[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":794},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend":3,"navigation-en-us":38,"banner-en-us":438,"footer-en-us":448,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Anna Vovchenko":690,"blog-related-posts-en-us-kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend":704,"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":27,"isFeatured":12,"meta":28,"navigation":12,"path":29,"publishedDate":20,"seo":30,"stem":35,"tagSlugs":36,"__hash__":37},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend.yml","Kubernetes Overview Operate Cluster Data On The Frontend",[7],"anna-vovchenko",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend",true,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"updatedDate":21,"body":22,"category":9,"tags":23},"Kubernetes overview: Operate cluster data on the frontend","GitLab offers a built-in solution for monitoring your Kubernetes cluster health. Learn more about the technical design and functionality with this detailed guide.",[18],"Anna Vovchenko","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099045/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2816%29_3L7ZP4GxJrShu6qImuS4Wo_1750099045397.png","2024-06-20","2025-09-17","Accessing real-time cluster information is crucial for verifying successful software deployments and initiating troubleshooting processes. In this article, you'll learn about GitLab's enhanced Kubernetes integration, including how to leverage the Watch API for real-time insights into deployment statuses and streamlined troubleshooting capabilities. \n\n## What are GitLab's Kubernetes resources?\n\nGitLab offers a dedicated [dashboard for Kubernetes](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2493 \"Visualize the cluster state in GitLab\") to understand the status of connected clusters with an intuitive visual interface. It is integrated into the Environment Details page and shows resources relevant to the environment. Currently, three types of Kubernetes resources are available:\n\n- pods filtered by the Kubernetes namespace\n- services\n- Flux resource ([HelmRelease](https://fluxcd.io/flux/components/helm/helmreleases/) or [Kustomization](https://fluxcd.io/flux/components/kustomize/kustomizations/))\n\nFor these resources, we provide general information, such as name, status, namespace, age, etc. It is represented similarly to what the [kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/) command would show when run from the Kubernetes cluster. More details can be found when clicking each resource. The side drawer shows the list of labels, annotations, detailed status, and spec information presented as read-only YAML code blocks, and streams real-time Kubernetes events filtered for that specific resource. For pods, users can navigate to a dedicated logs view where they select a container and stream its real-time logs, providing crucial debugging information.\n\nThe information provided helps to visualize the cluster state, spot any issues, and debug problematic deployments right away. Users can also take immediate action — deleting failed pods, triggering Flux reconciliation, or suspending/resuming synchronization — all from the same interface without context switching to command-line tools.\n\n## Frontend to cluster communication: The GitLab solution\n\nWe have developed a range of tools and solutions to enable a seamless connection and management of Kubernetes clusters within GitLab. One of the core components of this system is the [GitLab agent for Kubernetes](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/install/). This powerful tool provides a secure bidirectional connection between a GitLab instance and a Kubernetes cluster. It is composed of two main components: **agentk** and **KAS** (Kubernetes agent server).\n\n![Kubernetes flow chart](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image2_aHR0cHM6_1750099055229.png)\n\nagentk is a lightweight cluster-side component. It is responsible for establishing a connection to a KAS instance and waiting for requests to process. It is proxying requests from KAS to Kubernetes API. It may also actively send information about cluster events to KAS.\n\nWhile agentk is actively communicating with the cluster, KAS represents a GitLab server-side component. It is responsible for:\n\n- accepting requests from agentk\n- authenticating agentk requests by querying GitLab backend\n- fetching the agent's configuration from a corresponding Git repository using Gitaly\n- polling manifest repositories for GitOps support\n\nWe implemented the agent access rights feature to provide access from the GitLab frontend to the cluster in a secure and reliable way. To enable the feature, the user should update the agent's configuration file by adding the [user_access](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/user_access.html) section with the following parameters: `projects`, `groups`, and `access_as` to specify which projects can access cluster information via the agent and how it should authenticate.\n\nOnce this is done, the frontend can connect to the cluster by sending a request to the Rails controller, which should set a `gitlab_kas cookie`. This cookie is then added to the request sent to KAS together with the agent ID and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) token. Upon receiving the request, KAS checks the user's authorization and forwards it to agentk, which makes an actual request to the Kubernetes API. Then the response goes all the way back from the agentk to KAS and finally to the GitLab client.