[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":792},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji":3,"navigation-en-us":35,"banner-en-us":435,"footer-en-us":445,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Eric Eastwood":687,"blog-related-posts-en-us-journey-in-native-unicode-emoji":701,"assessment-promotions-en-us":743,"next-steps-en-us":782},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":24,"isFeatured":12,"meta":25,"navigation":26,"path":27,"publishedDate":20,"seo":28,"stem":32,"tagSlugs":33,"__hash__":34},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji.yml","Journey In Native Unicode Emoji",[7],"eric-eastwood",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"journey-in-native-unicode-emoji",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"Our journey in switching to native Unicode emoji","Unicode is hard. Here's a guide to getting native Unicode Emoji right 👌. Learn more!",[18],"Eric Eastwood","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749672573/Blog/Hero%20Images/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji-cover.png","2018-05-30","The switch from image-based emoji to native Unicode wasn't a straightforward journey and included many intricacies to get production ready. Support varies widely on each OS, even between the browsers on the OS. We also wanted to support falling back to image-based emoji for environments that do not support everything yet, otherwise people would see black squares (□). As a simple example, most Linux environments do not have Unicode emoji support unless you manually install a font. I consider this blog post the survival manual I wish I had had when implementing native Unicode emoji myself.\n\n## What is Unicode emoji?\n\nUnicode emoji is a universal character encoding standard maintained by the [Unicode Consortium](https://home.unicode.org/basic-info/overview/) and It provides the basis for processing, storing, and interchanging text data in any language. As far as emojis themselves are concerned, this is the encoding system that develops and houses all emojis. Emojis are encoded in the Unicode system based on appearance rather than a specific semantic. \n\n## Are Unicode emojis compatible with all devices?\n\nThe short answer is yes!\n\nAll modern software providers have become compatible with Unicode so that data can be transferred freely without corruption, regardless of platform, language, or device. \n\nBefore Unicode, there were multiple character encoding systems to assign numbers to each of the letters and numbers that were used by computers. But these character encoding systems simply couldn’t keep up with the volume of languages using different letters and numbers. The data passing through these different encodings ran the risk of being corrupted due to a lack of sufficient support from a given computer - particularly servers.\n\nAnd so, a new system was born: Unicode.\n\n## Why move to native Unicode emoji?\n\nWe decided to switch to Unicode emoji because it was in line with our decision to use system fonts and it reduces the number of images loaded on a page. You can see the [full discussion in this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/26371). We were also [interested in](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/22474) [improving](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/27250) the award emoji menu (emoji reaction selector) performance, so it would open quickly without an AJAX request and with less janky scrolling.\n\nThe first step was to find a way to detect whether a given Unicode emoji is supported. Since new emoji/characters are introduced in new versions/releases of Unicode specifications from the [Unicode Consortium](http://unicode.org/), we can consider every emoji in that version supported if a single emoji in that version tests positively. There are exceptions to assuming support for a whole Unicode version, but we can handle them individually as they come up. Unicode 10 is the current stable release but [Unicode Consortium](http://unicode.org/) is working on finishing up Unicode 11 and starting on Unicode 12 at the moment. The Unicode Consortium has [a full table of emoji here with the representation on various platforms](https://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html).\n\n## Testing for native emoji Unicode support\n\nWe test an emoji from each Unicode version/release and cache that locally ([`localStorage`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage)) in a support map to look up later whether a given emoji is supported. If the emoji isn't supported we fall back to an image or CSS sprite depending on the situation.\n\nI couldn't find any existing library or JSON document that mapped a given emoji to their respective Unicode version/release, so I created my own project that scrapes [emojipedia](https://emojipedia.org/) and assembles a JSON map, [`emoji-unicode-version`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/emoji-unicode-version) on npm.\n\nTo test whether a Unicode emoji works, we render it to a `\u003Ccanvas>` and inspect the pixels in the exact middle for any color (if it is black, then the test fails). We also have to ensure the emoji renders as a single character because some emoji are made up of multiple characters (see [ZWJ sequences and skin tone modifier sections below](#emoji-made-up-of-multiple-characters)).\n\nWhen choosing a specific emoji for each version to test, be sure to choose something with color. As an example, I initially chose ⚽ `:soccer:` in the Unicode 5.2 range but since it is a black and white emoji, it always failed so I switched to ⛵ `:sailboat:`.\n\nWe invalidate the support map whenever your user-agent changes because emoji support changes when you get a browser or OS update. We also add a manual `GL_EMOJI_VERSION` for busting the cache when we update the support check logic.