External issue trackers

GitLab has its own issue tracker, but you can also configure an external issue tracker per GitLab project. You can then use:

• The external issue tracker with the GitLab issue tracker
• The external issue tracker only

With an external tracker, you can use the format CODE-123 to mention external issues in GitLab merge requests, commits, and comments where:

• CODE is a unique code for the tracker.
• 123 is the issue number in the tracker.

References are displayed as issue links.

Disable the GitLab issue tracker

To disable the GitLab issue tracker for a project:

1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
2. Select Settings > General.
3. Expand Visibility, project features, permissions.
4. Under Issues, turn off the toggle.
5. Select Save changes.

After you disable the GitLab issue tracker:

• If an external issue tracker is configured, Issues is visible on the left sidebar but redirects to the external issue tracker.
• If no external issue tracker is configured, Issues is not visible on the left sidebar.

Configure an external issue tracker

You can configure any of the following external issue trackers:

• Bugzilla
• ClickUp
• Custom issue tracker
• Engineering Workflow Management (EWM)
• Jira
• Phorge
• Redmine
• YouTrack