\n\n![Kubernetes overview - how it works](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image6_aHR0cHM6_1750099055229.png)\n\nTo integrate this logic on the GitLab frontend and use it within the Vue app, we developed a JavaScript library: [@gitlab/cluster-client](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/javascript-client). It is generated from the Kubernetes OpenAPI specification using the typescript-fetch generator. It provides all the Kubernetes APIs in a way that can be used in a web browser, along with our `WebSocketWatchManager` class that handles the Watch Aggregator API for efficient real-time updates.\n\n## Introducing the Watch API\n\nThe most challenging task is to provide **real-time updates** for the Kubernetes dashboard. Kubernetes introduces the concept of watches as an extension of GET requests, exposing the body contents as a [readable stream](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Streams_API/Using_readable_streams). Once connected to the stream, the Kubernetes API pushes cluster state updates similarly to how the `kubectl get \u003Cresource> --watch` command works. The watch mechanism allows a client to fetch the current state of the resource (or resources list) and then subscribe to subsequent changes, without missing any events. Each event contains a type of modification (one of three types: added, modified, or deleted) and the affected object.\n\nWithin the `WatchApi` class of the `@gitlab/cluster-client` library, we've developed a systematic approach for interacting with the Kubernetes API. This involves fetching a continuous stream of data, processing it line by line, and managing events based on their types. Let's explore the key components and functionalities of this approach:\n\n1. Extending the Kubernetes API: Within the `WatchApi` class, we extend the base Kubernetes API functionality to fetch a continuous stream of data with a specified path and query parameters. This extension enables efficient handling of large datasets, as the stream is processed line by line. 2. Decoding and event categorization: Upon receiving the stream, each line, typically representing a JSON object, is decoded. This process extracts relevant information and categorizes events based on their types. 3. Internal data management: The `WatchApi` class maintains an internal data array to represent the current state of the streamed data, updating it accordingly as new data arrives or changes occur. \n4. The `WatchApi` class implements methods for registering event listeners, such as `onData`, `onError`, `onTimeout`, and `onTerminate`. These methods allow developers to customize their application's response to events like data updates, errors, and timeouts. \n\nThe code also handles scenarios such as invalid content types, timeouts, and errors from the server, emitting corresponding events for clients to handle appropriately. **With this straightforward, event-driven approach, the `WatchApi` class allows developers to create responsive real-time applications efficiently.**\n\n![Kubernetes overview - flow chart](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image4_aHR0cHM6_1750099055231.png)\n## Evolution to WebSocket Aggregation\nBuilding on this Watch API foundation, we've introduced the `WebSocketWatchManager` to address the limitations of readable streams. This enhanced approach uses the `gitlab-agent-watch-api` WebSocket subprotocol to aggregate multiple resource watches within a single persistent connection, bringing several improvements:\n- **Multiple watches through one connection:** Instead of opening separate HTTP streams for each Kubernetes resource, they all share a single WebSocket connection. This significantly reduces the connection overhead on both client and server, especially important when monitoring numerous resources across different namespaces.\n- **Dynamic watch management:** The protocol supports starting and stopping individual watches on demand through `watch` and `unwatch` messages. The `unwatch` functionality isn't yet implemented in the JavaScript client, but once added, it will stop unnecessary watches when users navigate away from resource views.\n- **More reliable connections:** WebSocket connections maintain stable, long-lived sessions without the unpredictable drops we experienced with the Watch API's HTTP-based streaming. These streaming connections would sometimes terminate unexpectedly, requiring reconnection logic and potentially missing events during the reconnection window.\n\nWhen establishing a connection, the client must first request an authentication token because WebSocket connections cannot send custom headers (like CSRF tokens or cookies) after the initial handshake. This token, obtained via a standard HTTP request with full authentication headers, is then embedded in the WebSocket subprotocol header during connection establishment. Once connected to the `/watch` endpoint, the client starts individual watches by sending messages with resource parameters, and the server streams back watch events as Kubernetes resources change.\n\nThe system falls back to the original `WatchApi` implementation when WebSocket connections fail for any reason — whether due to network infrastructure limitations, connection failures, or authentication issues. This dual approach delivers WebSocket performance benefits where possible, while maintaining full functionality through the Watch API's streaming method when needed. The switch happens automatically, delivering consistent real-time functionality without requiring user awareness or intervention.