akunzai GitLab Epic & Issue Relations
Manage epics, parent-child hierarchies, and issue relationships on GitLab.
Focuses on epics, work items, and tier strategies. For general CLI syntax and gotchas, consult the official skill (glab skills install --global).
Preflight & Tier Check
Verify GitLab hosting (git remote get-url origin; custom domains: hosting-detection.md). Read tier:
glab api version # "enterprise": false => CE / Free
glab api groups/:group_id/epics # 404 => no native epics
Tier Strategies
Strategy A: Premium / Ultimate (Native Wiring)
Native epics and issue links via glab:
# Group epics & child issue links
glab api groups/:group_id/epics
glab api --method POST groups/:group_id/epics/:epic_iid/issues/:issue_id
# Blocked-by links (options: relates_to, blocks, is_blocked_by)
glab api --method POST projects/:id/issues/:issue_iid/links \
-f target_project_id=<target_project> -f target_issue_iid=<target_iid> -f link_type=blocks
Strategy B: Free / CE Tier
Native epics are unavailable. Choose GraphQL work items or emulation:
- Native Work Items (GraphQL): For real parent-child wiring on CE (Issue -> Task conversion, mutations, link constraints), see work-items.md.
- Emulation: Use markdown checklists and scoped labels:
1. Markdown Checklists
Tracking issue:
# Epic: User Authentication Redesign
## Sub-tasks
- [ ] #101 Core OAuth2 client refactor
- [ ] #102 JWT validation middleware
Children: Part of #100 / Relates to #105.
Never write Closes/Fixes/Resolves next to a tracking issue even in negation — GitLab still auto-closes.
2. Scoped Labels (key::value)
On CE, :: carries no native exclusivity, but conventions track hierarchy:
type::epic: Tracking issue.epic::<epic-name>: Tag child issues (e.g.epic::user-auth).parent::<issue_id>: Explicit parent tag (e.g.parent::100).
glab issue create --title "OAuth2 Client" --label "epic::user-auth,parent::100"