Issue closing pattern

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

This page explains how an administrator can configure issue closing patterns. For user documentation about the feature, see Closing issues automatically.

When a commit or merge request resolves one or more issues, GitLab can close those issues when the commit or merge request lands in the project’s default branch.

Change the issue closing pattern

The default issue closing pattern covers a wide range of words.

To change the default issue closing pattern to suit your needs:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and change the gitlab_rails['gitlab_issue_closing_pattern'] value:

    gitlab_rails['gitlab_issue_closing_pattern'] = /<regular_expression>/.source

  2. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  1. Export the Helm values:

    helm get values gitlab > gitlab_values.yaml

  2. Edit gitlab_values.yaml and change the issueClosingPattern value:

    global:
  appConfig:
    issueClosingPattern: "<regular_expression>"

  3. Save the file and apply the new values:

    helm upgrade -f gitlab_values.yaml gitlab gitlab/gitlab

  1. Edit docker-compose.yml and change the gitlab_rails['gitlab_issue_closing_pattern'] value:

    version: "3.6"
services:
  gitlab:
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_issue_closing_pattern'] = /<regular_expression>/.source

  2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

    docker compose up -d

  1. Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml and change the issue_closing_pattern value:

    production: &base
  gitlab:
    issue_closing_pattern: "<regular_expression>"

  2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

    # For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab restart

To test the issue closing pattern, use Rubular. Rubular does not understand %{issue_ref}. When you test your patterns, replace this string with #\d+, which matches only local issue references like #123.