[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":794},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/gitlab-vue-one-year-later":3,"navigation-en-us":37,"banner-en-us":437,"footer-en-us":447,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Jacob Schatz":689,"blog-related-posts-en-us-gitlab-vue-one-year-later":703,"assessment-promotions-en-us":745,"next-steps-en-us":784},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":25,"isFeatured":12,"meta":26,"navigation":27,"path":28,"publishedDate":20,"seo":29,"stem":33,"tagSlugs":34,"__hash__":36},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/gitlab-vue-one-year-later.yml","Gitlab Vue One Year Later",[7],"jacob-schatz",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"gitlab-vue-one-year-later",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"How we do Vue: one year later","How we, at GitLab, write VueJS, one year later.",[18],"Jacob Schatz","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749680321/Blog/Hero%20Images/vue-title.jpg","2017-11-09","It's been a while since [we wrote about Vue](/blog/why-we-chose-vue/). We've been using Vue for over a year now and life has been very good. Thanks [@lnoogn](https://twitter.com/lnoogn) for reminding me to write this article!\n\n\u003C!-- more -->\n\nOur situation reminds me of a quote about Scala from [\"Is Scala slowly dying?\"](https://www.reddit.com/r/scala/comments/2hw0bp/is_scala_slowly_dying/) Someone once said:\n\n> Scala people don't have time for redditing and blogging, they're busy getting crap done.\n\nWhich is exactly what we've been doing. Like Scala, Vue works really, really well, when used properly. It turns out Vue isn't a buzzword, Vue is a workhorse. A lot of our problems have been solved, by us and others. We still have problems but, we now have a reproducible \"way to write Vue.\" We don't adopt every new idea out there, but we have changed a few things since we last spoke.\n\nSince that last post, we published a [very extensive Vue style guide](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/fe_guide/vue.html), after which Vue also put out a [style guide](https://vuejs.org/v2/style-guide/), [taking inspiration from ours](https://github.com/vuejs/eslint-plugin-vue/issues/77#issuecomment-315834845). The style guide has been updated several times as we discover better ways to write Vue. Here are some of the things we discovered.\n\n## Just use VueX\n\nWe discovered that [VueX](https://vuex.vuejs.org/) makes our lives easier. If you are writing a medium to large feature, use VueX. If it's a tiny feature, you might get away without it. We made the mistake of not using VueX for a large feature. We wrote a [multi-file editor](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/31890) (WIP) to replace our current repo file view, to allow easy editing of multiple files.\n\n![multi-file-editor.png](https://about.gitlab.com/images/vue_2017/multi-file-editor.png){: .shadow}\n\nIn the beginning we did not use VueX for this feature and instead used the store pattern. The Vue docs talk about the [store pattern](https://vuejs.org/v2/guide/state-management.html#Simple-State-Management-from-Scratch), which works well when you are committed to strictly keeping to the pattern. We've found that you are better off spending your time with VueX instead. While VueX is initially more verbose, it is much more scalable, and will save you tons of time in the long run. Our mistake happened when we changed the data in multiple places. In VueX you are forced to change the data in one central place. If you don't do this, you will wind up chasing unexpected bugs around.\n\n## Write high quality code\n\nEven though VueJS and VueX are both wonderful, it is still possible (as with any code) to write bad Vue code. While the code may work, your longevity and scalability may suffer. Performance can suffer. With Vue, it makes it so easy to have what seems like working, perfect code because Vue is so simple to write. Longevity problems can mean that your code initially works, but you (and others) will have a hard time trying to update the code. Performance problems might not crop up with small data sets, but will with larger ones. Code can get messy. Your code can get smelly. Yes, even with Vue, you can have [code smell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_smell).\n\nWhen you add something to the `data` object or the `store` for Vue to keep track of, Vue will recursively walk down your data object and keep track of everything. If your data is super hierarchical and just large in general, and you are changing things often (like maybe on `mousemove`), then you can create jank. It's not bad to have Vue observe large data sets, but just confirm that you do in fact need the data you are watching to be reactive. It's easy with Vue to just make everything reactive, when it might not need to be.\n\nThat's why we are very strict when anyone writes Vue code. They must [follow our documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/fe_guide/vue.html). They must also only write Vue when it is necessary and not write it [when it is overkill](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/fe_guide/vue.html#when-not-to-use-vue-js).\n\nAll of our new Vue code follows the [Flux architecture](https://facebook.github.io/flux/). VueX also follows Flux, which is part of the reason we use VueX. You can use the previously mentioned \"store pattern,\" but VueX is a better choice because it enforces all of the rules. If you go rogue, you will wind up enforcing the rules yourself, and you will probably make mistakes. The less you put on your plate, the better. A good example of a well-written Vue app is the [registry image list](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/14303).\n\n### I want to use jQuery with Vue\n\nDuring new development, this question kept popping up.\n> Is it ever OK to mix jQuery with VueJS?\n\nWe are not talking about using [Select2](https://select2.org/), which is a jQuery library. We are talking about the need to query the DOM. We had discussions about using jQuery and the following was proposed:\n\n> Using jQuery is OK, but only for querying.\n\nAt first I had several discussions about using jQuery with Vue. Some had said it might be OK, but only in read-only (querying) situations. However, after doing the research, we found that it is **not** a good idea to use jQuery with Vue. There will always be a better solution. We found that if you ever find yourself needing to query to DOM within a Vue architecture, then you are doing something wrong.\n\nIf one were to hypothetically use jQuery for only the tiniest querying situations, one would have to quantify those situations. You should instead swear off querying the DOM when in Vue.