\n\n## How is the Kubernetes overview integrated with the GitLab frontend?\n\nCurrently, we have two Kubernetes integrations within the product: the Kubernetes overview section for the Environments and the full Kubernetes dashboard as a separate view. The latter is a major effort of representing all the available Kubernetes resources with filtering and sorting capabilities and a detailed view with the full information on the metadata, spec, and status of the resource. This initiative is now on hold while we are searching for the most useful ways of representing the Kubernetes resources related to an environment.\n\n[The Kubernetes overview](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments/kubernetes_dashboard.html) on the Environments page is a detailed view of the Kubernetes resources related to a specific environment. To access the cluster state view, the user should select an agent installed in the cluster with the appropriate access rights, provide a namespace (optionally), and select a related Flux resource.\n\nThe view renders a list of Kubernetes pods and services filtered by the namespace representing their statuses as well as the Flux sync status. Clicking each resource opens a detailed view with more information for easy issue spotting and high-level debugging. \n\n![Kubernetes overview - list of Kubernetes pods and services](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image5_aHR0cHM6_1750099055233.png)\n\nWe need to set up a correct configuration object that will be used for all the API requests. In the configuration, we need to specify the URL provided by the KAS, that proxies the Kubernetes APIs; the GitLab agent ID to connect with; and the CSRF token. We need to include cookies so that the `kas_cookie` gets picked up and sent within the request.\n\n```javascript\ncreateK8sAccessConfig({ kasTunnelUrl, gitlabAgentId }) {\n  return {\n    basePath: kasTunnelUrl,\n    headers: {\n      'GitLab-Agent-Id': gitlabAgentId,\n      ...csrf.headers,\n    },\n    credentials: 'include',\n  };\n}\n```\nThis configuration object serves as the foundation for all Kubernetes API interactions through KAS, whether using standard API calls, Watch API streaming, or WebSocket connections. Each connection method builds upon this base configuration with its specific requirements.\n\nAll the API requests are implemented as GraphQL client queries for efficiency, flexibility, and ease of development. The query structure enables clients to fetch data from various sources in one request. With clear schema definitions, GraphQL minimizes errors and enhances developer efficiency. The WebSocket implementation complements this by managing real-time updates through a single persistent connection, reducing the need for multiple parallel streaming connections while maintaining the same GraphQL query structure for data updates.\n\nWhen first rendering the Kubernetes overview, the frontend requests static lists of pods, services, and Flux resource (either HelmRelease or Kustomization). The fetch request is needed to render the empty view correctly. If the frontend tried to subscribe to the Watch API stream and one of the resource lists was empty, we would wait for the updates forever and never show the actual result — 0 resources. In the case of pods and services, after the initial request, we subscribe to the stream even if an empty list was received to reflect any cluster state changes. For the Flux resource, the changes that the user would expect the resource to appear after the initial request are low. We use the empty response here as an opportunity to provide more information about the feature and its setup. \n\n![Kubernetes overview - flux sync status unavailable](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image3_aHR0cHM6_1750099055235.png)\n\nAfter rendering the initial result, the frontend establishes real-time connections to monitor changes. The implementation attempts the WebSocket connection first, falling back to the Watch API streaming when unavailable. With WebSocket connections, a single connection handles all resource watches, which maintains internal streams for each resource and updates them based on incoming events (`ADDED`, `MODIFIED`, `DELETED`). In Watch API fallback mode, the frontend makes requests with the `?watch=true` query parameter, creating separate watchers for each event type:\n\n```javascript\nwatcher.on(EVENT_DATA, (data) => {\n  result = data.map(mapWorkloadItem);\n  client.writeQuery({\n    query,\n    variables: { configuration, namespace },\n    data: { [queryField]: result },\n  });\n\n  updateConnectionStatus(client, {\n    configuration,\n    namespace,\n    resourceType: queryField,\n    status: connectionStatus.connected,\n  });\n});\n```\nBoth approaches follow the same data processing pattern:\n- Transform the data to ensure a consistent structure\n- Update the Apollo cache to trigger UI updates\n- Run a mutation to update the connection status indicator\n\nAs we show the detailed information for each resource, we rely on having the status, spec, and metadata fields with the annotations and labels included. The Kubernetes API wouldn't always send this information, which could break the UI and throw errors from the GraphQL client. We transform the received data first to avoid these issues. We also add the `__typename` so that we can better define the data types and simplify the queries by reusing the shared fragments.