\n\nYou can check out our implementation here, [`app/assets/javascripts/emoji/support/unicode_support_map.js`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/ee189fd511e1a2c06f05e0d40e1d0b8875151391/app/assets/javascripts/emoji/support/unicode_support_map.js), [`app/assets/javascripts/emoji/support/is_emoji_unicode_supported.js`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/ee189fd511e1a2c06f05e0d40e1d0b8875151391/app/assets/javascripts/emoji/support/is_emoji_unicode_supported.js)\n\n### Rendering emoji to a canvas in Internet Explorer gotchas\n\nWhen rendering emoji to a `\u003Ccanvas>`, IE11 didn't like our full font-stack and renders small black and white emoji, which are less than ideal.\n\nThe culprit is the `-apple-system` piece 😕\n\n```js\nctx.font = `${fontSize}px -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, \"Segoe UI\", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, \"Helvetica Neue\", sans-serif, \"Apple Color Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Symbol\"`;\n```\n\nBut if you simply go with the emoji part of the stack, it renders the nice colorful emoji as expected,\n\n```js\nctx.font = `${fontSize}px \"Apple Color Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Symbol\"`;\n```\n\nFull font-stack | Small emoji font-stack\n--- | ---\n[![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/ie-canvas-full-font-stack.png)](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/ie-canvas-full-font-stack-large.png) | [![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/ie-canvas-short-font-stack.png)](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/ie-canvas-short-font-stack-large.png)\n\n### Unicode 1.1 emoji not rendering as colorful, fancy glyphs when using full font-stack\n\nWe also switched to using a shorter, emoji-only font-stack in CSS to get some of the Unicode 1.1 emoji to render colorfully. Read [more in the issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/29557#note_25544684).\n\nFull font-stack | Small emoji font-stack\n--- | ---\n![font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, \"Segoe UI\", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, \"Helvetica Neue\", sans-serif, \"Apple Color Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Symbol\";](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/unicode-1-1-full-font-stack.png) | ![font-family: \"Apple Color Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Emoji\", \"Segoe UI Symbol\";](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/unicode-1-1-short-font-stack.png)\n\n### Render emoji on Canvas at 16px\n\nWe use `16px` font size when rendering to the `\u003Ccanvas>` because mobile Safari (iOS 9.3) will always render at 16px regardless of the font size you specify.\n\nThe `32px` pixel example below is rendering at the same size as the `16px` example. If it worked correctly, the `32px` would fill up the empty space.\n\n32px | 16px\n--- | ---\n\u003Ca href=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/16px-font-size-at-32px-large.png\">\u003Cimg srcset=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/16px-font-size-at-32px.png 2x\">\u003C/a> | \u003Ca href=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/16px-font-size-at-16px-large.png\">\u003Cimg srcset=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/16px-font-size-at-16px.png 2x\">\u003C/a>\n\n## Unicode emoji bounds and baseline positioning is different across platforms\n\nAnother issue we ran into when switching is the inconsistency in how emoji vertically align across platforms. The baseline defined in each platform font is different, which makes tweaks to center on one platform throw off another. We didn't find any good solution for perfect vertical centering and opted just to leave it for now. You can read the [full discussion here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/33044#note_34375144).\n\nFor an in-depth dive into font metrics (not emoji specific), see [*Deep dive CSS: font metrics, line-height and vertical-align*](http://iamvdo.me/en/blog/css-font-metrics-line-height-and-vertical-align) by Vincent De Oliveira (aka iamvdo).\n\n## Emoji fallbacks\n\nWe define optional fallbacks for images and CSS sprites directly on the element. In terms of priority, when `data-fallback-css-class` is defined on the emoji element, we opt to use the CSS sprite. We only sprite things like the award emoji menu, which lists every emoji at once and potentially needs to fall back on everything for platforms that don't support Unicode emoji (like Linux).\n\n```html\n\u003Cgl-emoji data-fallback-src=\"emoji-xxx.png\" data-fallback-css-class=\"emoji-xxx\">\n  xxx\n\u003C/gl-emoji>\n```\n\nWe use [`document.registerElement()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/registerElement) in order to hook whenever a `\u003Cgl-emoji>` is used on the page or created and test whether we need to fall back. We use the deprecated v0 web components `document.registerElement()` over the new v1 [`CustomElementRegistry.define()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CustomElementRegistry/define) because that only works with ES2015 class syntax and in our case, Babel is transpiling everything which makes that syntax incompatible for now. It is also necessary to use a [`document.registerElement()` polyfill](https://github.com/WebReflection/document-register-element) for browsers that don't support it like Safari.\n\nWhen we fall back to a CSS sprite, we add the necessary `.emoji-icon` classes to the `\u003Cgl-emoji>` tag. These extra CSS classes hide the emoji Unicode content inside so only the background image is visible.\n\n```css\n.emoji-icon {\n  /* Hide emoji Unicode */\n  color: transparent;\n  /* Hide emoji Unicode in IE */\n  text-indent: -99em;\n  /* ... */\n}\n```\n\nYou can check out our [`\u003Cgl-emoji>` implementation here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/ee189fd511e1a2c06f05e0d40e1d0b8875151391/app/assets/javascripts/behaviors/gl_emoji.js).