\n\nInstead of querying, you will find that using the `store` in combination with the server-side code is usually a much simpler answer. The server can provide validity to your data that you cannot provide on the client side. For the most part, we find that the less we have to fool with the data on the client side the better. That's not to say it's never OK to modify the data on the client side, but that it isn't usually the cleanest solution. At GitLab we use querying only to grab endpoints from the `data` attribute of our main element, but we don't use jQuery, we use `el.dataset`. At GitLab, we (the Frontend people) talk with the Backend people to ensure the structure of the data we will be consuming. In that way, both the Frontend team and the Backend team can be in control.\n\n#### Example situation:\n\nCheck out this issue:\n\n![issue](https://about.gitlab.com/images/vue_2017/issue.png)\n\nWe now render all issue comments in Vue. An example of a situation where we wanted to use jQuery was during the rewrite of the edit-the-last-user-comment feature. When someone presses that `up` key on their keyboard from an empty new comment `textarea` (at the very bottom of the page) we allow them to edit the last comment they created, just like in Slack. Not just the last comment, but the last comment *they created*. We marked the last user comment in the picture in red. Of course there is a time crunch. Then someone might say,\n\n> Can't we just do a quick solution here and fix it later?\n\nSurely you *could* query the DOM for this. A better solution, in this case, is to let the backend developers mark the last user comment in the JSON they return. Backend developers have direct access to the database, which means they may be able to optimize the code. Then no client-side work has to be done at all, in this case. Someone has to do the work to mark the last user comment. In this case the solution is just finding the right person for the job. Once you have that data from the server, the comment is in your `store`, ready for your easy access. You can do anything now. The world is your oyster.\n\nIf you find yourself querying the DOM, \"just this one time\" ๐Ÿ˜‰, there is always a better solution.\n\n### The proper Vue app\n\nEvery Vue bundle needs one store, one service, and always has one entry point. Your entry point component is the only container component and every other component is presentational. All this information is in our Vue docs.\n\nYou can start out with a single `div`.\n\n```html\n\u003C!--HAML-->\n.js-vue-app{ data: { endpoint: 'foo' }}\n\n\u003C!--HTML-->\n\u003Cdiv class=\"js-vue-app\" data-endpoint=\"foo\">\u003C/div>\n```\nYou can pass your endpoints in through the data attributes. Vue can then call these endpoints with an HTTP client of your choice.\n\nYou don't want to do any URL building in client-side JavaScript. Make sure you pass in all your server-built URLs through endpoints. When writing Vue it's important to let the server do what it should.\n\n## Improve performance\n\nWe recently rewrote our issue comments in Vue. The issue comments were previously written in Haml, jQuery, and Rails. We had a bottleneck because we were not loading the comments asynchronously. A quick solution is to load comments via ajax and populate comments after the page loads. One way to make a page load faster is to not block the page with heavy items and load them after.\n\n![comments.png](https://about.gitlab.com/images/vue_2017/comments.png){: .shadow}\n\nWhat we love is that one day we turned on the new comments and some people didn't know that we had refactored it. As a result of the refactor our issue pages load much faster, and there is less jank.\n\nLoading the comments on the issue page is now streamlined and now individual issues load much faster. In the past, an issue page could have tens of thousands of event listeners. Our previous code was not properly removing and keeping track of event listeners. Those massive event listeners (along with other problems) created jank, so scrolling the page was choppy with many comments. We removed jQuery and added in Vue and focused on improving the performance. You can clearly see and feel that the page is much faster. However, our work to improve the performance has just begun. This rewrite sets the foundation for performance improvements that are easier to write, because the code is much more maintainable. Previously the code was hard to maintain. Now the issue comments code is properly separated and \"componentized.\"\n\nWith these new improvements, as well as other parallel improvements, e.g. loading images on scroll, we were able to make the page load and perform faster.\n\n![speed.png](https://about.gitlab.com/images/vue_2017/speed.png)\n\nRefactoring is that word that a new, super-green developer mentions on day one when they suggest to rewrite everything in Angular. That hasn't happened at GitLab. Our frontend devs tend to be very conservative, which is a very good thing. Which begs the question, why does it seems like [everyone is always refactoring](https://reasonml.github.io/community/blog/#reason-3)? What are they trying to achieve? I can only speak for GitLab. What do we want to achieve with a refactor? In reality it's going to cost a lot of money. The costs are:\n\n1. Cost of doing the refactoring.\n1. Cost of testing the change.\n1. Cost of updating tests and documentation.\n\nYou also have more risk:\n\n1. Risk of introducing bugs.\n1. Risk of taking on a huge task that you can't finish.\n1. Risk of not achieving the quality/improvements you intended.\n\nOur goals are:\n\n**Goal #1**: Make the code more maintainable. We want to make the process of adding new features easier. In the long term this refactor will save us time, but it takes a significant amount of time to recoup the time spent refactoring. The hard truth may be that a refactor usually does not save you time, but can save you stress.\n\n**Goal #2**: What it can do, if done right, is make developers happy. Nothing gives your team more horsepower than a happy, excited coder. A stressed-out coder will want to stop coding; an excited coder will not want to stop. A happy coder saves the most time.\n\nTo meet our goal our next step is to refactor the merge request comments section. Our merge request comments are massively slow for merge requests with lots of comments. The comments become slower and start to be less responsive at around 200 comments. The diffs are slow as well. There are a ton of reasons for this, one of which is that JavaScript is causing multiple reflows that take tons of time. We could refactor this and have already put in a fix, but this isn't a long-term solution. In the case of a huge MR, there was code that was causing a reflow that [takes over eight seconds](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/39332)! This is now fixed. In this [image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/uploads/e18856a1544d4d0e6420d11fd0479af7/ss__2017-10-20_at_1.41.04_PM.png) you can see there is other stuff slowing things down. Clearly there is a lot of work to do here. Our biggest problem is that the code is not maintainable, which means that fixes take longer. A refactor into Vue will provide some great initial speed improvements, and lay the groundwork for easier improvements in the future.