[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":792},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/look-back-on-11-11-cicd":3,"navigation-en-us":39,"banner-en-us":438,"footer-en-us":448,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Jason Yavorska":687,"blog-related-posts-en-us-look-back-on-11-11-cicd":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":26,"isFeatured":12,"meta":27,"navigation":28,"path":29,"publishedDate":20,"seo":30,"stem":34,"tagSlugs":35,"__hash__":38},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/look-back-on-11-11-cicd.yml","Look Back On 11 11 Cicd",[7],"jason-yavorska",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"look-back-on-11-11-cicd",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"Looking back on the 11.x releases for GitLab CI/CD","With GitLab 12.0 coming soon, it's a great time to reflect on all the features we've launched since 11.0.",[18],"Jason Yavorska","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666857/Blog/Hero%20Images/photo-cicdlookback.jpg","2019-06-19","\nGitLab releases each month, so if you aren't paying close attention it can be easy to\nlose track of all the great features that are coming out. With an eye towards [CI/CD](/solutions/continuous-integration/)\nin particular, I'd like to take you through some of the highlights in each of our 11.x releases,\neach of which contributed to our strategy around cloud native CI/CD that has\nsecurity and smarts built right in, supports code reusability and live troubleshooting,\nand in general enables your team to make progress towards your goal of better, more\nreliable software delivery.\n\n![Release Badges](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/11x_release_logos.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\nFor those who don't know me, I'm the director of product for CI/CD and I've spent\nmy career (going all the way back to doing build automation of Windows 98 at my\nfirst corporate job) out of doing build and release automation and process. I love\nthis stuff, and my career move from building CI/CD implementations to building\nCI/CD tools for folks just like me has been one of the most rewarding things I've\ndone in my life. I hope that experience and passion comes through in the features\nwe've delivered – either way, I'd love to chat with you if you're a user of GitLab\nCI/CD. DM me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/j4yav) or contact me via my [GitLab profile](https://gitlab.com/jyavorska) if you'd like to chat.\n\nAnyway, without further ado let's dive into the first 11.x release!\n\n## [GitLab 11.0](/releases/2018/06/22/gitlab-11-0-released/)\n\n### Auto DevOps Generally Available\n\nWe kicked off the 11.0 series in June 2018 by launching [Auto DevOps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/).\nBeyond making it easy to host and collaborate on public and private repositories,\nGitLab also simplifies the rest of the process by offering the whole delivery toolchain,\nbuilt in and automated: Simply commit your code and Auto DevOps can do the rest.\nAuto DevOps is a pre-built, fully featured CI/CD pipeline that takes the best of\nGitLab CI/CD features, adds a lot of smarts around auto-detecting what's in your\nproject, and automates the entire delivery process to your Kubernetes cluster.\n\nCheck out our [quick-start guide](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/cloud_deployments/auto_devops_with_gke.html)\nif you haven't had a chance to play with it yet – you might be surprised what it's\ncapable of out of the box.\n\n![Auto DevOps](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_0/auto-devops.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Job logs in the Web IDE\n\nTying operational deployments/execution together with development is also a priority\nfor GitLab. In 11.0 we made the CI status of the current commit available in the status\nbar of the Web IDE, and made it possible to view the [status and the logs for each job on the right](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/web_ide/#view-ci-job-logs).\nThis made it easy to fix a merge request with CI failures by opening the failed job\nright alongside your code.\n\n![Web IDE trace](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_0/web_ide_ci_trace.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [CI/CD pipeline jobs integrated with the Web IDE](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/web_ide/#view-ci-job-logs)\n- [Variable-defined deployment policies for Canary deployments](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#deploy-policy-for-canary-environments)\n- [Specify deployment strategy from Auto DevOps settings](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#auto-deploy)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.1](/releases/2018/07/22/gitlab-11-1-released/)\n\n### Security reports in pipeline view\n\nSecurity was another important area of focus for us throughout the 11.x series. We\nalready had security reports in the MR before this release, but here we also\nadded status for branches so this information can be acted upon even earlier.\nGitLab 11.1 (July 2018) completed the [set of security reports shown in the pipeline view](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/#security-reports),\nadding both Container Scanning and DAST. From there you could now simply review\nthe Reports tab to access all security information and take action.\n\n![Security Reports](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_1/security_reports.