glab-mr

name	glab-mr
description	Create, view, manage, approve, and merge GitLab merge requests. Use when working with MRs: creating from branches/issues, reviewing, approving, adding comments, resolving discussion threads, checking out locally, viewing diffs, rebasing, merging, or managing state. Triggers on merge request, MR, pull request, PR, review, approve, merge, resolve thread.

glab mr

Create, view, and manage GitLab merge requests.

Quick start

# Create MR from current branch
glab mr create --fill

# List my MRs
glab mr list --assignee=@me

# Review an MR
glab mr checkout 123
glab mr diff
glab mr approve

# Merge an MR
glab mr merge 123 --when-pipeline-succeeds --remove-source-branch

Common workflows

Creating MRs

From current branch:

glab mr create --fill --label bugfix --assignee @reviewer

# Create now, merge automatically when checks pass (v1.90.0+)
glab mr create --fill --auto-merge

From issue:

glab mr for 456  # Creates MR linked to issue #456

Draft MR:

glab mr create --draft --title "WIP: Feature X"

Review workflow

1. List pending reviews:

   glab mr list --reviewer=@me --state=opened
   

2. Checkout and test:

   glab mr checkout 123
   npm test
   

3. Leave feedback:

   glab mr note 123 -m "Looks good, one question about the cache logic"
   
   # List discussion threads on the MR (v1.90.0+, experimental)
   glab mr note list 123
   
   # Resolve a discussion by note/discussion ID (v1.90.0+, experimental)
   glab mr note resolve 3107030349 123
   
   # Reopen a resolved discussion (v1.90.0+, experimental)
   glab mr note reopen 3107030349 123
   
   # If you need to change thread state in v1.90.0, use the explicit subcommands
   glab mr note resolve <discussion-id> 123
   glab mr note reopen <discussion-id> 123
   

4. Approve:

   glab mr approve 123
   

Automated review workflow:

For repetitive review tasks, use the automation script:

scripts/mr-review-workflow.sh 123
scripts/mr-review-workflow.sh 123 "pnpm test"

This automatically: checks out → runs tests → posts result → approves if passed.

Merge strategies

Auto-merge when pipeline passes:

glab mr merge 123 --when-pipeline-succeeds --remove-source-branch

Squash commits:

glab mr merge 123 --squash

Rebase before merge:

glab mr rebase 123
glab mr merge 123

Troubleshooting

Merge conflicts:

• Checkout MR: glab mr checkout 123
• Resolve conflicts manually in your editor
• Commit resolution: git add . && git commit
• Push: git push

Cannot approve MR:

• Check if you're the author (can't self-approve in most configs)
• Verify permissions: glab mr approvers 123
• Ensure MR is not in draft state

Pipeline required but not running:

• Check .gitlab-ci.yml exists in branch
• Verify CI/CD is enabled for project
• Trigger manually: glab ci run

"MR already exists" error:

• List existing MRs from branch: glab mr list --source-branch <branch>
• Close old MR if obsolete: glab mr close <id>
• Or update existing: glab mr update <id> --title "New title"

Related Skills

Working with issues:

• See glab-issue for creating/managing issues
• Use glab mr for <issue-id> to create MR linked to issue
• Script: scripts/create-mr-from-issue.sh automates branch + MR creation

CI/CD integration:

• See glab-ci for pipeline status before merging
• Use glab mr create --auto-merge to request auto-merge up front, or glab mr merge --when-pipeline-succeeds on an existing MR

Automation:

• Script: scripts/mr-review-workflow.sh for automated review + test workflow

Posting Inline Comments on MR Diffs

The glab api --field Problem

glab api --field position[new_line]=N silently falls back to a general (non-inline) comment when GitLab rejects the position data. This happens with:

• Entirely new files (new_file: true in the diff)
• Files with complex/encoded paths
• Any nested position field that doesn't survive form encoding

There is no error — GitLab just drops the position and creates a general discussion. You won't know it failed unless you check the returned note's position field.

The Fix: Always Use JSON Body

Post inline comments via the REST API with a Content-Type: application/json body:

import json, urllib.request, urllib.parse, subprocess

# Get token from glab config
token = subprocess.run(
    ["glab", "config", "get", "token", "--host", "gitlab.com"],
    capture_output=True, text=True
).stdout.strip()

project = urllib.parse.quote("mygroup/myproject", safe="")
mr_iid = 42

# Always fetch fresh SHAs — never use cached values
r = urllib.request.urlopen(urllib.request.Request(
    f"https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{project}/merge_requests/{mr_iid}/versions",
    headers={"PRIVATE-TOKEN": token}
))
v = json.loads(r.read())[0]

payload = {
    "body": "Your comment here",
    "position": {
        "base_sha":  v["base_commit_sha"],
        "start_sha": v["start_commit_sha"],
        "head_sha":  v["head_commit_sha"],
        "position_type": "text",
        "new_path": "src/utils/helpers.ts",
        "new_line": 16,
        "old_path": "src/utils/helpers.ts",  # for renamed files, use the diff's actual old_path
        "old_line": None                       # None = added line
    }
}

req = urllib.request.Request(
    f"https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{project}/merge_requests/{mr_iid}/discussions",
    data=json.dumps(payload).encode(),
    headers={"PRIVATE-TOKEN": token, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST"
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
    result = json.loads(resp.read())
    note = result["notes"][0]
    is_inline = note.get("position") is not None  # True = inline, False = fell back to general
    print("inline:", is_inline, "| disc_id:", result["id"])

