Connect a GitLab project so Dosu can learn from your issues, merge requests, and code, then answer questions and keep documentation current. This page covers what connecting GitLab gives you, how to add it as a Source, and what Dosu does with it.

Availability#

GitLab is in Beta and not yet generally available in the Dosu app. The connector is built but gated behind a feature flag, so it does not appear in the Source picker for most organizations. Some capabilities on GitHub are not at parity yet. In particular, full support for Dosu responding to issues and merge requests is still in progress. To request access to the GitLab Beta, contact Dosu.

What connecting GitLab gives you#

Once a GitLab project is connected as a Source inside a Library, Dosu can:

• Index your projects, issues, and merge requests so it can search and reference them.
• Answer questions with context drawn from your GitLab code, issues, and merge request history.
• Generate Documents grounded in that activity, including release notes and changelogs built from commit history.
• Import existing documentation from a GitLab project and keep it up to date as the code changes.
• Sync approved documentation changes back to GitLab by opening a merge request.

This is the same pattern Dosu uses for GitHub. If you also use GitHub, see GitHub.

Prerequisites#

• A Dosu organization and a Library to hold the Source. Open or create one at Libraries.
• Access to the GitLab Beta (see Availability above).
• A GitLab project you can authorize Dosu to read.
• Public GitLab projects work on all plans. Private GitLab projects require a paid plan. See the plans question in Plans, billing, and access, or contact Dosu for current plan details.

How to connect#

1. Open the Library you want to connect GitLab to at Libraries, or create a new one at Create a Library.
2. Add a Source and choose GitLab.
3. Authorize Dosu to access your GitLab account and select the project to connect.
4. Optionally set include and ignored file patterns to control which files Dosu indexes (see Notes below).
5. Save. Dosu begins indexing the project and keeps it up to date as new activity arrives.

After indexing, the project is available to the people and coding agents that use this Library. For more on how Sources fit into a Library, see Sources and Libraries.

What Dosu does with it#

• Answers and writing. Dosu references the connected project when it answers questions and drafts Documents, so its responses reflect your real code, issues, and merge requests.
• Release notes and changelogs. Dosu can build a changelog from your commit and merge history, grouped into categories, which you can publish as release notes.
• Documentation that stays current. Import existing docs from the project, and Dosu maintains them as the code changes. Markdown (.md, .markdown), reStructuredText (.rst), and AsciiDoc (.asciidoc, .adoc) are supported, and each Document keeps its original format. Import and manage these from Documents.
• Sync back. When you accept a documentation change, Dosu opens a merge request in the project with the proposed update. Your team reviews and merges it in GitLab, so nothing publishes without approval. See Review.

Notes and limits#

• File filtering. Include patterns act as a whitelist using glob syntax (for example docs/** or src/**/*.ts). Ignored patterns exclude files. A file is indexed only if it matches the include patterns (when set) and does not match the ignored patterns. Leave both empty to index everything.
• Beta gaps. Dosu responding directly inside GitLab issues and merge requests is not fully available yet. Lead with import, indexing, answers in the Dosu app, and sync back while this matures.
• Web sources are fetched in real-time. Unlike GitLab, a Web Source is not indexed. Dosu reaches the web only at query time.

Related#

• Sources
• GitHub
• Overview of connecting knowledge
• Import existing docs
• Review