\n\n## Emoji made up of multiple characters\n\nSome emoji are composed of multiple characters, which can be tricky to work with in JavaScript. [`Array.from`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/from), [`String.prototype.codePointAt()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/codePointAt) are all your friends here. There is a great article, [*JavaScript has a Unicode problem*](https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/javascript-unicode) by Mathias Bynens, going into more detail.\n\n#### Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequences\n\nZero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequences are composed of multiple emoji characters joined by a ZWJ character `\\u{200D}`, `‍`(non-printing character). You can read more about [ZWJ sequences here](http://emojipedia.org/emoji-zwj-sequences/).\n\n👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 `:family_mwgb:`\n```shell\n[...'👨‍👩‍👧‍👦']\n// [\"👨\", \"‍\", \"👩\", \"‍\", \"👧\", \"‍\", \"👦\"]\n```\n\n#### Skin tone modifier\n\nSkin tone modifiers don't need a ZWJ character to combine with another emoji. You can read more about the [skin tone modifiers here](http://emojipedia.org/modifiers/).\n\n👨🏿 `:man_tone5:`\n```shell\n[...'👨🏿']\n// [\"👨\", \"🏿\"]\n```\n\nI opted to test multiple skin tone modifier combos and only if all pass, consider skin tone modifiers supported at least on a basic level. There was still an outlier on macOS 10.12 where they don't have 🏇🏿 `:horse_racing_toneX:` and I added a separate test for it.\n\n## Emoji discrepancies\n\n### Flag emoji\n\nOn Windows, all `:flag_xx:` emoji are rendered as two-letter international characters instead of a colorful flag like on the Apple ecosystem.\n\n![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/flag-emoji-windows.png)\n\nOn Android 6, unknown flags are rendered as two-letter international characters.\n\n\u003Cimg srcset=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/flag-emoji-android-6.png 2x\">\n\nOn Android 7, unknown flags are rendered as white flags with blue question marks on them.\n\n\u003Cimg srcset=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/flag-emoji-android-7.png 2x\">\n\n### Keycap emoji on Windows\n\nKeycap (digit) emoji are a bit broken on Windows but appear to be fixed on Chrome 57+, 3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣\n\nBrowser | result\n--- | ---\nChrome 55.0.2883.87 (64-bit) ❌ | ![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/keycap-chrome-55.0.2883.87.png)\nChrome 56.0.2924.87 (64-bit) ❌ | ![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/keycap-chrome-56.0.2924.87.png)\nChromium 57.0.2984.0 (64-bit) ✅ | ![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/keycap-chrome-57.0.2984.0.png)\nChrome 58.0.2999.4 (Official Build) canary (64-bit) ✅ | ![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/keycap-chrome-58.0.2999.4.png)\n\n### Skin tone splitting from base emoji when width constrained\n\nStarting in Chrome 60+ (maybe 59.1+), the [🤼🏿 `:wrestlers_toneX:` and 🤝🏿 `:handshake_toneX:` emoji started splitting/breaking into separate pieces](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/37654) (base emoji and skin tone) when their container is width constrained, causing overflow/wrapping.\n\nI created a [bug report on the Chromium tracker](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=764859) but it was closed a \"WontFix\" because the `wrestlers` and `handshake` emoji are no longer \"classified as Emoji_Base\" in the new International Components for Unicode (ICU) data which is used in Chrome.\n\nIt's understandable that those emoji are re-classified but they should display as two separate characters in all scenarios. The 🤼🏿 `:wrestlers_toneX:` emoji is consistently two characters now but the 🤝🏿 `handshake_toneX` still only splits when width constrained, which is pretty sketchy.\n\nCheck the comparison in these screenshots (or [demo for Chrome prior to 59.1](https://codepen.io/MadLittleMods/pen/dZMeXN)),\n\nWindows 10 | macOS\n--- | ---\n![](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/skin-tone-splitting-windows-10.png) | \u003Cimg srcset=\"https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji/skin-tone-splitting-macos.png 2x\">\n\n## Colliding with the object prototype `watch` function\n\nI ran into a small gotcha where some code was looking in an object map for the `watch` ⌚ key. In Firefox, it was pulling [`Object.prototype.watch()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Web/JavaScript/Object.watch) and causing havoc.\n\n```js\nconst emojiAliases = { foo: 'bar' };\n\n// Expect `undefined` but got some function\nemojiAliases['watch']\n```\n\nI fixed this code up by using the safe lookup [`Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/hasOwnProperty),\n\n```js\nconst emojiAliases = { foo: 'bar' };\n\nObject.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(emojiAliases, 'watch')\n```\n\n[`Object.prototype.watch()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Web/JavaScript/Object.watch) is now removed in Firefox 58 and the current stable release is Firefox 59.0.2 so you probably won't run into this yourself. But it's still advisable to use `Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty()` for any current/future collisions.\n\n## Things to improve\n\n### Custom emoji\n\nWe are working on adding custom emoji (with animated GIF support). You can track [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13931) and see our [current iteration here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/14609). It's not merged yet because we need to ensure it works with [Geo replication](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/geo/index.html.\n\n### Server-side rendered fallbacks\n\nTo speed up time to visible emoji (TTVE™ 😉) for people that have to fall back to image-based emoji, we could server-side render the fallback straight away.