\n\nAfter data stabilization, we update the Apollo cache so that the frontend re-renders the views accordingly to reflect cluster state changes. Interestingly, we can visualize exactly what happens in the cluster — for example, when deleting the pods, Kubernetes first creates the new ones in the pending state, and only then removes the old pods. Thus, for a moment, we can see double the amount of pods. We can also verify how the pods proceed from one state to another in real-time. This is done with the combination of added, deleted, and modified events received from the Kubernetes APIs and processed by either the `WebSocketWatchManager` or the` WatchApi` class of the `@gitlab/cluster-client` library.\n\n![Kubernetes overview - states of connection status](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099055/Blog/Content%20Images/Blog/Content%20Images/image1_aHR0cHM6_1750099055236.gif)\n\nThe connection status indicator remains important for both connection types, though for different reasons. With WebSocket connections, while they're more stable and long-lived, users still need to know if the connection drops due to network issues or authentication expiry. With Watch API streaming, the connections have timeout limitations and are more prone to disconnection. To achieve this visibility, we introduced a `k8sConnection` query together with the `reconnectToCluster` mutation. The UI displays a badge with a tooltip showing three connection states:\n- **Connecting:** Set when initiating either the connection\n- **Connected:** Updated when the first data arrives through either connection type\n- **Disconnected:** Triggered when WebSocket connections fail, Watch API streams timeout, or any connection errors occur\n\nWhen disconnection occurs, users can click to reconnect without refreshing the browser. Relying on the user action to reconnect to the stream helps us save resources and only request the necessary data while ensuring the accurate cluster state is available for the user at any time.\n\n## What's next?\n\nLeveraging the Kubernetes built-in functionality for watching the Readable stream helped us to build the functionality quickly and provide the Kubernetes UI solution to our customers, getting early feedback and adjusting the product direction. The initial Watch API approach, while presenting challenges like connection timeouts and reconnection needs, gave us valuable insights into real-world usage patterns. The WebSocket implementation has addressed many of these initial challenges, providing more stable connections and better resource efficiency through multiplexed watches. Both the Watch API and WebSocket approaches continue to evolve based on user needs.\n\nThere are opportunities for enhancement that could improve the user experience further. The WebSocket protocol already supports `unwatch` messages for dynamic watch management, though this isn't yet implemented in the JavaScript client. Fuller error handling and support for additional Kubernetes resource types could also expand the dashboard's capabilities.\n\nIf you're interested in contributing to the Kubernetes dashboard functionality, exploring enhancement opportunities, or sharing your use cases, join the discussion in our [Kubernetes Dashboard epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2493).\n\n> Curious to learn more or want to try out this functionality? Visit our [Kubernetes Dashboard documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments/kubernetes_dashboard.html) for more details and configuration tips.\n",[24,25,26],"kubernetes","features","tutorial","yml",{},"/en-us/blog/kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend",{"title":15,"description":16,"ogTitle":15,"ogDescription":16,"noIndex":31,"ogImage":19,"ogUrl":32,"ogSiteName":33,"ogType":34,"canonicalUrls":32},false,"https://about.gitlab.com/blog/kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend","https://about.gitlab.com","article","en-us/blog/kubernetes-overview-operate-cluster-data-on-the-frontend",[24,25,26],"0QeQvaTCC8gxbuWLZjvCZC0VHSDbLipS01mf9PijjWo",{"data":39},{"logo":40,"freeTrial":45,"sales":50,"login":55,"items":60,"search":368,"minimal":399,"duo":418,"pricingDeployment":428},{"config":41},{"href":42,"dataGaName":43,"dataGaLocation":44},"/","gitlab logo","header",{"text":46,"config":47},"Get free trial",{"href":48,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_source=about.gitlab.com&glm_content=default-saas-trial/","free trial",{"text":51,"config":52},"Talk to sales",{"href":53,"dataGaName":54,"dataGaLocation":44},"/sales/","sales",{"text":56,"config":57},"Sign in",{"href":58,"dataGaName":59,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://gitlab.com/users/sign_in/","sign in",[61,88,183,188,289,349],{"text":62,"config":63,"cards":65},"Platform",{"dataNavLevelOne":64},"platform",[66,72,80],{"title":62,"description":67,"link":68},"The intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps",{"text":69,"config":70},"Explore our Platform",{"href":71,"dataGaName":64,"dataGaLocation":44},"/platform/",{"title":73,"description":74,"link":75},"GitLab Duo Agent Platform","Agentic AI for the entire software lifecycle",{"text":76,"config":77},"Meet GitLab Duo",{"href":78,"dataGaName":79,"dataGaLocation":44},"/gitlab-duo-agent-platform/","gitlab duo agent platform",{"title":81,"description":82,"link":83},"Why GitLab","See the top reasons enterprises choose GitLab",{"text":84,"config":85},"Learn more",{"href":86,"dataGaName":87,"dataGaLocation":44},"/why-gitlab/","why gitlab",{"text":89,"left":12,"config":90,"link":92,"lists":96,"footer":165},"Product",{"dataNavLevelOne":91},"solutions",{"text":93,"config":94},"View all