\n\nThere is so much work to do at GitLab. If you want to be a part of exploring the massive catacombs of GitLab and writing awesome code and if you are interested in helping out our Frontend team, then [apply](https://handbook.gitlab.com/job-families/engineering/development/frontend/).\n",[23,24],"frontend","inside GitLab","yml",{},true,"/en-us/blog/gitlab-vue-one-year-later",{"title":15,"description":16,"ogTitle":15,"ogDescription":16,"noIndex":12,"ogImage":19,"ogUrl":30,"ogSiteName":31,"ogType":32,"canonicalUrls":30},"https://about.gitlab.com/blog/gitlab-vue-one-year-later","https://about.gitlab.com","article","en-us/blog/gitlab-vue-one-year-later",[23,35],"inside-gitlab","B0wzTmgrO9wao4mGoDIAMYD3QDOHxMAGq7xwrfotfmM",{"data":38},{"logo":39,"freeTrial":44,"sales":49,"login":54,"items":59,"search":367,"minimal":398,"duo":417,"pricingDeployment":427},{"config":40},{"href":41,"dataGaName":42,"dataGaLocation":43},"/","gitlab logo","header",{"text":45,"config":46},"Get free 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statement",{"items":679},[680,683,686],{"text":681,"config":682},"Terms",{"href":507,"dataGaName":508,"dataGaLocation":455},{"text":684,"config":685},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":517,"dataGaLocation":455,"id":518,"isOneTrustButton":27},{"text":687,"config":688},"Privacy",{"href":512,"dataGaName":513,"dataGaLocation":455},[690],{"id":691,"title":18,"body":8,"config":692,"content":694,"description":8,"extension":25,"meta":698,"navigation":27,"path":699,"seo":700,"stem":701,"__hash__":702},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/jacob-schatz.yml",{"template":693},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":695},{"headshot":696,"ctfId":697},"","jschatz1",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/jacob-schatz",{},"en-us/blog/authors/jacob-schatz","5Ni1pJap-3Oy_IR41XlYvyewBFNZN8dZyOWznuyUvoM",[704,717,729],{"content":705,"config":715},{"title":706,"description":707,"authors":708,"heroImage":710,"date":711,"category":9,"tags":712,"body":714},"How IIT Bombay students are coding the future with GitLab","At GitLab, we often talk about how software accelerates innovation. But sometimes, you have to step away from the Zoom calls and stand in a crowded university hall to remember why we do this.",[709],"Nick Veenhof","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099013/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2814%29_6VTUA8mUhOZNDaRVNPeKwl_1750099012960.png","2026-01-08",[259,611,713],"open source","The GitLab team recently had the privilege of judging the **iHack Hackathon** at **IIT Bombay's E-Summit**. The energy was electric, the coffee was flowing, and the talent was undeniable. But what struck us most wasn't just the code โ€” it was the sheer determination of students to solve real-world problems, often overcoming significant logistical and financial hurdles to simply be in the room.\n\n\nThrough our [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we aim to empower the next generation of developers with tools and opportunity. Here is a look at what the students built, and how they used GitLab to bridge the gap between idea and reality.\n\n## The challenge: Build faster, build securely\n\nThe premise for the GitLab track of the hackathon was simple: Don't just show us a product; show us how you built it. We wanted to see how students utilized GitLab's platform โ€” from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines โ€” to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode โ€” Democratizing Scientific Research\n\n**Project:** FIRE (Fast Integrated Research Environment)\n\nTeam Decode took home the top prize with a solution that warms a developer's heart: a local-first, blazing-fast data processing tool built with [Rust](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/secure-rust-development-with-gitlab/) and Tauri. They identified a massive pain point for data science students: existing tools are fragmented, slow, and expensive.\n\nTheir solution, FIRE, allows researchers to visualize complex formats (like NetCDF) instantly. What impressed the judges most was their \"hacker\" ethos. They didn't just build a tool; they built it to be open and accessible.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** Since the team lived far apart, asynchronous communication was key. They utilized **GitLab Issue Boards** and **Milestones** to track progress and integrated their repo with Telegram to get real-time push notifications. As one team member noted, \"Coordinating all these technologies was really difficult, and what helped us was GitLab... the Issue Board really helped us track who was doing what.\"\n\n![Team Decode](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/epqazj1jc5c7zkgqun9h.jpg)\n\n### 2nd place: Team BichdeHueDost โ€” Reuniting to Solve Payments\n\n**Project:** SemiPay (RFID Cashless Payment for Schools)\n\nThe team name, BichdeHueDost, translates to \"Friends who have been set apart.\" It's a fitting name for a group of friends who went to different colleges but reunited to build this project. They tackled a unique problem: handling cash in schools for young children. Their solution used RFID cards backed by a blockchain ledger to ensure secure, cashless transactions for students.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** They utilized [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/) to automate the build process for their Flutter application (APK), ensuring that every commit resulted in a testable artifact. This allowed them to iterate quickly despite the \"flaky\" nature of cross-platform mobile development.\n\n![Team BichdeHueDost](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/pkukrjgx2miukb6nrj5g.jpg)\n\n### 3rd place: Team ZenYukti โ€” Agentic Repository Intelligence\n\n**Project:** RepoInsight AI (AI-powered, GitLab-native intelligence platform)\n\nTeam ZenYukti impressed us with a solution that tackles a universal developer pain point: understanding unfamiliar codebases. What stood out to the judges was the tool's practical approach to onboarding and code comprehension: RepoInsight-AI automatically generates documentation, visualizes repository structure, and even helps identify bugs, all while maintaining context about the entire codebase.