\n\nIn order to detect support from the server, on first page visit, we could set a cookie client-side (frontend JavaScript land) based on the unicode support map. Cookies are sent with each request and could be read on the server.\n\nWe have some layers of cache on our Markdown rendering which makes this a bit difficult to do as we would need a response for both the `true` and `false` emoji support. Or we could post-process every request and update the rendered markdown HTML accordingly.\n\n### SVG fallbacks\n\nUsing the [EmojiOne SVG](https://github.com/emojione/emojione/tree/2.2.7/assets/svg) fallbacks would be a nice step above the `.png` images currently. This would save on bandwidth and we would get nice, crisp fallback emoji.\n\nWe could even take it a step further and extract SVGs from the OS specific fonts. For older versions of Windows, we could use the Windows 10 fonts so that everything has the appropriate signature black outline/stroke.\n\nThe EmojiOne SVGs fit nicely on macOS, so nothing to really change there.\n\n### Improving performance\n\nCurrently, we have to bundle a large `digests.json` file into our JavaScript bundles to get the necessary asset digest hash information to serve fallback images.\n\nFor some quick-wins, we can remove those hashes to reduce the file size and serve the JSON payload async. There are some [more ideas in this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/39000).\n",[23],"frontend","yml",{},true,"/en-us/blog/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji",{"title":15,"description":16,"ogTitle":15,"ogDescription":16,"noIndex":12,"ogImage":19,"ogUrl":29,"ogSiteName":30,"ogType":31,"canonicalUrls":29},"https://about.gitlab.com/blog/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji","https://about.gitlab.com","article","en-us/blog/journey-in-native-unicode-emoji",[23],"XND_hz0H0BupwCwsqQp9gpFEzFnk3R0nqvMU4VZRfMo",{"data":36},{"logo":37,"freeTrial":42,"sales":47,"login":52,"items":57,"search":365,"minimal":396,"duo":415,"pricingDeployment":425},{"config":38},{"href":39,"dataGaName":40,"dataGaLocation":41},"/","gitlab logo","header",{"text":43,"config":44},"Get free trial",{"href":45,"dataGaName":46,"dataGaLocation":41},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_source=about.gitlab.com&glm_content=default-saas-trial/","free trial",{"text":48,"config":49},"Talk to 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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.",[707],"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",[257,609,711],"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 — 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 — from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines — to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode — 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 — 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 — 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 — 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":714,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":716,"config":725},{"title":717,"description":718,"authors":719,"heroImage":720,"date":721,"category":9,"tags":722,"body":724},"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.",[707],"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",[609,257,723],"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 pipelines—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** — 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":726,"featured":26,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"content":728,"config":741},{"category":9,"tags":729,"body":732,"date":733,"updatedDate":734,"heroImage":735,"authors":736,"title":739,"description":740},[730,731,104],"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 — [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. Self-managed GitLab may need Elasticsearch/OpenSearch for advanced features.                                                                   |\n","2025-12-03","2026-01-16","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749658924/Blog/Hero%20Images/securitylifecycle-light.png",[737,738],"Evgeny Rudinsky","Michael Leopard","Guide: Migrate from Azure DevOps to GitLab","Learn how to carry out the full migration from Azure DevOps to GitLab using GitLab Professional Services migration tools — from planning and execution to post-migration follow-up tasks.",{"featured":26,"template":13,"slug":742},"migration-from-azure-devops-to-gitlab",{"promotions":744},[745,759,770],{"id":746,"categories":747,"header":749,"text":750,"button":751,"image":756},"ai-modernization",[748],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":752,"config":753},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":754,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":757},{"src":758},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":760,"categories":761,"header":762,"text":750,"button":763,"image":767},"devops-modernization",[723,555],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":764,"config":765},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":766,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":768},{"src":769},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":771,"categories":772,"header":774,"text":750,"button":775,"image":779},"security-modernization",[773],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":776,"config":777},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":778,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":780},{"src":781},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":783,"blurb":784,"button":785,"secondaryButton":790},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":786,"config":787},"Get your free trial",{"href":788,"dataGaName":46,"dataGaLocation":789},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":491,"config":791},{"href":50,"dataGaName":51,"dataGaLocation":789},1772652079348]