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Redesign of the merge request and pipeline info sections](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/)\n- [Improved Kubernetes cluster page design](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/clusters/)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.2](/releases/2018/08/22/gitlab-11-2-released/)\n\n### Custom templates at the instance level\n\nIn 11.2 (August 2018) we also introduced [custom templates at the instance level](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/custom_project_templates.html),\nmaking it easy for organizations to set up a basic template for how they want\ntheir CI/CD pipelines to run. Development teams can grab a copy of the template\nand go, confident their following their organizational processes. Our enterprise\ncustomers are very important to us, and this feature came directly from the great\nfeedback we get from our customers.\n\n![Project Templates](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_2/project-templates-instance.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Kaniko for Docker Builds\n\nHistorically, building Docker images within a containerized environment had\nrequired compromises, using techniques like docker-in-docker on privileged\ncontainers. These solutions were often insecure and slow. In this release we\nmade the Runner compatible with [Kaniko](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/docker/using_kaniko.html),\na new tool developed by Google which is able to securely build an image within\nan unprivileged container. Cloud-first build technology is so important for the\njourney we want to take with our users, and supporting these kinds of foundational\ntechnologies that make your life easier are so nice to deliver.\n\n![Kaniko](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_2/kaniko.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### JUnit test results in merge requests\n\nFinally, testing will always be an important part of any CI/CD pipeline. With the 11.2 release,\nwe made it possible to [see JUnit test results directly](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/testing/unit_test_reports.html)\nright from the CI view in the merge request widget, as part of our ongoing efforts\nto invest in full-spectrum integrated testing within GitLab.\n\n![JUnit Results](https://about.gitlab.com/images/feature_page/screenshots/junit-test-summaries-MR-widget.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [GitLab Runner in cloud native Helm Chart](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/)\n- [Built-in project templates switched to use Dockerfiles](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/working_with_projects.html#create-a-project)\n- [Manually stop an environment](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments/index.html#stopping-an-environment)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.3](/releases/2018/09/22/gitlab-11-3-released/)\n\n### Built-in Maven package repository\n\nFor any development organization, having an easy and secure way to manage\ndependencies is critical. Package management tools, such as Maven for Java\ndevelopers, provide a standardized way to share and version control these\nlibraries across projects. In GitLab 11.3 (September 2018), we opened up [Maven repositories built directly into GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/packages/maven_repository/index.html).\nJava developers were now easily able to publish their packaged libraries to\ntheir project’s Maven repository: Just share a simple XML snippet with\nother teams looking to utilize that library, and Maven and GitLab will take care\nof the rest.\n\n![Maven Repo](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_3/maven.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Interactive Web Terminals\n\nCI/CD jobs are executed in the runner as part of pipelines, but this execution wasn't interactive.\nWhen they failed, it wasn't always easy to dig into details to spot the source of the problem.\n[Interactive web terminals](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/interactive_web_terminal/)\nbrought the capability to connect to a running or completed job and manually enter\ncommands to understand what’s happening in the system, and helped us move the story\nforward on empowering teams to deliver code, troubleshoot, and solve issues directly.\n\n![Web Terminal](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_3/verify-webterm.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Better includes with `extends` keyword\n\nReusing CI/CD code is a great way to help ensure consistency in software delivery,\nand also minimizes the amount of per-job scripting that’s needed to write and\nmaintain. As of 11.11, we began offering a powerful alternative approach\nfor code reuse in templates using [YAML `extends` keywords](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#extends),\nexpanding upon our vision for reusability and compliance in the enterprise.\n\n![Extends](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_3/verify-includes.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Protected environments](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments/protected_environments.html)\n- [Auto DevOps enabled by default](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/)\n- [Custom file templates for self-managed instances](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/settings/instance_template_repository.html)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.4](/releases/2018/10/22/gitlab-11-4-released/)\n\n### Feature Flags\n\nFeature Flags are a no-brainer to make software deliver easier, so you knew we'd eventually\nwant to include them in the GitLab single application. With the 11.4 release (October 2018) we delivered on\nthis promise by adding [Feature Flags](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/operations/feature_flags.html),\nhelping teams to achieve continuous delivery by offering better options for incrementally\nrolling out changes and separating feature delivery from customer launch.\n\n![Feature Flags](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_4/feature_flags.