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** The team built a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline that showcased GitLab's security and DevOps capabilities. They integrated [GitLab's Security Templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security) (SAST, Dependency Scanning, and Secret Detection), and utilized [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/container_registry/) to manage their Docker images for backend and frontend components. They created an AI auto-review bot that runs on merge requests, demonstrating an \"agentic workflow\" where AI assists in the development process itself.\n\n![Team ZenYukti](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/ymlzqoruv5al1secatba.jpg)\n\n## Beyond the code: A lesson in inclusion\n\nWhile the code was impressive, the most powerful moment of the event happened away from the keyboard.\n\nDuring the feedback session, we learned about the journey Team ZenYukti took to get to Mumbai. They traveled over 24 hours, covering nearly 1,800 kilometers. Because flights were too expensive and trains were booked, they traveled in the \"General Coach,\" a non-reserved, severely overcrowded carriage.\n\nAs one student described it:\n\n*\"You cannot even imagine something like this... there are no seats... people sit on the top of the train. This is what we have endured.\"*\n\nThis hit home. [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/) are core values at GitLab. We realized that for these students, the barrier to entry wasn't intellect or skill, it was access.\n\nIn that moment, we decided to break that barrier. We committed to reimbursing the travel expenses for the participants who struggled to get there. It's a small step, but it underlines a massive truth: **talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.**\n\n![hackathon class together](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380252/o5aqmboquz8ehusxvgom.jpg)\n\n### The future is bright (and automated)\n\nWe also saw incredible potential in teams like Prometheus, who attempted to build an autonomous patch remediation tool (DevGuardian), and Team Arrakis, who built a voice-first job portal for blue-collar workers using [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo/) to troubleshoot their pipelines.\n\nTo all the students who participated: You are the future. Through [GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we are committed to providing you with the top-tier tools (like GitLab Ultimate) you need to learn, collaborate, and change the world โ€” whether you are coding from a dorm room, a lab, or a train carriage. **Keep shipping.**\n\n> :bulb: Learn more about the [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/).\n",{"slug":716,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":718,"config":727},{"title":719,"description":720,"authors":721,"heroImage":722,"date":723,"category":9,"tags":724,"body":726},"Artois University elevates research and curriculum with GitLab Ultimate for Education","Artois University's CRIL leveraged the GitLab for Education program to gain free access to Ultimate, transforming advanced research and computer science curricula.",[709],"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099203/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2820%29_2bJGC5ZP3WheoqzlLT05C5_1750099203484.png","2025-12-10",[611,259,725],"product","Leading academic institutions face a critical challenge: how to provide thousands of students and researchers with industry-standard, **full-featured DevSecOps tools** without compromising institutional control. Many start with basic version control, but the modern curriculum demands integrated capabilities for planning, security, and advanced CI/CD.\n\nThe **GitLab for Education program** is designed to solve this by providing access to **GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying institutions, allowing them to scale their operations and elevate their academic offerings. \n\nThis article showcases a powerful success story from the **Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Lens (CRIL)**, a joint laboratory of **Artois University** and CNRS in France. After years of relying solely on GitLab Community Edition (CE), the university's move to GitLab Ultimate through the GitLab for Education program immediately unlocked advanced capabilities, transforming their teaching, research, and contribution workflows virtually overnight. This story demonstrates why GitLab Ultimate is essential for institutions seeking to deliver advanced computer science and research curricula.\n\n## GitLab Ultimate unlocked: Managing scale and driving academic value\n\n**Artois University's** self-managed GitLab instance is a large-scale operation, supporting nearly **3,000 users** across approximately **19,000 projects**, primarily serving computer science students and researchers. While GitLab Community Edition was robust, the upgrade to GitLab Ultimate provided the sophisticated tooling necessary for managing this scale and facilitating advanced university-level work.\n\n***\"We can see the difference,\" says Daniel Le Berre, head of research at CRIL and the instance maintainer. \"It's a completely different product. Each week reveals new features that directly enhance our productivity and teaching.\"***\n\nThe institution joined the GitLab for Education program specifically because it covers both **instructional and non-commercial research use cases** and offers full access to Ultimate's features, removing significant cost barriers.\n\n### Key GitLab Ultimate benefits for students and researchers\n\n* **Advanced project management at scale:** Master's students now benefit from **GitLab Ultimate's project planning features**. This enables them to structure, track, and manage complex, long-term research projects using professional methodologies like portfolio management and advanced issue tracking that seamlessly roll up across their thousands of projects.\n\n* **Enhanced visibility:** Features like improved dashboards and code previews directly in Markdown files dramatically streamline tracking and documentation review, reducing administrative friction for both instructors and students managing large project loads.\n\n## Comprehensive curriculum: From concepts to continuous delivery\n\nGitLab Ultimate is deeply integrated into the computer science curriculum, moving students beyond simple `git` commands to practical **DevSecOps implementation**.\n\n* **Git fundamentals:** Students begin by visualizing concepts using open-source tools to master Git concepts.\n\n* **Full CI/CD implementation:** Students use GitLab CI for rigorous **Test-Driven Development (TDD)** in their software projects. They learn to build, test, and perform quality assurance using unit and integration testing pipelinesโ€”core competency made seamless by the integrated platform.