Reply by email
- Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
- Offering: GitLab Self-Managed
GitLab can be set up to allow users to comment on issues and merge requests by replying to notification emails.
Prerequisite
Make sure incoming email is set up.
How it works
Replying by email happens in three steps:
- GitLab sends a notification email.
- You reply to the notification email.
- GitLab receives your reply to the notification email.
GitLab sends a notification email
When GitLab sends a notification email:
- The
Reply-To
header is set to your configured email address. - If the address contains a
%{key}
placeholder, it’s replaced with a specific reply key. - The reply key is added to the
References
header.
You reply to the notification email
When you reply to the notification email, your email client:
- Sends the email to the
Reply-To
address it got from the notification email. - Sets the
In-Reply-To
header to the value of theMessage-ID
header from the notification email. - Sets the
References
header to the value of theMessage-ID
plus the value of the notification email’sReferences
header.
GitLab receives your reply to the notification email
When GitLab receives your reply, it looks for the reply key in the list of accepted headers.
If a reply key is found, your response appears as a comment on the relevant issue, merge request, commit, or other item that triggered the notification.
For more information about the Message-ID
, In-Reply-To
, and References
headers,
see RFC 5322.
Docs
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Product
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Feature availability and product trials
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