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### `only/except` rules for changes to files\n\nA very popular requested feature, in 11.4 we added the ability within the\n`.gitlab-ci.yml` to [use `only`/`except` rules for jobs](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#only--except)\nbased on when modifications occur to a specific file or path (or glob). This allowed\nfor even more smarts in the pipeline, especially for monorepo/microservice-type\nuse cases, where the pipeline behavior can be optimized based on the changed files\nin the repository.\n\n![Only Except Changes](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_4/verify-onlyexceptchanges.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Timed incremental rollouts\n\nTeams already had the ability within Auto DevOps to set up incremental rollouts,\nbut with this release we added an option to also set up [timed incremental rollouts](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#timed-incremental-rollout-to-production)\nwhere the rollout will automatically continue forward on a timed cadence, making\nsure there is no error before continuing. This helped us push our vision for safe,\ncontinous deployment forward by providing teams with a new tool to have control over\ntheir code rollouts.\n\n![Timed Incremental Rollouts](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_4/timed_incremental_rollouts.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Moving `includes` from Starter to Core](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#include)\n- [Auto DevOps support for RBAC](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/)\n- [Filter admin runners view by type/state](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/runners/)\n- [Support for interactive web terminals with Docker executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/interactive_web_terminal/)\n- [Delayed jobs for pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#whendelayed)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.5](/releases/2018/11/22/gitlab-11-5-released/)\n\n### Access control for Pages\n\nWith the 11.5 release (November 2018) we delivered a fantastic community-contributed feature which enabled\naccess control for Pages. From now on, instead of only supporting use cases where the\ncontent associated with the product is public, you could use Pages to build and\npublish protected content that should [only be accessible by project members](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/introduction.html#gitlab-pages-access-control).\nOperational documentation, internal secrets, or even just private planning or\nother information can now be confidently published via your pipelines in an\neasy-to-access way, with confidence that only the right people are able to see it.\n\n![Access Control Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_5/access-control-pages.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Deploy Knative to your Kubernetes cluster\n\nBuilding [serverless applications](/topics/serverless/) enables teams to focus their time on making a\ngreat product and eliminates the need of provisioning, managing, and operating\nservers. Starting in GitLab 11.5, we enabled [deploying Knative to your existing Kubernetes cluster](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/removals.html)\nwith a single click using the GitLab Kubernetes integration. Knative is a\nKubernetes-based platform to build, deploy, and manage modern serverless workloads.\nTasks that were once difficult, such as source-to-container builds, routing and\nmanaging traffic, and scaling-to-zero, now work effortlessly out of the box.\n\n![KNative](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_5/knative.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Parallel attribute for faster pipelines\n\nThe speed to delivery in a CI/CD environment can oftentimes be limited by the time it takes to complete the various tests in order to ensure the code is able to be shipped. With the `parallel` keyword in GitLab CI/CD, teams can quickly and easily parallelize these tests – accelerating the testing process and overall time to delivery.\n\n![Parallel](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_5/parallel-keyword.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Review Apps can now link directly to changed pages](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments/index.html#going-from-source-files-to-public-pages)\n- [New CI/CD syntax for security, quality, and performance report types](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#artifactsreports)\n- [Additional information about deployments in merge requests](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/index.html#pipeline-status-in-merge-requests)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.6](/releases/2018/12/22/gitlab-11-6-released/)\n\n### GitLab Serverless\n\nBuilding on the Knative integration introduced in the previous month, 11.6's new, more\ncomprehensive [Serverless](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/removals.html)\ncapability enabled users to easily define functions in their repository and have\nthem served and managed by Knative. Cloud native is such an important part of our\nroadmap, and it was really exciting to launch this feature while I was at KubeCon\nno less.\n\nBy simply defining your function data in the repo’s `serverless.yml` file and\nusing a `.gitlab-ci.yml` template, each function will be deployed to your cluster,\nwith Knative taking care of scaling your function based on request volume. This\nenables application developers to iterate quickly without having to worry about\nprovisioning or managing infrastructure.\n\n![Serverless](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_6/serverless.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Run pipeline jobs for merge requests\n\nRunning a given job only when dealing with a merge request was made much easier in 11.6. Using the\n`merge_requests` value with `only/except` keywords will allow you to configure jobs\nto run [only or except when in the context of a merge request](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.html).