yes Yes Change title.
/todo Yes Yes Yes Add a to-do item. Introduced in GitLab 16.2.
/type Yes Yes Yes Converts work item to specified type. Available options for <type> include issue, task, objective and key result. Introduced in GitLab 16.0.
/unassign @user1 @user2 Yes Yes Yes Remove specific assignees.
/unassign No Yes Yes Remove all assignees.
/unlabel ~label1 ~label2 or /remove_label ~label1 ~label2 Yes Yes Yes Remove specified labels.
/unlabel or /remove_label Yes Yes Yes Remove all labels.
/unsubscribe Yes Yes Yes Unsubscribe to notifications. Introduced in GitLab 16.4
/weight <value> Yes No No Set weight. Valid options for <value> include 0, 1, and 2.

Commit messages

The following quick actions are applicable for commit messages:

Command Action
/tag v1.2.3 <message> Tags the commit with an optional message.

Troubleshooting

Quick action isn’t executed

If you run a quick action, but nothing happens, check if the quick action appears in the autocomplete box as you type it. If it doesn’t, it’s possible that:

  • The feature related to the quick action isn’t available to you based on your subscription tier or user role in the group or project.
  • A required condition for the quick action isn’t met. For example, you’re running /unlabel on an issue without any labels.