\n\n* **DevSecOps for research and documentation:** The university teaches students that DevSecOps principles are vital for all collaborative work. Inspired by earlier work in Delft, students manage and produce critical research documentation (PDFs from Markdown files) using GitLab, incorporating quality checks like linters and spell checks directly in the CI pipeline. This ensures high-quality, reproducible research output.\n\n* **Future-proofing security skills:** The GitLab Ultimate platform immediately positions the institution to incorporate advanced DevSecOps features like SAST and DAST scanning as their research and development code projects grow, ensuring students are prepared for industry security standards.\n\n## Accelerating open source contributions with GitLab Duo\n\nAccess to the full GitLab platform, including our AI capabilities, has empowered students to make impactful contributions to the wider open source community faster than ever before.\n\nTwo Master's students recently completed direct contributions to the GitLab product, adding the **ORCID identifier** into user profiles. Working on GitLab.com, they leveraged **GitLab Duo's AI chat and code suggestions** to navigate the codebase efficiently.\n\n***\"This would not have been possible without GitLab Duo,\" Daniel Le Berre notes. \"The AI features helped students, who might have lacked deep codebase knowledge, deliver meaningful contributions in just two weeks.\"***\n\nThis demonstrates how providing students with cutting-edge tools **accelerates their learning and impact**, allowing them to translate classroom knowledge into real-world contributions immediately.\n\n## Empowering open research and institutional control\n\nThe stability of the self-managed instance at Artois University is key to its success. This model guarantees **institutional control and stability** โ€” a critical factor for long-term research preservation.\n\nThe institution's expertise in this area was recently highlighted in a major 2024 study led by CRIL, titled: \"[Higher Education and Research Forges in France - Definition, uses, limitations encountered and needs analysis](https://hal.science/hal-04208924v4)\" ([Project on GitLab](https://gitlab.in2p3.fr/coso-college-codes-sources-et-logiciels/forges-esr-en)). The research found that the vast majority of public forges in French Higher Education and Research relied on **GitLab**. This finding underscores the consensus among academic leaders that self-hosted solutions are essential for **data control and longevity**, especially when compared to relying on external, commercial forges.\n\n## Unlock GitLab Ultimate for your institution today\n\nThe success story of **Artois University's CRIL** proves the transformative power of the GitLab for Education program. By providing **free access to GitLab Ultimate**, we enable large-scale institutions to:\n\n1. **Deliver a modern, integrated DevSecOps curriculum.**\n\n2. **Support advanced, collaborative research projects with Ultimate planning features.**\n\n3. **Empower students to make AI-assisted open source contributions.**\n\n4. **Maintain institutional control and data longevity.**\n\nIf your academic institution is ready to equip its students and researchers with the complete DevSecOps platform and its most advanced features, we invite you to join the program.\n\nThe program provides **free access to GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying instructional and non-commercial research use cases.\n\n**Apply now [online](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/).**\n",{"slug":728,"featured":27,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"content":730,"config":743},{"category":9,"tags":731,"body":734,"date":735,"updatedDate":736,"heroImage":737,"authors":738,"title":741,"description":742},[732,733,106],"tutorial","git","\nEnterprise teams are increasingly migrating from Azure DevOps to GitLab to gain strategic advantages and accelerate secure software delivery. \n\n\n- GitLab comes with integrated controls, policies, and [compliance frameworks](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/compliance/compliance_frameworks/) that allow organizations to implement software delivery standards at scale. This is especially important for regulated industries.\n\n- [Security testing](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/application_security/) is embedded in the pipeline and results show in the developer workflow, including static application security testing (SAST), source code analysis (SCA), dynamic application security testing (DAST), infrastructure-as-code scanning (IaC), container scanning, and API scanning.\n\n- [AI capabilities](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo-agent-platform/) across the full software delivery lifecycle include advanced agent orchestration and customizable flows to support how your organizational teams work.\n\n\nGitLab's open-source, open-core approach, flexible deployment options such as single-tenant dedicated and self-managed, and truly unified platform eliminate integration complexity and security gaps. \n\n\nFor teams facing mounting pressure to accelerate delivery while strengthening security posture and maintaining regulatory compliance, GitLab represents not just a migration but a platform evolution.\n\n\nMigrating from Azure DevOps to GitLab can seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach and tools, it can be a smooth and efficient process. This guide will walk you through the steps needed to successfully migrate your projects, repositories, and pipelines from Azure DevOps to GitLab.\n\n\n## Overview\n\nGitLab provides both [Congregate](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/) (maintained by [GitLab Professional Services](https://about.gitlab.com/professional-services/) organization) and [a built-in Git repository import](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/import/repo_by_url/) for migrating projects from Azure DevOps (ADO). These options support repository-by-repository or bulk migration and preserve git commit history, branches, and tags. With Congregate and professional services tools, we support additional assets such as wikis, work items, CI/CD variables, container images, packages, pipelines, and more (see this [feature matrix](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/-/blob/master/customer/ado-migration-features-matrix.md)). Use this guide to plan and execute your migration and complete post-migration follow-up tasks.\n\n\nEnterprises migrating from ADO to GitLab commonly follow a multi-phase approach:\n\n\n- Migrate repositories from ADO to GitLab using Congregate or GitLab's built-in repository migration.