Vince Winkintel Gitlab CLI Skills Glab Mr

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",  # same as new_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 reports whether each comment landed inline or fell back to general.

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

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