\nThis allows finer control over pipeline behavior, and also provides access to new\nenvironment variables indicating the target branch and merge request ID to be used\nfor additional automated behaviors.\n\n![Merge Request Pipelines](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_6/verify-mergerequestpipelines.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Kubernetes clusters for groups](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/clusters/)\n- [Pipelines are now deletable via API](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/pipelines.html#delete-a-pipeline)\n- [Trigger variables are now hidden in UI by default](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/triggers/)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.7](/releases/2019/01/22/gitlab-11-7-released/)\n\n### Releases page\n\nThe 11.7 release (January 2019) added the ability to [create releases in GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/releases/index.html)\nand view them on a summary page. Releases are a snapshot in time of the source,\nlinks, and other metadata or artifacts associated with a released version of your\ncode, and helps users of your project to easily discover the latest releases\nof your software.\n\nThis is a feature that was, as a career release manager, near and dear to my heart.\nI have so many plans around [Release Orchestration](/direction/delivery/)\nthat build on this feature as a foundation. Being able to tie a milestone to\na release, a feature coming very soon, will open the door to tying together all\nkinds of interesting things happening in GitLab to a release. This isn't my forward-looking\nblog post so I won't go too far here, but I'll just say I can't wait to\ngo on that journey to build something really unique and powerful together with our users.\n\n![Releases Page](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_7/release-releases_page.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Expand upstream/downstream pipelines across projects\n\nWith 11.7 it became possible to [expand upstream or downstream cross-project pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/index.html#visualize-pipelines)\nright from the pipeline view, giving you visibility into your end-to-end pipelines,\nno matter in which project they start or finish. It's one pattern we've been seeing\nmore and more of in GitLab, and we're adding more features to support. The reality of\ncontinuous delivery is complex orchestration across projects and even groups, so\nthis is a feature that was nice to get out the door to help make this easier.\n\n![Cross-Project Pipelines](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_7/release-pipeline_expansion.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### NPM package repository\n\nIn January we also started offering [NPM registries](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/packages/npm_registry/index.html)\nbuilt directly into GitLab. From this point teams can share a simple package-naming\nconvention to utilize that library in any Node.js project, and NPM and GitLab will\ndo the rest – all from a single, easy-to-use interface. Yet another step on our path\nto enable all kinds of repositories, built right into GitLab when you need them.\n\n![NPM Packages](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_7/npm_package_view.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Ability to configure Kubernetes app secrets as variables in Auto DevOps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#application-secret-variables)\n- [API support for Kubernetes integration](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/project_clusters.html)\n- [Short commit SHA available as environment variable](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/predefined_variables.html)\n- [Authorization support for fetching includes](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#include)\n- [Skip CI builds during git push with `skip_ci` keyword](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/#skip-a-pipeline)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.8](/releases/2019/02/22/gitlab-11-8-released/)\n\n### `trigger:` keyword for pipelines\n\nEven as of GitLab 9.3 you were able to create multi-project pipelines by triggering\na downstream pipeline via a GitLab API call in your job. In GitLab 11.8 (February 2019), we added\nfirst-class support for triggering these downstream pipelines with the [`trigger:`](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#trigger)\nkeyword, instead of requiring teams to make an API call to trigger the downstream\npipeline. A bit more for those cross-project use cases that makes everything just\na little bit nicer to use.\n\n![Trigger](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_8/multi_project_pipeline_graph.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Pages support for subgroups\n\nPages was updated in 11.8 to [work with subgroups in GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/pages/),\ngiving you the ability to create Pages sites at that level as well. Sites set up in this\nway will have a URL in the format of `toplevel-group.gitlab.io/subgroup/project`,\nmaking them very easy to find.\n\n![Pages for SubGroups](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_8/release-pages-subgroups.