GitLab Merge Request Workflow

Instructions

1. Check Current State

Always start by checking git status:

# Current branch
git branch --show-current

# Uncommitted changes
git status --short

# Existing MR for current branch
glab mr list --source-branch=$(git branch --show-current) 2>/dev/null || echo "No MR"

1b. Check for Code Review Spec

After checking git state, look for a code review spec for this branch/ticket.

Extract ticket from current branch name (pattern EPMCDME-XXXXX).

Try to read the spec:

Read: .codemie/reviews/<TICKET>/review.md
# Fallback (if no ticket found):
Read: .codemie/reviews/<branch-name>/review.md

If spec is found → extract for MR description:

• Issues found: count of - [ ] + - [x] + - [~] under CRITICAL and MAJOR
• Issues fixed: count of - [x] items
• Issues rejected: count of - [~] items with justifications
• Clean: if no issues were found at all

Keep this data — it will be injected into the MR description in Step 4.

2. Validate Jira Ticket (Required for Commits)

Before any commit, verify Jira ticket exists in context:

• Look for EPMCDME-xxx pattern in conversation history
• Check if user provided ticket number
• If no ticket found: Ask user: "What is the Jira ticket number (EPMCDME-xxx)?"

Do NOT proceed with commit without Jira ticket.

3. Handle Based on User Request

"commit changes" → Commit only (requires Jira ticket):

git add .
git commit -m "EPMCDME-xxx: Action and message"

"push changes" → Push only:

git push --set-upstream origin $(git branch --show-current)

"create MR" → Full workflow below.

4. Create MR Workflow

If on main branch:

1. Create feature branch first: git checkout -b <type>/<description>
2. Then proceed with commit/push/MR

If MR already exists:

git push --set-upstream origin $(git branch --show-current)
# Inform: "Changes pushed to existing MR: <url>"

If no MR exists:

# Push changes
git push --set-upstream origin $(git branch --show-current)

Build the MR title from the Jira ticket and a concise description of the work done (read commit history since main if needed to understand what was implemented):

git log main..HEAD --oneline

Title rules:

• Pattern: EPMCDME-xxx: <Short description starting with capital letter>
• Max ~70 characters
• Describe the feature/fix, not the process ("Add SharePoint datasource support", not "Implement EPMCDME-123")

Build the description — always include Summary and Changes. If a code review spec was found in Step 1b, include the Code Review section:

glab mr create \
  --title "EPMCDME-xxx: <Short feature description>" \
  --description "## Summary
[2-4 sentence overview of what was implemented and why]

## Changes
- [Key change 1]
- [Key change 2]

## Code Review
<!-- Include ONLY if review spec was found in Step 1b -->
AI code review completed (AI-Code-Review marker in commit history).
- Issues found: <N critical, N major> / No issues found (clean)
- Issues fixed: <N> / N/A
- Issues rejected: <N with justification> / N/A

:white_check_mark: Reviewed and approved by AI Code Reviewer

## Checklist
- [ ] Self-reviewed
- [ ] Manual testing performed
- [ ] Documentation updated (if needed)
- [ ] No breaking changes (or documented)"

If no review spec was found → omit the ## Code Review section entirely from the description.

After MR is created, immediately approve it using the MR IID returned by glab mr create:

glab mr approve <MR_IID>

This adds the AI reviewer's +1 to the MR. If glab mr approve fails (e.g., self-approval not allowed on this GitLab instance), inform the user but do not treat it as a blocking error.

After the MR is created, hand off to the babysit-mr skill to monitor it:

• Invoke babysit-mr with the MR URL returned by glab mr create
• It will watch for CI failures, reviewer comments, and merge conflicts, fixing them autonomously until the MR merges

Commit Format

Enforced by Tekton CI — invalid messages will block the pipeline.

Regex: ^((EPMCDME)-(?!0+)\d+:\s[A-Z][a-z]*.*|Generate release notes for version \d+\.\d+\.\d+|Revert "(EPMCDME|AMNAAIRN)-(?!0+)\d+:\s[A-Z][a-z]*.*")$

Required Pattern: EPMCDME-xxx: Capital sentence (description must start with uppercase letter)

Valid examples:

git commit -m "EPMCDME-123: Add new documentation"
git commit -m "EPMCDME-456: Fix authentication bug"
git commit -m "Generate release notes for version 1.2.3"
git commit -m "Revert \"EPMCDME-123: Fix authentication bug\""

Invalid (will be rejected by Tekton):

git commit -m "Add new feature"       # Missing ticket
git commit -m "feat: add feature"     # Wrong format
git commit -m "EPMCDME-123 add feature"  # Missing colon
git commit -m "EPMCDME-123: fix bug"  # Lowercase first letter
git commit -m "EPMCDME-0: Fix bug"    # Zero ticket ID not allowed

Branch Format

Pattern: <type>/<description> (Jira ticket optional)

Examples:

• feat/add-user-profile
• fix/auth-timeout
• docs/api-guide
• feat/EPMCDME-123-user-settings (ticket optional but allowed)

MR Title Format

Pattern: EPMCDME-xxx: Brief description

Always start with Jira ticket number.

Troubleshooting

Error: "glab: command not found"

Solution: Install GitLab CLI:

# macOS
brew install glab

# Linux
snap install glab

# Or download from: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli

Error: No Jira ticket in context

Action: Ask user: "What is the Jira ticket number (EPMCDME-xxx) for this commit?"

• Wait for user response
• Validate format matches EPMCDME-\d+
• Then proceed with commit

Error: Already on main branch

Solution: Create feature branch first:

git checkout -b <type>/<short-description>

Error: No changes to commit

Solution: Check git status - nothing to commit or changes already staged.

MR already exists

Action: Just push updates to existing MR, don't create new one.

Examples

Example 1: User provides ticket upfront

User: "commit these auth changes for EPMCDME-456"

git add .
git commit -m "EPMCDME-456: Fix OAuth2 token refresh"

Example 2: No ticket in context

User: "commit the changes" Claude: "What is the Jira ticket number (EPMCDME-xxx) for this commit?" User: "EPMCDME-789"

git add .
git commit -m "EPMCDME-789: Update user profile API"

Example 3: Full MR creation

User: "push and create MR for EPMCDME-321"

1. Check for existing MR
2. Commit with ticket: EPMCDME-321: Add payment gateway
3. Push changes
4. Create MR with title: EPMCDME-321: Add payment gateway

Example 4: Push to existing MR

User: "push my changes"

1. Check MR status
2. If exists: push to existing
3. If not: push only (no MR creation unless requested)

Source: codemie-ai/codemie-ui — distributed by TomeVault.