\n\n- Migrate pipelines from Azure Pipelines to GitLab CI/CD.\n\n- Migrate remaining assets such as boards, work items, and artifacts to GitLab Issues, Epics, and the Package and Container Registries.\n\n\nHigh-level migration phases:\n\n\n```mermaid\ngraph LR\n subgraph Prerequisites\n direction TB\n A[\"Set up identity provider (IdP) and\u003Cbr/>provision users\"]\n A --> B[\"Set up runners and\u003Cbr/>third-party integrations\"]\n B --> I[\"Users enablement and\u003Cbr/>change management\"]\n end\n \n subgraph MigrationPhase[\"Migration phase\"]\n direction TB\n C[\"Migrate source code\"]\n C --> D[\"Preserve contributions and\u003Cbr/> format history\"]\n D --> E[\"Migrate work items and\u003Cbr/>map to \u003Ca href=\"https://docs.gitlab.com/topics/plan_and_track/\">GitLab Plan \u003Cbr/>and track work\"]\n end\n \n subgraph PostMigration[\"Post-migration steps\"]\n direction TB\n F[\"Create or translate \u003Cbr/>ADO pipelines to GitLab CI\"]\n F --> G[\"Migrate other assets\u003Cbr/>packages and container images\"]\n G --> H[\"Introduce \u003Ca href=\"https://docs.gitlab.com/user/application_security/secure_your_application/\">security\u003C/a> and\u003Cbr/>SDLC improvements\"]\n end\n \n Prerequisites --> MigrationPhase\n MigrationPhase --> PostMigration\n\n style A fill:#FC6D26\n style B fill:#FC6D26\n style I fill:#FC6D26\n style C fill:#8C929D\n style D fill:#8C929D\n style E fill:#8C929D\n style F fill:#FFA500\n style G fill:#FFA500\n style H fill:#FFA500\n```\n\n\n## Planning your migration\n\n\n**To plan your migration, ask these questions:**\n\n\n- How soon do we need to complete the migration?\n\n- Do we understand what will be migrated?\n\n- Who will run the migration?\n\n- What organizational structure do we want in GitLab?\n\n- Are there any constraints, limitations, or pitfalls that need to be taken into account?\n\n\nDetermine your timeline, as it will largely dictate your migration approach. Identify champions or groups familiar with both ADO and GitLab platforms (such as early adopters) to help drive adoption and provide guidance.\n\n\n**Inventory what you need to migrate:**\n\n\n- The number of repositories, pull requests, and contributors\n\n- The number and complexity of work items and pipelines\n\n- Repository sizes and dependency relationships\n\n- Critical integrations and runner requirements (agent pools with specific capabilities)\n\n\nUse GitLab Professional Services's [Evaluate](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/utilities/evaluate#beta-azure-devops) tool to produce a complete inventory of your entire Azure DevOps organization, including repositories, PR counts, contributor lists, number of pipelines, work items, CI/CD variables and more. If you're working with the GitLab Professional Services team, share this report with your engagement manager or technical architect to help plan the migration.\n\n\nMigration timing is primarily driven by pull request count, repository size, and amount of contributions (e.g. comments in PR, work items, etc). For example, 1,000 small repositories with few PRs and limited contributors can migrate much faster than a smaller set of repositories containing tens of thousands of PRs and thousands of contributors. Use your inventory data to estimate effort and plan test runs before proceeding with production migrations.\n\n\nCompare inventory against your desired timeline and decide whether to migrate all repositories at once or in batches. If teams cannot migrate simultaneously, batch and stagger migrations to align with team schedules. For example, in Professional Services engagements, we organize migrations into waves of 200-300 projects to manage complexity and respect API rate limits, both in [GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/security/rate_limits/) and [ADO](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/integrate/concepts/rate-limits?view=azure-devops).\n\n\nGitLab's built-in [repository importer](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/import/repo_by_url/) migrates Git repositories (commits, branches, and tags) one-by-one. Congregate is designed to preserve pull requests (known in GitLab as merge requests), comments, and related metadata where possible; the simple built-in repository import focuses only on the Git data (history, branches, and tags).\n\n\n**Items that typically require separate migration or manual recreation:**\n\n\n- Azure Pipelines - create equivalent GitLab CI/CD pipelines (consult with [CI/CD YAML](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/) and/or with [CI/CD components](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/components/)). Alternatively, consider using AI-based pipeline conversion available in Congregate.\n\n- Work items and boards - map to GitLab Issues, Epics, and Issue Boards.\n\n- Artifacts, container images (ACR) - migrate to GitLab Package Registry or Container Registry.\n\n- Service hooks and external integrations - recreate in GitLab.\n\n- [Permissions models](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/permissions/) differ between ADO and GitLab; review and plan permissions mapping rather than assuming exact preservation.\n\n\nReview what each tool (Congregate vs. built-in import) will migrate and choose the one that fits your needs. Make a list of any data or integrations that must be migrated or recreated manually.\n\n\n**Who will run the migration?**\n\n\nMigrations are typically run by a GitLab group owner or instance administrator, or by a designated migrator who has been granted the necessary permissions on the destination group/project. Congregate and the GitLab import APIs require valid authentication tokens for both Azure DevOps and GitLab.\n\n\n- Decide whether a group owner/admin will perform the migrations or whether you will grant a specific team/person delegated access.\n\n- Ensure the migrator has correctly configured personal access tokens (Azure DevOps and GitLab) with the scopes required by your chosen migration tool (for example, api/read_repository scopes and any tool-specific requirements). \n\n- Test tokens and permissions with a small pilot migration.\n\n**Note:** Congregate leverages file-based import functionality for ADO migrations and requires instance administrator permissions to run ([see our documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/settings/import_export/#migrate-projects-by-uploading-an-export-file)). If you are migrating to GitLab.com, consider engaging Professional Services. For more information, see the [Professional Services Full Catalog](https://about.gitlab.com/professional-services/catalog/). Non-admin account cannot preserve contribution attribution!\n\n\n**What organizational structure do we want in GitLab?