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Several new templates for getting started quickly with GitLab Pages](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/#getting-started)\n- [Auto DevOps support for environment-specific custom domain](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#environment-variables)\n- [Feature Flags was improved by making them environment-aware](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/operations/feature_flags.html#define-environment-specs)\n- [CI_PAGES and CI_PAGES_URL added as helpful variables accessible to Pages pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/)\n- [.html extensions are now automatically resolved for Pages sites](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/)\n- [Tolerations were added to the Kubernetes executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/kubernetes.html#the-keywords)\n- [A new cleanup procedure for the Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/container_registry.html#delete-a-repository-tag)\n- [Force redeploy when Auto DevOps secrets are updated](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#environment-variables)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.9](/releases/2019/03/22/gitlab-11-9-released/)\n\n### Feature Flag auditability\n\nWith the 11.9 release (March 2019), operations like adding, removing, or changing Feature Flags\nare now [recorded in the GitLab audit log](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/audit_events.html),\ngiving you visibility into what is changing and when. If you’re having an incident\nand need to see what changed recently, or just need to look back as an auditor on\nhow your feature flags have been modified, this is now very easy to do. We have\nbig plans for Feature Flags, and also compliance built right into your pipelines.\nIt was great to knock out a two-for-one with this one.\n\n![Feature Flag audit events](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_9/release-ffaudit.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Security templates for pipelines\n\nGitLab security features evolve very fast, and they always need to be up to\ndate to be effective and protect your code. We know that changing the job\ndefinition is difficult if you have to manage multiple projects. As of this release we\ninclude bundled security templates [directly into your configuration](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/application_security/sast/#configuring-sast),\nand have them updated with your system every time you upgrade to a new version of\nGitLab, without any change to any pipeline configuration required. Security plus\nreusability, a great combination.\n\n![Security Templates](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_9/templates.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Project templates for .NET, Go, iOS, and Pages](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/working_with_projects.html#built-in-templates)\n- [Run specific jobs on merge requests only when files change](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/jobs/job_control.html#use-onlychanges-with-merge-request-pipelines)\n- [Auto DevOps build jobs for tags](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#auto-build)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.10](/releases/2019/04/22/gitlab-11-10-released/)\n\n### Pipeline dashboard\n\nIn 11.10 (April 2019) we added [pipeline status information to the Operations Dashboard](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/operations_dashboard/).\nThis helps teams view the pipeline health of all the projects that they care about,\nall together in a single interface. Yet another step towards making pipelines across\nyour instance easy to understand and follow, this one was built in real-time coordination\nwith a customer, which is always a nice way to get something done. You get to build\nsomething that solves a real problem and collaborate directly with the folks who\nneed it.\n\n![Pipeline Dashboard](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_10/cross-project-pipelines-dashboard.gif){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Pipelines on merge results\n\nWhen working in a feature branch, it’s normal to have it diverge over\ntime from the target branch if you aren’t rebasing frequently. This can result\nin a situation where both the source and target branch’s pipelines are green and\nthere are no merge conflicts, but the combined output will result in a failed\npipeline due to an incompatibility between the changes.\n\nWith 11.10 it became possible for a pipeline to automatically create a new ref that\ncontains the combined merge result of the source and target branch, then\n[run the pipeline against that ref](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.html)\n(what we call an `attached` state). In this way, GitLab can help teams keep their\nmaster branch green even when they have many teams merging into the release branch.\n\nTools and techniques built right into GitLab for keeping master green was a big\nfocus in the last few releases of 11.x, and will remain so for 12.x as well. Look\nfor [merge trains](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/9186) to be built\non top of this foundation, and some really cool enhancements around sequencing and\nparallelization of them.\n\n![Merge Ref Pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_10/merge_request_pipeline.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Composable Auto DevOps\n\nAuto DevOps enables teams to adopt modern DevOps practices with little to no effort.\nStarting in GitLab 11.10 each job of Auto DevOps was made available as an\nindependent template. Using the includes feature of GitLab CI, users can [choose to bring in\nonly certain stages of Auto DevOps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#using-components-of-auto-devops) while continuing to use their own custom\n`gitlab-ci.yml` for the rest. This helps teams to use just the desired jobs, while\ntaking advantage of any updates made upstream.\n\n![Composable Auto DevOps](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_10/composable-auto-devops.