Solutions",{"href":95,"dataGaName":91,"dataGaLocation":44},"/solutions/",[97,121,144],{"title":98,"description":99,"link":100,"items":105},"Automation","CI/CD and automation to accelerate deployment",{"config":101},{"icon":102,"href":103,"dataGaName":104,"dataGaLocation":44},"AutomatedCodeAlt","/solutions/delivery-automation/","automated software delivery",[106,110,113,117],{"text":107,"config":108},"CI/CD",{"href":109,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":107},"/solutions/continuous-integration/",{"text":73,"config":111},{"href":78,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":112},"gitlab duo agent platform - product menu",{"text":114,"config":115},"Source Code Management",{"href":116,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":114},"/solutions/source-code-management/",{"text":118,"config":119},"Automated Software Delivery",{"href":103,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":120},"Automated software delivery",{"title":122,"description":123,"link":124,"items":129},"Security","Deliver code faster without compromising security",{"config":125},{"href":126,"dataGaName":127,"dataGaLocation":44,"icon":128},"/solutions/application-security-testing/","security and compliance","ShieldCheckLight",[130,134,139],{"text":131,"config":132},"Application Security Testing",{"href":126,"dataGaName":133,"dataGaLocation":44},"Application security testing",{"text":135,"config":136},"Software Supply Chain Security",{"href":137,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":138},"/solutions/supply-chain/","Software supply chain security",{"text":140,"config":141},"Software Compliance",{"href":142,"dataGaName":143,"dataGaLocation":44},"/solutions/software-compliance/","software compliance",{"title":145,"link":146,"items":151},"Measurement",{"config":147},{"icon":148,"href":149,"dataGaName":150,"dataGaLocation":44},"DigitalTransformation","/solutions/visibility-measurement/","visibility and measurement",[152,156,160],{"text":153,"config":154},"Visibility & Measurement",{"href":149,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":155},"Visibility and Measurement",{"text":157,"config":158},"Value Stream Management",{"href":159,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":157},"/solutions/value-stream-management/",{"text":161,"config":162},"Analytics & Insights",{"href":163,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":164},"/solutions/analytics-and-insights/","Analytics and insights",{"title":166,"items":167},"GitLab for",[168,173,178],{"text":169,"config":170},"Enterprise",{"href":171,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":172},"/enterprise/","enterprise",{"text":174,"config":175},"Small Business",{"href":176,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":177},"/small-business/","small business",{"text":179,"config":180},"Public Sector",{"href":181,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":182},"/solutions/public-sector/","public sector",{"text":184,"config":185},"Pricing",{"href":186,"dataGaName":187,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataNavLevelOne":187},"/pricing/","pricing",{"text":189,"config":190,"link":192,"lists":196,"feature":276},"Resources",{"dataNavLevelOne":191},"resources",{"text":193,"config":194},"View all resources",{"href":195,"dataGaName":191,"dataGaLocation":44},"/resources/",[197,230,248],{"title":198,"items":199},"Getting started",[200,205,210,215,220,225],{"text":201,"config":202},"Install",{"href":203,"dataGaName":204,"dataGaLocation":44},"/install/","install",{"text":206,"config":207},"Quick start guides",{"href":208,"dataGaName":209,"dataGaLocation":44},"/get-started/","quick setup checklists",{"text":211,"config":212},"Learn",{"href":213,"dataGaLocation":44,"dataGaName":214},"https://university.gitlab.com/","learn",{"text":216,"config":217},"Product documentation",{"href":218,"dataGaName":219,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://docs.gitlab.com/","product documentation",{"text":221,"config":222},"Best practice videos",{"href":223,"dataGaName":224,"dataGaLocation":44},"/getting-started-videos/","best practice videos",{"text":226,"config":227},"Integrations",{"href":228,"dataGaName":229,"dataGaLocation":44},"/integrations/","integrations",{"title":231,"items":232},"Discover",[233,238,243],{"text":234,"config":235},"Customer success stories",{"href":236,"dataGaName":237,"dataGaLocation":44},"/customers/","customer success stories",{"text":239,"config":240},"Blog",{"href":241,"dataGaName":242,"dataGaLocation":44},"/blog/","blog",{"text":244,"config":245},"Remote",{"href":246,"dataGaName":247,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/","remote",{"title":249,"items":250},"Connect",[251,256,261,266,271],{"text":252,"config":253},"GitLab Services",{"href":254,"dataGaName":255,"dataGaLocation":44},"/services/","services",{"text":257,"config":258},"Community",{"href":259,"dataGaName":260,"dataGaLocation":44},"/community/","community",{"text":262,"config":263},"Forum",{"href":264,"dataGaName":265,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://forum.gitlab.com/","forum",{"text":267,"config":268},"Events",{"href":269,"dataGaName":270,"dataGaLocation":44},"/events/","events",{"text":272,"config":273},"Partners",{"href":274,"dataGaName":275,"dataGaLocation":44},"/partners/","partners",{"backgroundColor":277,"textColor":278,"text":279,"image":280,"link":284},"#2f2a6b","#fff","Insights for the future of software development",{"altText":281,"config":282},"the source promo card",{"src":283},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1758208064/dzl0dbift9xdizyelkk4.svg",{"text":285,"config":286},"Read the