Issue closing pattern

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

For user documentation about issue closing patterns, 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. The default issue closing pattern covers a wide range of words, and administrators can configure the word list as needed.

Change the issue closing pattern

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:

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

  2. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:

    shell
    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  1. Export the Helm values:

    shell
    helm get values gitlab > gitlab_values.yaml

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

    yaml
    global:
  appConfig:
    issueClosingPattern: "<regular_expression>"

  3. Save the file and apply the new values:

    shell
    helm upgrade -f gitlab_values.yaml gitlab gitlab/gitlab

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

    yaml
    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:

    shell
    docker compose up -d

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

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

  2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

    shell
    # 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.