Issue to Merge Request Flow

The Issue to Merge Request Flow streamlines the process of converting issues into actionable merge requests. This flow:

• Analyzes the issue description and requirements.
• Opens a draft merge request that’s linked to the original issue.
• Creates a development plan based on the issue details.
• Creates code structure or implementation.
• Updates the merge request with the code changes.

This flow is available in the GitLab UI only.

Prerequisites

To create a merge request from an issue, you must:

• Have an existing GitLab issue with clear requirements.
• Have at least the Developer role in the project.
• Meet the other prerequisites.
• Configure push rules to allow the GitLab Duo service account (if push rules are enabled).

Configure push rules for GitLab Duo

The Issue to Merge Request Flow uses a service account that:

• Creates commits with its own email address.
• Creates branches with the workloads/ prefix (for example, workloads/a1b2c3d4e5f).

If your project or instance has push rules enabled, you must configure them to allow the GitLab Duo service account to create commits and branches.

To configure push rules for a project:

1. Find the email address associated with the service account:

   1. On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select Admin.
   2. Select Overview > Users and search for duo-developer.
   3. Locate the duo-developer user and copy the email address.

2. Allow the email address to push to the project:

   1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
   2. Select Settings > Repository.
   3. Expand Push rules.
   4. In Commit author’s email, add a regular expression that allows the email address you just copied.
   5. Select Save push rules.

3. Allow the workloads/ branch prefix:

   1. In the Push rules section, find Branch name.
   2. Add a regular expression that allows branches starting with workloads/. For example: ^workloads/.*$
   3. Select Save push rules.

If you are an administrator, you can create push rules for the instance:

1. On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select Admin.
2. Select Push rules.
3. Follow the previous steps to allow Commit author’s email and Branch name.
4. Select Save push rules.

For more information about push rules, see the push rules documentation.

Use the flow

To convert your issue to a merge request:

1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project. If you’ve turned on the new navigation, this field is on the top bar.
2. Select Plan > Issues.
3. Select the issue you want to create a merge request for.
4. Below the issue header, select Generate MR with Duo.
5. Monitor progress by selecting Automate > Sessions.
6. When the pipeline has successfully executed, a link to the merge request is displayed in the issue’s activity section.
7. Review the merge request and make changes as needed.

Best practices

• Keep the issues well-scoped. Break down complex tasks into smaller, focused, and action-oriented requests.
• Specify exact file paths.
• Write specific acceptance criteria.
• Include code examples of existing patterns to maintain consistency.

Example

This example shows a well-crafted issue that can be used to generate a merge request.

## Description
The users endpoint currently returns all users at once,
which will cause performance issues as the user base grows.
Implement cursor-based pagination for the `/api/users` endpoint
to handle large datasets efficiently.

## Implementation plan
Add pagination to GET /users API endpoint.
Include pagination metadata in /users API response (per_page, page).
Add query parameters for per page size limit (default 5, max 20).

#### Files to modify
- `src/api/users.py` - Add pagination parameters and logic.
- `src/models/user.py` - Add pagination query method.
- `tests/api/test_users_api.py` - Add pagination tests.

## Acceptance criteria
- Accepts page and per_page query parameters (default: page=5, per_page=10).
- Limits per_page to a maximum of 20 users.
- Maintains existing response format for user objects in data array.