latest",{"href":287,"dataGaName":288,"dataGaLocation":44},"/the-source/","the source",{"text":290,"config":291,"lists":293},"Company",{"dataNavLevelOne":292},"company",[294],{"items":295},[296,301,307,309,314,319,324,329,334,339,344],{"text":297,"config":298},"About",{"href":299,"dataGaName":300,"dataGaLocation":44},"/company/","about",{"text":302,"config":303,"footerGa":306},"Jobs",{"href":304,"dataGaName":305,"dataGaLocation":44},"/jobs/","jobs",{"dataGaName":305},{"text":267,"config":308},{"href":269,"dataGaName":270,"dataGaLocation":44},{"text":310,"config":311},"Leadership",{"href":312,"dataGaName":313,"dataGaLocation":44},"/company/team/e-group/","leadership",{"text":315,"config":316},"Team",{"href":317,"dataGaName":318,"dataGaLocation":44},"/company/team/","team",{"text":320,"config":321},"Handbook",{"href":322,"dataGaName":323,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://handbook.gitlab.com/","handbook",{"text":325,"config":326},"Investor relations",{"href":327,"dataGaName":328,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://ir.gitlab.com/","investor relations",{"text":330,"config":331},"Trust Center",{"href":332,"dataGaName":333,"dataGaLocation":44},"/security/","trust center",{"text":335,"config":336},"AI Transparency Center",{"href":337,"dataGaName":338,"dataGaLocation":44},"/ai-transparency-center/","ai transparency center",{"text":340,"config":341},"Newsletter",{"href":342,"dataGaName":343,"dataGaLocation":44},"/company/contact/#contact-forms","newsletter",{"text":345,"config":346},"Press",{"href":347,"dataGaName":348,"dataGaLocation":44},"/press/","press",{"text":350,"config":351,"lists":352},"Contact us",{"dataNavLevelOne":292},[353],{"items":354},[355,358,363],{"text":51,"config":356},{"href":53,"dataGaName":357,"dataGaLocation":44},"talk to sales",{"text":359,"config":360},"Support portal",{"href":361,"dataGaName":362,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://support.gitlab.com","support portal",{"text":364,"config":365},"Customer portal",{"href":366,"dataGaName":367,"dataGaLocation":44},"https://customers.gitlab.com/customers/sign_in/","customer portal",{"close":369,"login":370,"suggestions":377},"Close",{"text":371,"link":372},"To search repositories and projects, login to",{"text":373,"config":374},"gitlab.com",{"href":58,"dataGaName":375,"dataGaLocation":376},"search login","search",{"text":378,"default":379},"Suggestions",[380,382,386,388,392,396],{"text":73,"config":381},{"href":78,"dataGaName":73,"dataGaLocation":376},{"text":383,"config":384},"Code Suggestions (AI)",{"href":385,"dataGaName":383,"dataGaLocation":376},"/solutions/code-suggestions/",{"text":107,"config":387},{"href":109,"dataGaName":107,"dataGaLocation":376},{"text":389,"config":390},"GitLab on AWS",{"href":391,"dataGaName":389,"dataGaLocation":376},"/partners/technology-partners/aws/",{"text":393,"config":394},"GitLab on Google Cloud",{"href":395,"dataGaName":393,"dataGaLocation":376},"/partners/technology-partners/google-cloud-platform/",{"text":397,"config":398},"Why GitLab?",{"href":86,"dataGaName":397,"dataGaLocation":376},{"freeTrial":400,"mobileIcon":405,"desktopIcon":410,"secondaryButton":413},{"text":401,"config":402},"Start free trial",{"href":403,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":404},"https://gitlab.com/-/trials/new/","nav",{"altText":406,"config":407},"Gitlab Icon",{"src":408,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1758203874/jypbw1jx72aexsoohd7x.svg","gitlab icon",{"altText":406,"config":411},{"src":412,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1758203875/gs4c8p8opsgvflgkswz9.svg",{"text":414,"config":415},"Get Started",{"href":416,"dataGaName":417,"dataGaLocation":404},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_source=about.gitlab.com/compare/gitlab-vs-github/","get started",{"freeTrial":419,"mobileIcon":424,"desktopIcon":426},{"text":420,"config":421},"Learn more about GitLab Duo",{"href":422,"dataGaName":423,"dataGaLocation":404},"/gitlab-duo/","gitlab duo",{"altText":406,"config":425},{"src":408,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},{"altText":406,"config":427},{"src":412,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},{"freeTrial":429,"mobileIcon":434,"desktopIcon":436},{"text":430,"config":431},"Back to pricing",{"href":186,"dataGaName":432,"dataGaLocation":404,"icon":433},"back to pricing","GoBack",{"altText":406,"config":435},{"src":408,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},{"altText":406,"config":437},{"src":412,"dataGaName":409,"dataGaLocation":404},{"title":439,"button":440,"config":445},"See how agentic AI transforms software delivery",{"text":441,"config":442},"Watch GitLab Transcend now",{"href":443,"dataGaName":444,"dataGaLocation":44},"/events/transcend/virtual/","transcend event",{"layout":446,"icon":447},"release","AiStar",{"data":449},{"text":450,"source":451,"edit":457,"contribute":462,"config":467,"items":472,"minimal":679},"Git is a trademark of Software Freedom Conservancy and our use of 'GitLab' is under license",{"text":452,"config":453},"View page source",{"href":454,"dataGaName":455,"dataGaLocation":456},"https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-experience/about-gitlab-com/","page source","footer",{"text":458,"config":459},"Edit this page",{"href":460,"dataGaName":461,"dataGaLocation":456},"https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-experience/about-gitlab-com/-/blob/main/content/","web ide",{"text":463,"config":464},"Please contribute",{"href":465,"dataGaName":466,"dataGaLocation":456},"https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-experience/about-gitlab-com/-/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md/","please