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [More thorough Container Registry cleanup](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/maintenance/#removing-unused-layers-not-referenced-by-manifests)\n- [Ability to purchase CI add-on runner minutes](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/settings/continuous_integration.html#extra-shared-runners-pipeline-minutes-quota)\n- [Change the cloning path for pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/runners/configure_runners.html#custom-build-directories)\n- [Simple masking of protected variables in logs](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/#masked-variables)\n- [Enable/disable Auto DevOps at the group level](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#enablingdisabling-auto-devops-at-the-group-level)\n- [Group-level runners for group-level clusters](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/clusters/#installing-applications)\n- [Control over `git clean` flags in pipeline jobs](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/runners/configure_runners.html#git-clean-flags)\n\n---\n\n## [GitLab 11.11](/releases/2019/05/22/gitlab-11-11-released/)\n\n### Windows Container Executor\n\nIn GitLab 11.11 (May 2019) we were very pleased to add a new executor to the GitLab Runner\nfor using [Docker containers on Windows](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#using-windows-containers).\nPreviously, using the shell executor to orchestrate Docker commands was the primary\napproach for Windows, but with this update you are now able to use Docker\ncontainers on Windows directly, in much the same way as if they were on Linux\nhosts. This opened up the door for more advanced kinds of pipeline orchestration\nand management for our users of Microsoft platforms.\n\nAlso included with this update was improved support for PowerShell throughout GitLab\nCI/CD, as well as new helper images for various versions of Windows containers.\n\n![Windows Executor](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_11/windows-container.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Caching proxy for Container Registry\n\nLots of teams are using containers as part of their build pipelines, and our new\n[caching proxy](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/packages/dependency_proxy/index.html) for\nfrequently used upstream images/packages introduced a great way to speed them up.\nBy keeping a copy of needed layers locally using the new caching proxy, you can\neasily improve execution performance for the commonly used images in your environment.\n\n![Dependency Proxy](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_11/dependency-proxy-mvc.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Chat notifications for deployments\n\nIn 11.11 deployment events were available to be [automatically shared in your team’s channel](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/integrations/)\nthrough our Slack and Mattermost chat integrations, helping bring visibility to\nthese important activities that your teams need to be aware of.\n\n![Notifications](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_11/release-slack-notification.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Guest Access for Releases\n\nIt also became possible in this release for [guest users of your projects to view releases](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html#releases-permissions)\nthat you have published on the Releases page. They will be able to download your\npublished artifacts, but are prevented from downloading the source code or seeing\nrepository information such as tags and commits.\n\n![Guest Releases](https://about.gitlab.com/images/11_7/release-releases_page.png){: .shadow.medium.center}\n\n### Other highlights\n\n- [Add-on runner minutes extended to free plans](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/settings/continuous_integration.html#extra-shared-runners-pipeline-minutes-quota)\n- [Access deployment details through environments API](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/environments.html#get-a-specific-environment)\n- [Create a file directly from environment variable](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/#variable-types)\n- [Run all manual jobs for a stage in one click](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/index.html#add-manual-interaction-to-your-pipeline)\n\n---\n\n## In conclusion\n\nPhew... that was a lot of great features, and the team here at GitLab is really proud of\nwhat we delivered with this series of GitLab releases. 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statement",{"items":677},[678,681,684],{"text":679,"config":680},"Terms",{"href":508,"dataGaName":509,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":682,"config":683},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":518,"dataGaLocation":456,"id":519,"isOneTrustButton":28},{"text":685,"config":686},"Privacy",{"href":513,"dataGaName":514,"dataGaLocation":456},[688],{"id":689,"title":18,"body":8,"config":690,"content":692,"description":8,"extension":26,"meta":696,"navigation":28,"path":697,"seo":698,"stem":699,"__hash__":700},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska.yml",{"template":691},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":693},{"headshot":694,"ctfId":695},"","jyavorska",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska",{},"en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska","eFtNS4VsB5vvAsfbNZ0pGZ1cC600ZgmmRzLEDxetiGk",[702,715,727],{"content":703,"config":713},{"title":704,"description":705,"authors":706,"heroImage":708,"date":709,"category":9,"tags":710,"body":712},"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.",[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",[260,609,711],"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",[609,260,723],"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":28,"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},[730,731,24],"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":28,"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":242},"/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":242},"/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":242},"/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":50,"dataGaLocation":789},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":494,"config":791},{"href":54,"dataGaName":55,"dataGaLocation":789},1772652095020]