Finding the Correct Line Number

Line numbers must point to an added line (+ prefix) in the diff — context lines and removed lines will cause the position to be rejected:

import re

def get_new_line_number(diff_text, keyword):
    """Find the new_file line number of the first added line containing keyword."""
    new_line = 0
    for line in diff_text.split("\n"):
        hunk = re.match(r"@@ -\d+(?:,\d+)? \+(\d+)(?:,\d+)? @@", line)
        if hunk:
            new_line = int(hunk.group(1)) - 1
            continue
        if line.startswith("-") or line.startswith("\\"):
            continue
        new_line += 1
        if line.startswith("+") and keyword in line:
            return new_line
    return None

# Usage
diffs = json.loads(...)  # from /merge_requests/{iid}/diffs
for d in diffs:
    if d["new_path"] == "src/utils/helpers.ts":
        line = get_new_line_number(d["diff"], "safeParse")
        print("line:", line)

Reusable Script

For scripted or automated MR reviews, use the bundled helper:

# Single comment
python3 scripts/post-inline-comment.py \
  --project "mygroup/myproject" \
  --mr 42 \
  --file "src/utils/helpers.ts" \
  --line 16 \
  --body "This returns the wrapper object — use .data instead."

# Batch from JSON file
python3 scripts/post-inline-comment.py \
  --project "mygroup/myproject" \
  --mr 42 \
  --batch comments.json

Batch file format:

[
  { "file": "src/utils/helpers.ts", "line": 16, "body": "Comment 1" },
  { "file": "src/routes/+page.svelte", "line": 58, "body": "Comment 2" }
]

The script auto-reads your token from glab config, fetches fresh SHAs and diffs, and uses a two-step anchoring strategy:

1. Try the normal position[new_line] inline payload first.
2. If GitLab rejects it with a line_code validation error, compute the diff anchor and retry with position[line_range][start/end][line_code].

That retry path is the preferred recovery for failures like:

• 400 Bad request - Note {:line_code=>["can't be blank", "must be a valid line code"]}

Only if that retry also fails should your broader review workflow fall back to a root MR note that clearly says inline anchoring failed while preserving the exact finding text and reviewer identity.

---

Filtering discussion threads by resolution (v1.88.0+)

# Show only unresolved discussion threads on an MR
glab mr view 123 --unresolved

# Show only resolved threads
glab mr view 123 --resolved

Useful for quickly checking which review threads still need attention before merging.

v1.87.0 Changes: New glab mr list Flags

The following flags were added to glab mr list in v1.87.0:

# Filter by author
glab mr list --author <username>

# Filter by source or target branch
glab mr list --source-branch feature/my-branch
glab mr list --target-branch main

# Filter by draft status
glab mr list --draft
glab mr list --not-draft

# Filter by label or exclude label
glab mr list --label bugfix
glab mr list --not-label wip

# Order and sort
glab mr list --order updated_at --sort desc
glab mr list --order merged_at --sort asc

# Date range filtering
glab mr list --created-after 2026-01-01
glab mr list --created-before 2026-03-01

# Search in title/description
glab mr list --search "login fix"

# Full flag reference (all available flags)
glab mr list \
  --assignee @me \
  --author vince \
  --reviewer @me \
  --label bugfix \
  --not-label wip \
  --source-branch feature/x \
  --target-branch main \
  --milestone "v2.0" \
  --draft \
  --state opened \
  --order updated_at \
  --sort desc \
  --search "auth" \
  --created-after 2026-01-01

v1.90.0 Updates

• glab mr create adds --auto-merge to set merge-when-ready during MR creation
• glab mr note adds list, resolve, and reopen subcommands for discussion management (EXPERIMENTAL)
• For discussion state changes in v1.90.0, prefer glab mr note resolve / glab mr note reopen; do not imply --resolve / --unresolve can be combined with -m

v1.89.0 Updates

v1.89.0+: glab mr approvers supports --output json / -F json for structured output, ideal for agent automation.

# View MR approvers with JSON output (v1.89.0+)
glab mr approvers 123 --output json
glab mr approvers 123 -F json

v1.88.0 Changes

• glab mr note: Added --resolve <discussion-id> and --unresolve <discussion-id> flags for discussion state changes; in v1.90.0 docs should prefer the explicit note resolve / note reopen subcommands for user-facing guidance
• glab mr view: Added --resolved and --unresolved flags to filter displayed discussion threads by resolution status

Command reference

For complete command documentation and all flags, see references/commands.md.

Available commands:

• approve - Approve merge requests
• checkout - Check out an MR locally
• close - Close merge request
• create - Create new MR
• delete - Delete merge request
• diff - View changes in MR
• for - Create MR for an issue
• list - List merge requests
• merge - Merge/accept MR
• note - Add comment to MR; includes list, resolve, and reopen subcommands in v1.90.0
• rebase - Rebase source branch
• reopen - Reopen merge request
• revoke - Revoke approval
• subscribe / unsubscribe - Manage notifications
• todo - Add to-do item
• update - Update MR metadata
• view - Display MR details