Custom queries in the VS Code extension

The GitLab Workflow extension adds a sidebar to VS Code. This sidebar displays default search queries for each of your projects:

  • Issues assigned to me
  • Issues created by me
  • Merge requests assigned to me
  • Merge requests created by me
  • Merge requests I’m reviewing

In addition to the default queries, you can create custom queries.

View search query results in VS Code

Prerequisites:

  • You’re a member of a GitLab project.
  • You’ve installed the extension.
  • You’ve signed in to your GitLab instance, as described in Setup.

To see search results from your project:

  1. On the left vertical menu bar, select GitLab Workflow () to display the extension sidebar.
  2. On the sidebar, expand Issues and merge requests.
  3. Select a project to view its queries, then select the query you want to run.
  4. Below the query title, select the search result you want to see.
  5. If your search result is a merge request, select what you want to view in VS Code:
    • Overview: the description, status, and any comments on this merge request.
    • The filenames of all files changed in this merge request. Select a file to view a diff of its changes.
  6. If your search result is an issue, select it to view its description, history, and comments in VS Code.

Create a custom query

Any custom queries you define override the default queries shown in the VS Code sidebar, under Issues and Merge requests.

To override the extension’s default queries and replace them with your own:

  1. In VS Code, on the top bar, go to Code > Preferences > Settings.
  2. On the top right corner, select Open Settings (JSON) to edit your settings.json file.
  3. In the file, define gitlab.customQueries, like in this example. Each query should be an entry in the gitlab.customQueries JSON array:

    {
      "gitlab.customQueries": [
        {
          "name": "Issues assigned to me",
          "type": "issues",
          "scope": "assigned_to_me",
          "noItemText": "No issues assigned to you.",
          "state": "opened"
        }
      ]
    }
    
  4. Optional. When you customize gitlab.customQueries, your definition overrides all default queries. To restore any of the default queries, copy them from the default array in the extension’s desktop.package.json file.
  5. Save your changes.

Supported parameters for all queries

Not all item types support all parameters. These parameters apply to all query types:

Parameter Required Default Definition
name Yes not applicable The label to show in the GitLab panel.
noItemText No No items found. The text to show if the query returns no items.
type No merge_requests Which item types to return. Possible values: issues, merge_requests, epics, snippets, vulnerabilities. Snippets don’t support any other filters. Epics are available only on GitLab Premium and Ultimate.

Supported parameters for issue, epic, and merge request queries

Parameter Required Default Definition
assignee No not applicable Return items assigned to the given username. None returns unassigned GitLab items. Any returns GitLab items with an assignee. Not available for epics and vulnerabilities.
author No not applicable Return items created by the given username.
confidential No not applicable Filter confidential or public issues. Available only for issues.
createdAfter No not applicable Return items created after the given date.
createdBefore No not applicable Return items created before the given date.
draft No no Filter merge requests against their draft status: yes returns only merge requests in draft status, no returns only merge requests not in draft status. Available only for merge requests.
excludeAssignee No not applicable Return items not assigned to the given username. Available only for issues. For the current user, set to <current_user>.
excludeAuthor No not applicable Return items not created by the given username. Available only for issues. For the current user, set to <current_user>.
excludeLabels No [] Array of label names. Available only for issues. To be returned, items must have none of the labels in the array. Predefined names are case-insensitive.
excludeMilestone No not applicable The milestone title to exclude. Available only for issues.
excludeSearch No not applicable Search GitLab items that doesn’t have the search key in their title or description. Works only with issues.
labels No [] Array of label names. To be returned, items must have all labels in the array. None returns items with no labels. Any returns items with at least one label. Predefined names are case-insensitive.
maxResults No 20 The number of results to show.
milestone No not applicable The milestone title. None lists all items with no milestone. Any lists all items with an assigned milestone. Not available for epics and vulnerabilities.
orderBy No created_at Return entities ordered by the selected value. Possible values: created_at, updated_at, priority, due_date, relative_position, label_priority, milestone_due, popularity, weight. Some values are specific to issues, and some to merge requests. For more information, see List merge requests.
reviewer No not applicable Return merge requests assigned for review to this username. For the current user, set to <current_user>. None returns items without a reviewer. Any returns items with a reviewer.
scope No all Return GitLab items for the given scope. Not applicable for epics. Possible values: assigned_to_me, created_by_me, all.
search No not applicable Search GitLab items against their title and description.
searchIn No all Change the scope of the excludeSearch search attribute. Possible values: all, title, description. Works only with issues.
sort No desc Return issues sorted in ascending or descending order. Possible values: asc, desc.
state No opened Return all issues, or only those matching a particular state. Possible values: all, opened, closed.
updatedAfter No not applicable Return items updated after the given date.
updatedBefore No not applicable Return items updated before the given date.

Supported parameters for vulnerability report queries

Vulnerability reports don’t share any common query parameters with other entry types. Each parameter listed in this table works with vulnerability reports only:

Parameter Required Default Definition
confidenceLevels No all Returns vulnerabilities belonging to specified confidence levels. Possible values: undefined, ignore, unknown, experimental, low, medium, high, confirmed.
reportTypes No Not applicable Returns vulnerabilities belonging to specified report types. Possible values: sast, dast, dependency_scanning, container_scanning.
scope No dismissed Returns vulnerability findings for the given scope. Possible values: all, dismissed. For more information, see the Vulnerability findings API.
severityLevels No all Returns vulnerabilities belonging to specified severity levels. Possible values: undefined, info, unknown, low, medium, high, critical.