Test a new look for issues

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated
Status: Beta

Introduced in GitLab 17.5 with a flag named work_items_view_preference. Disabled by default. This feature is in beta.
Feature flag named work_items_view_preference enabled on GitLab.com in GitLab 17.9 for a subset of users.
Feature flag named work_items_view_preference enabled on GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, and GitLab Dedicated in 17.10.
Enabled on GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, and GitLab Dedicated in GitLab 17.11.
Moved to feature flag named work_item_view_for_issues in GitLab 18.1. Enabled on GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, and GitLab Dedicated. Feature flag work_items_view_preference removed.

We have changed how issues look by migrating them to a unified framework for work items to better meet the product needs of our Agile Planning offering.

These changes include a new drawer view of issues opened from the issue list, issue board, or child or linked items, a new creation workflow for issues and incidents, and a new view for issues.

For more information, see epic 9584 and the blog post First look: The new Agile planning experience in GitLab (June 2024).

Feedback

Find a bug or have a request? Leave feedback in issue 523713.

New features

The new issues experience includes these improvements:

Drawer view: When you open an issue from the issue list, the issue opens in a drawer without leaving the current page. The drawer provides a complete view of the issue.
To view the full page instead, either:
1. Select View in full page at the top of the drawer.
2. Open the link in a new tab.
To always open issues in the full page view on the Epics page, in the top right corner, select Display options ( ) and turn off the Open items in side panel toggle.
Issue controls: All issue controls, including confidentiality settings, are now in the top actions menu. This menu stays visible as you scroll through the page.
Redesigned sidebar: The sidebar is now embedded in the page, similar to merge requests and epics. On smaller screens, the sidebar content appears below the description.
Parent hierarchy: Above the title, you can view the entire hierarchy this item belongs to. The sidebar also displays the parent work item (previously called “Epic”).
Change type: You can change between different types of items:
1. From the top actions menu, select Change type.
2. Select the new type: Issue, Task, Incident, or Epic. When you change an issue to an epic, the epic is created in the parent group because epics can only exist in groups.
Development: Merge requests, branches, and feature flags related to this item are shown in a single list.

Work item Markdown reference

You can reference work items in GitLab Flavored Markdown fields with [work_item:123]. For more information, see GitLab-specific references.