**\n\nWhile it's possible to map ADO structure directly to GitLab structure, it's recommended to rationalize and simplify the structure during migration. Consider how teams will work in GitLab and design the structure to facilitate collaboration and access management. Here is a way to think about mapping ADO structure to GitLab structure:\n\n\n```mermaid\ngraph TD\n subgraph GitLab\n direction TB\n A[\"Top-level Group\"]\n B[\"Subgroup (optional)\"]\n C[\"Projects\"]\n A --> B\n A --> C\n B --> C\n end\n\n subgraph AzureDevOps[\"Azure DevOps\"]\n direction TB\n F[\"Organizations\"]\n G[\"Projects\"]\n H[\"Repositories\"]\n F --> G\n G --> H\n end\n\n style A fill:#FC6D26\n style B fill:#FC6D26\n style C fill:#FC6D26\n style F fill:#8C929D\n style G fill:#8C929D\n style H fill:#8C929D\n```\n\nRecommended approach:\n\n\n- Map each ADO organization to a GitLab group (or a small set of groups), not to many small groups. Avoid creating a GitLab group for every ADO team project. Use migration as an opportunity to rationalize your GitLab structure.\n\n- Use subgroups and project-level permissions to group related repositories.\n\n- Manage access to sets of projects by using GitLab groups and group membership (groups and subgroups) rather than one group per team project.\n\n- Review GitLab [permissions](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html) and consider [SAML Group Links](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/group/saml_sso/group_sync/) to implement an enterprise RBAC model for your GitLab instance (or a GitLab.com namespace).\n\n\n**ADO Boards and work items: State of migration**\n\n\nIt's important to understand how work items migrate from ADO into GitLab Plan (issues, epics, and boards).\n\n\n- ADO Boards and work items map to GitLab Issues, Epics, and Issue Boards. Plan how your workflows and board configurations will translate.\n\n- ADO Epics and Features become GitLab Epics.\n\n- Other work item types (e.g., user stories, tasks, bugs) become project-scoped issues.\n\n- Most standard fields are preserved; selected custom fields can be migrated when supported.\n\n- Parent-child relationships are retained so Epics reference all related issues.\n\n- Links to pull requests are converted to merge request links to maintain development traceability.\n\n\nExample: Migration of an individual work item to a GitLab Issue, including field accuracy and relationships:\n\n\n![Example: Migration of an individual work item to a GitLab Issue](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1764769188/ztesjnxxfbwmfmtckyga.png)\n\n\nBatching guidance:\n\n\n- If you need to run migrations in batches, use your new group/subgroup structure to define batches (for example, by ADO organization or by product area).\n\n- Use inventory reports to drive batch selection and test each batch with a pilot migration before scaling.\n\n\n**Pipelines migration**\n\n\nCongregate [recently introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/-/merge_requests/1298) AI-powered conversion for multi-stage YAML pipelines from Azure DevOps to GitLab CI/CD. This automated conversion works best for simple, single-file pipelines and is designed to provide a working starting point rather than a production-ready `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. The tool generates a functionally equivalent GitLab pipeline that you can then refine and optimize for your specific needs.\n\n\n- Converts Azure Pipelines YAML to `.gitlab-ci.yml` format automatically.\n\n- Best suited for straightforward, single-file pipeline configurations.\n\n- Provides a boilerplate to accelerate migration, not a final production artifact.\n\n- Requires review and adjustment for complex scenarios, custom tasks, or enterprise requirements.\n\n- Does not support Azure DevOps classic release pipelines โ€” [convert these to multi-stage YAML](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/release/from-classic-pipelines?view=azure-devops) first.\n\n\nRepository owners should review the [GitLab CI/CD documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/) to further optimize and enhance their pipelines after the initial conversion.\n\n\nExample of converted pipelines:\n\n\n```yml \n\n# azure-pipelines.yml\n\ntrigger:\n - main\n\nvariables:\n imageName: myapp\n\nstages:\n - stage: Build\n jobs:\n - job: Build\n pool:\n vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n steps:\n - checkout: self\n\n - task: Docker@2\n displayName: Build Docker image\n inputs:\n command: build\n repository: $(imageName)\n Dockerfile: '**/Dockerfile'\n tags: |\n $(Build.BuildId)\n\n - stage: Test\n jobs:\n - job: Test\n pool:\n vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n steps:\n - checkout: self\n\n # Example: run tests inside the container\n - script: |\n docker run --rm $(imageName):$(Build.BuildId) npm test\n displayName: Run tests\n\n - stage: Push\n jobs:\n - job: Push\n pool:\n vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n steps:\n - checkout: self\n\n - task: Docker@2\n displayName: Login to ACR\n inputs:\n command: login\n containerRegistry: '\u003Cyour-acr-service-connection>'\n\n - task: Docker@2\n displayName: Push image to ACR\n inputs:\n command: push\n repository: $(imageName)\n tags: |\n $(Build.BuildId)\n\n```\n\n```yaml\n\n# .gitlab-ci.yml\n\nvariables:\n imageName: myapp\n\nstages:\n - build\n - test\n - push\n\nbuild:\n stage: build\n image: docker:latest\n services:\n - docker:dind\n script:\n - docker build -t $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID -f $(find . -name Dockerfile) .\n only:\n - main\n\ntest:\n stage: test\n image: docker:latest\n services:\n - docker:dind\n script:\n - docker run --rm $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID npm test\n only:\n - main\n\npush:\n stage: push\n image: docker:latest\n services:\n - docker:dind\n before_script:\n - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY\n script:\n - docker tag $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID $CI_REGISTRY/$CI_PROJECT_PATH/$imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID\n - docker push $CI_REGISTRY/$CI_PROJECT_PATH/$imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID\n only:\n - main\n\n```\n\n**Final checklist:**\n\n\n- Decide timeline and batch strategy.\n\n- Produce a full inventory of repositories, PRs, and contributors.\n\n- Choose Congregate or the built-in import based on scope (PRs and metadata vs. Git data only).\n\n- Decide who will run migrations and ensure tokens/permissions are configured.\n\n- Identify assets that must be migrated separately (pipelines, work items, artifacts, and hooks) and plan those efforts.\n\n- Run pilot migrations, validate results, then scale according to your plan.