contribute",{"twitter":468,"facebook":469,"youtube":470,"linkedin":471},"https://twitter.com/gitlab","https://www.facebook.com/gitlab","https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnMGQ8QHMAnVIsI3xJrihhg","https://www.linkedin.com/company/gitlab-com",[473,520,574,618,645],{"title":184,"links":474,"subMenu":489},[475,479,484],{"text":476,"config":477},"View plans",{"href":186,"dataGaName":478,"dataGaLocation":456},"view plans",{"text":480,"config":481},"Why Premium?",{"href":482,"dataGaName":483,"dataGaLocation":456},"/pricing/premium/","why premium",{"text":485,"config":486},"Why Ultimate?",{"href":487,"dataGaName":488,"dataGaLocation":456},"/pricing/ultimate/","why ultimate",[490],{"title":491,"links":492},"Contact Us",[493,496,498,500,505,510,515],{"text":494,"config":495},"Contact sales",{"href":53,"dataGaName":54,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":359,"config":497},{"href":361,"dataGaName":362,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":364,"config":499},{"href":366,"dataGaName":367,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":501,"config":502},"Status",{"href":503,"dataGaName":504,"dataGaLocation":456},"https://status.gitlab.com/","status",{"text":506,"config":507},"Terms of use",{"href":508,"dataGaName":509,"dataGaLocation":456},"/terms/","terms of use",{"text":511,"config":512},"Privacy statement",{"href":513,"dataGaName":514,"dataGaLocation":456},"/privacy/","privacy statement",{"text":516,"config":517},"Cookie preferences",{"dataGaName":518,"dataGaLocation":456,"id":519,"isOneTrustButton":12},"cookie preferences","ot-sdk-btn",{"title":89,"links":521,"subMenu":530},[522,526],{"text":523,"config":524},"DevSecOps platform",{"href":71,"dataGaName":525,"dataGaLocation":456},"devsecops platform",{"text":527,"config":528},"AI-Assisted Development",{"href":422,"dataGaName":529,"dataGaLocation":456},"ai-assisted development",[531],{"title":532,"links":533},"Topics",[534,539,544,549,554,559,564,569],{"text":535,"config":536},"CICD",{"href":537,"dataGaName":538,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/ci-cd/","cicd",{"text":540,"config":541},"GitOps",{"href":542,"dataGaName":543,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/gitops/","gitops",{"text":545,"config":546},"DevOps",{"href":547,"dataGaName":548,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/devops/","devops",{"text":550,"config":551},"Version Control",{"href":552,"dataGaName":553,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/version-control/","version control",{"text":555,"config":556},"DevSecOps",{"href":557,"dataGaName":558,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/devsecops/","devsecops",{"text":560,"config":561},"Cloud Native",{"href":562,"dataGaName":563,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/cloud-native/","cloud native",{"text":565,"config":566},"AI for Coding",{"href":567,"dataGaName":568,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/devops/ai-for-coding/","ai for coding",{"text":570,"config":571},"Agentic AI",{"href":572,"dataGaName":573,"dataGaLocation":456},"/topics/agentic-ai/","agentic ai",{"title":575,"links":576},"Solutions",[577,579,581,586,590,593,597,600,602,605,608,613],{"text":131,"config":578},{"href":126,"dataGaName":131,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":120,"config":580},{"href":103,"dataGaName":104,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":582,"config":583},"Agile development",{"href":584,"dataGaName":585,"dataGaLocation":456},"/solutions/agile-delivery/","agile delivery",{"text":587,"config":588},"SCM",{"href":116,"dataGaName":589,"dataGaLocation":456},"source code management",{"text":535,"config":591},{"href":109,"dataGaName":592,"dataGaLocation":456},"continuous integration & delivery",{"text":594,"config":595},"Value stream management",{"href":159,"dataGaName":596,"dataGaLocation":456},"value stream management",{"text":540,"config":598},{"href":599,"dataGaName":543,"dataGaLocation":456},"/solutions/gitops/",{"text":169,"config":601},{"href":171,"dataGaName":172,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":603,"config":604},"Small business",{"href":176,"dataGaName":177,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":606,"config":607},"Public sector",{"href":181,"dataGaName":182,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":609,"config":610},"Education",{"href":611,"dataGaName":612,"dataGaLocation":456},"/solutions/education/","education",{"text":614,"config":615},"Financial services",{"href":616,"dataGaName":617,"dataGaLocation":456},"/solutions/finance/","financial services",{"title":189,"links":619},[620,622,624,626,629,631,633,635,637,639,641,643],{"text":201,"config":621},{"href":203,"dataGaName":204,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":206,"config":623},{"href":208,"dataGaName":209,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":211,"config":625},{"href":213,"dataGaName":214,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":216,"config":627},{"href":218,"dataGaName":628,"dataGaLocation":456},"docs",{"text":239,"config":630},{"href":241,"dataGaName":242,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":234,"config":632},{"href":236,"dataGaName":237,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":244,"config":634},{"href":246,"dataGaName":247,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":252,"config":636},{"href":254,"dataGaName":255,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":257,"config":638},{"