\n\n\n## Running your migrations\n\n\nAfter planning, execute migrations in stages, starting with trial runs. Trial migrations help surface org-specific issues early and let you measure duration, validate outcomes, and fine-tune your approach before production.\n\n\nWhat trial migrations validate:\n\n\n- Whether a given repository and related assets migrate successfully (history, branches, tags; plus MRs/comments if using Congregate)\n\n- Whether the destination is usable immediately (permissions, runners, CI/CD variables, integrations)\n\n- How long each batch takes, to set schedules and stakeholder expectations\n\n\nDowntime guidance:\n\n\n- GitLab's built-in Git import and Congregate do not inherently require downtime.\n\n- For production waves, freeze changes in ADO (branch protections or read-only) to avoid missed commits, PR updates, or work items created mid-migration.\n\n- Trial runs do not require freezes and can be run anytime.\n\n\nBatching guidance:\n\n\n- Run trial batches back-to-back to shorten elapsed time; let teams validate results asynchronously.\n\n- Use your planned group/subgroup structure to define batches and respect API rate limits.\n\n\nRecommended steps:\n\n\n1. Create a test destination in GitLab for trials:\n\n\n - GitLab.com: create a dedicated group/namespace (for example, my-org-sandbox)\n\n - Self-managed: create a top-level group or a separate test instance if needed\n\n\n2. Prepare authentication:\n\n\n - Azure DevOps PAT with required scopes.\n\n - GitLab Personal Access Token with api and read_repository (plus admin access for file-based imports used by Congregate).\n\n\n3. Run trial migrations:\n\n\n - Repos only: use GitLab's built-in import (Repo by URL)\n\n - Repos + PRs/MRs and additional assets: use Congregate\n\n\n4. Post-trial follow-up:\n\n\n - Verify repo history, branches, tags; merge requests (if migrated), issues/epics (if migrated), labels, and relationships.\n\n - Check permissions/roles, protected branches, required approvals, runners/tags, variables/secrets, integrations/webhooks.\n\n - Validate pipelines (`.gitlab-ci.yml`) or converted pipelines where applicable.\n\n\n5. Ask users to validate functionality and data fidelity.\n\n6. Resolve issues uncovered during trials and update your runbooks.\n\n7. Network and security:\n\n\n - If your destination uses IP allow lists, add the IPs of your migration host and any required runners/integrations so imports can succeed.\n\n\n8. Run production migrations in waves:\n\n\n - Enforce change freezes in ADO during each wave.\n\n - Monitor progress and logs; retry or adjust batch sizes if you hit rate limits.\n\n\n9. Optional: remove the sandbox group or archive it after you finish.\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"video_container\">\n \u003Ciframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/ibIXGfrVbi4?si=ZxOVnXjCF-h4Ne0N\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">\u003C/iframe>\n\u003C/figure>\n\n\n## Terminology reference for GitLab and Azure DevOps\n\n| GitLab | Azure DevOps | Similarities & Key Differences |\n| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Group | Organization | Top-level namespace, membership, policies. ADO org contains Projects; GitLab Group contains Subgroups and Projects. |\n| Group or Subgroup | Project | Logical container, permissions boundary. ADO Project holds many repos; GitLab Groups/Subgroups organize many Projects. |\n| Project (includes a Git repo) | Repository (inside a Project) | Git history, branches, tags. In GitLab, a \"Project\" is the repo plus issues, CI/CD, wiki, etc. One repo per Project. |\n| Merge Request (MR) | Pull Request (PR) | Code review, discussions, approvals. MR rules include approvals, required pipelines, code owners. |\n| Protected Branches, MR Approval Rules, Status Checks | Branch Policies | Enforce reviews and checks. GitLab combines protections + approval rules + required status checks. |\n| GitLab CI/CD | Azure Pipelines | YAML pipelines, stages/jobs, logs. ADO also has classic UI pipelines; GitLab centers on .gitlab-ci.yml. |\n| .gitlab-ci.yml | azure-pipelines.yml | Defines stages/jobs/triggers. Syntax/features differ; map jobs, variables, artifacts, and triggers. |\n| Runners (shared/specific) | Agents / Agent Pools | Execute jobs on machines/containers. Target via demands (ADO) vs tags (GitLab). Registration/scoping differs. |\n| CI/CD Variables (project/group/instance), Protected/Masked | Pipeline Variables, Variable Groups, Library | Pass config/secrets to jobs. GitLab supports group inheritance and masking/protection flags. |\n| Integrations, CI/CD Variables, Deploy Keys | Service Connections | External auth to services/clouds. Map to integrations or variables; cloud-specific helpers available. |\n| Environments & Deployments (protected envs) | Environments (with approvals) | Track deploy targets/history. Approvals via protected envs and manual jobs in GitLab. |\n| Releases (tag + notes) | Releases (classic or pipelines) | Versioned notes/artifacts. GitLab Release ties to tags; deployments tracked separately. |\n| Job Artifacts | Pipeline Artifacts | Persist job outputs. Retention/expiry configured per job or project. |\n| Package Registry (NuGet/npm/Maven/PyPI/Composer, etc.) | Azure Artifacts (NuGet/npm/Maven, etc.) | Package hosting. Auth/namespace differ; migrate per package type. |\n| GitLab Container Registry | Azure Container Registry (ACR) or others | OCI images. GitLab provides per-project/group registries. |\n| Issue Boards | Boards | Visualize work by columns. GitLab boards are label-driven; multiple boards per project/group. |\n| Issues (types/labels), Epics | Work Items (User Story/Bug/Task) | Track units of work. Map ADO types/fields to labels/custom fields; epics at group level. |\n| Epics, Parent/Child Issues | Epics/Features | Hierarchy of work. Schema differs; use epics + issue relationships. |\n| Milestones and Iterations | Iteration Paths | Time-boxing. GitLab Iterations (group feature) or Milestones per project/group. |\n| Labels (scoped labels) | Area Paths | Categorization/ownership. Replace hierarchical areas with scoped labels. |\n| Project/Group Wiki | Project Wiki | Markdown wiki. Backed by repos in both; layout/auth differ slightly. |\n| Test reports via CI, Requirements/Test Management, integrations | Test Plans/Cases/Runs | QA evidence/traceability. No 1:1 with ADO Test Plans; often use CI reports + issues/requirements. |\n| Roles (Owner/Maintainer/Developer/Reporter/Guest) + custom roles | Access levels + granular permissions | Control read/write/admin. Models differ; leverage group inheritance and protected resources. |\n| Webhooks | Service Hooks | Event-driven integrations. Event names/payloads differ; reconfigure endpoints. |\n| Advanced Search | Code Search | Full-text repo search. 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