href":259,"dataGaName":260,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":262,"config":640},{"href":264,"dataGaName":265,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":267,"config":642},{"href":269,"dataGaName":270,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":272,"config":644},{"href":274,"dataGaName":275,"dataGaLocation":456},{"title":290,"links":646},[647,649,651,653,655,657,659,663,668,670,672,674],{"text":297,"config":648},{"href":299,"dataGaName":292,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":302,"config":650},{"href":304,"dataGaName":305,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":310,"config":652},{"href":312,"dataGaName":313,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":315,"config":654},{"href":317,"dataGaName":318,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":320,"config":656},{"href":322,"dataGaName":323,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":325,"config":658},{"href":327,"dataGaName":328,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":660,"config":661},"Sustainability",{"href":662,"dataGaName":660,"dataGaLocation":456},"/sustainability/",{"text":664,"config":665},"Diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB)",{"href":666,"dataGaName":667,"dataGaLocation":456},"/diversity-inclusion-belonging/","Diversity, inclusion and belonging",{"text":330,"config":669},{"href":332,"dataGaName":333,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":340,"config":671},{"href":342,"dataGaName":343,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":345,"config":673},{"href":347,"dataGaName":348,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":675,"config":676},"Modern Slavery Transparency Statement",{"href":677,"dataGaName":678,"dataGaLocation":456},"https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/legal/modern-slavery-act-transparency-statement/","modern slavery transparency statement",{"items":680},[681,684,687],{"text":682,"config":683},"Terms",{"href":508,"dataGaName":509,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":685,"config":686},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":518,"dataGaLocation":456,"id":519,"isOneTrustButton":12},{"text":688,"config":689},"Privacy",{"href":513,"dataGaName":514,"dataGaLocation":456},[691],{"id":692,"title":18,"body":8,"config":693,"content":695,"description":8,"extension":27,"meta":699,"navigation":12,"path":700,"seo":701,"stem":702,"__hash__":703},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/anna-vovchenko.yml",{"template":694},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":696},{"headshot":697,"ctfId":698},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749669159/Blog/Author%20Headshots/anna_vovchenko_headshot.png","4bLGBzB5LA0jYw0y9IqCs2",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/anna-vovchenko",{},"en-us/blog/authors/anna-vovchenko","QfU9POldYYZeCT6SxfL6PcnnInrqn4fUCWWJMZ11bu0",[705,718,730],{"content":706,"config":716},{"title":707,"description":708,"authors":709,"heroImage":711,"date":712,"category":9,"tags":713,"body":715},"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.",[710],"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",[260,612,714],"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":717,"featured":31,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":719,"config":728},{"title":720,"description":721,"authors":722,"heroImage":723,"date":724,"category":9,"tags":725,"body":727},"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.",[710],"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",[612,260,726],"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":729,"featured":12,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"content":731,"config":743},{"category":9,"tags":732,"body":734,"date":735,"updatedDate":736,"heroImage":737,"authors":738,"title":741,"description":742},[26,733,107],"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",[739,740],"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":12,"template":13,"slug":744},"migration-from-azure-devops-to-gitlab",{"promotions":746},[747,761,772],{"id":748,"categories":749,"header":751,"text":752,"button":753,"image":758},"ai-modernization",[750],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":754,"config":755},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":756,"dataGaName":757,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":759},{"src":760},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":762,"categories":763,"header":764,"text":752,"button":765,"image":769},"devops-modernization",[726,558],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":766,"config":767},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":768,"dataGaName":757,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":770},{"src":771},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":773,"categories":774,"header":776,"text":752,"button":777,"image":781},"security-modernization",[775],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":778,"config":779},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":780,"dataGaName":757,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":782},{"src":783},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":785,"blurb":786,"button":787,"secondaryButton":792},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":788,"config":789},"Get your free trial",{"href":790,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":791},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":494,"config":793},{"href":53,"dataGaName":54,"dataGaLocation":791},1772652076002]