glab-quick-actions

glab quick-actions

Use GitLab quick actions (slash commands) via the glab CLI to batch multiple state changes in a single API call.

Quick start

# Post a single quick action on an issue
glab issue note 123 -m "/assign @alice"

# Batch multiple quick actions in one comment
glab issue note 123 -m "/assign @alice
/label ~bug ~priority::high
/milestone %\"Sprint 5\""

Post quick actions on a merge request

glab mr note 456 -m "/assign_reviewer @bob /label ~needs-review /estimate 2h"


## Key concept: batching via CLI

While `glab` has native commands for many individual operations (`glab issue update`, `glab mr update`, etc.), posting quick actions via `glab issue note` or `glab mr note` lets you **batch multiple state changes atomically in a single API call**.

```bash
# Native commands — 3 separate API calls
glab issue update 123 --assignee @alice
glab issue update 123 --label bug,priority::high
glab issue update 123 --milestone "Sprint 5"

# Quick actions — 1 API call, same result
glab issue note 123 -m "/assign @alice
/label ~bug ~priority::high
/milestone %\"Sprint 5\""

When batching is the right choice:

Applying 3+ changes to a single issue/MR
Scripting triage workflows across multiple items
Triggering actions not exposed by glab update flags (e.g., /spend, /epic, /promote_to)

Syntax rules

Rule	Detail
Prefix	Every quick action starts with `/`
Case	Case-insensitive (`/Assign` = `/assign`)
Placement	One command per line; can appear anywhere in a comment/description
Parameters	Separated by space after the command name
Labels	Prefix with `~` (e.g., `~bug`, `~"priority::high"`)
Milestones	Prefix with `%` (e.g., `%"Sprint 5"`)
Users	Prefix with `@` (e.g., `@alice`, `@me`)
MR/Issue refs	Prefix with `#` for same-project, `group/project#IID` for cross-project
Epics	Prefix with `&` (e.g., `&42`)
Quoting	Use quotes for multi-word values: `~"priority::high"`, `%"Sprint 5"`
Ignored text	Non-quick-action lines are posted as normal comment text

Issue quick actions

Assignment

Command	Parameters	Description
`/assign`	`@user [@user2 ...]`	Assign one or more users
`/unassign`	`@user [@user2 ...]` or none	Remove specific assignees or clear all
`/reassign`	`@user [@user2 ...]`	Replace all assignees with given users

glab issue note 123 -m "/assign @alice @bob"
glab issue note 123 -m "/reassign @charlie"
glab issue note 123 -m "/unassign"

Labels

Command	Parameters	Description
`/label`	`~label1 ~label2 ...`	Add labels
`/unlabel`	`~label1 ...` or none	Remove specific labels or clear all
`/relabel`	`~label1 ...`	Replace all labels with given ones

glab issue note 123 -m "/label ~bug ~\"priority::high\""
glab issue note 123 -m "/relabel ~\"type::feature\""
glab issue note 123 -m "/unlabel ~needs-triage"

Milestone & scheduling

Command	Parameters	Description
`/milestone`	`%milestone`	Set milestone
`/remove_milestone`	—	Remove milestone
`/due`	`<date>`	Set due date (YYYY-MM-DD, `tomorrow`, `next week`)
`/remove_due_date`	—	Remove due date

glab issue note 123 -m "/milestone %\"Sprint 5\""
glab issue note 123 -m "/due 2024-03-31"
glab issue note 123 -m "/due next week"

Time tracking

Command	Parameters	Description
`/estimate`	`<time>`	Set time estimate (e.g., `1h30m`, `3d`)
`/remove_estimate`	—	Remove time estimate
`/spend`	`<time> [<date>]`	Log time spent (e.g., `2h`, `-30m` to subtract)
`/remove_time_spent`	—	Remove all time spent

glab issue note 123 -m "/estimate 4h"
glab issue note 123 -m "/spend 1h30m 2024-03-15"
glab issue note 123 -m "/spend -30m"

State changes

Command	Parameters	Description
`/close`	—	Close the issue
`/reopen`	—	Reopen a closed issue
`/confidential`	—	Make issue confidential
`/done`	—	Mark as done (for todos)
`/todo`	—	Add to your to-do list

glab issue note 123 -m "/close"
glab issue note 123 -m "/reopen"

Relations

Command	Parameters	Description
`/duplicate`	`#issue`	Mark as duplicate of another issue
`/relate`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	Add related issue links
`/blocks`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	This issue blocks others
`/blocked_by`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	This issue is blocked by others
`/unrelate`	`#issue`	Remove relation to another issue

glab issue note 123 -m "/duplicate #456"
glab issue note 123 -m "/relate #789 #790"
glab issue note 123 -m "/blocks #800"

Planning & hierarchy

Command	Parameters	Description
`/epic`	`&epic` or `group&epic`	Add to epic
`/remove_epic`	—	Remove from epic
`/iteration`	`*iteration:"name"`	Set iteration/sprint
`/remove_iteration`	—	Remove iteration
`/weight`	`<number>`	Set issue weight
`/clear_weight`	—	Clear issue weight
`/health_status`	`on_track`, `needs_attention`, `at_risk`	Set health status
`/clear_health_status`	—	Remove health status
`/board_move`	`~list-label`	Move issue to board list

glab issue note 123 -m "/epic &42"
glab issue note 123 -m "/iteration *iteration:\"Sprint 7\""
glab issue note 123 -m "/weight 3"
glab issue note 123 -m "/health_status on_track"

Advanced

Command	Parameters	Description
`/copy_metadata`	`#issue` or `!mr`	Copy labels and milestone from another item
`/clone`	`[path/to/project]`	Clone issue to another project
`/move`	`path/to/project`	Move issue to another project
`/create_merge_request`	`[branch-name]`	Create MR from this issue
`/promote_to`	`incident` or `epic`	Promote issue to another type

glab issue note 123 -m "/copy_metadata #456"
glab issue note 123 -m "/move group/other-project"
glab issue note 123 -m "/create_merge_request 123-my-feature"
glab issue note 123 -m "/promote_to incident"

MR quick actions

Approval

Command	Parameters	Description
`/approve`	—	Approve the MR
`/unapprove`	—	Remove your approval

glab mr note 456 -m "/approve"

Assignment

Command	Parameters	Description
`/assign`	`@user [@user2 ...]`	Assign MR to one or more users
`/unassign`	`@user ...` or none	Remove assignees
`/reassign`	`@user ...`	Replace all assignees
`/assign_reviewer`	`@user [@user2 ...]`	Add reviewer(s)
`/unassign_reviewer`	`@user ...` or none	Remove reviewer(s)
`/reassign_reviewer`	`@user ...`	Replace all reviewers
`/request_review`	`@user [@user2 ...]`	Request review from user(s)

glab mr note 456 -m "/assign_reviewer @alice @bob
/label ~needs-review"

Labels & milestone

Command	Parameters	Description
`/label`	`~label1 ...`	Add labels
`/unlabel`	`~label1 ...` or none	Remove labels
`/relabel`	`~label1 ...`	Replace all labels
`/milestone`	`%milestone`	Set milestone
`/remove_milestone`	—	Remove milestone

Time tracking

Command	Parameters	Description
`/estimate`	`<time>`	Set time estimate
`/remove_estimate`	—	Remove time estimate
`/spend`	`<time> [<date>]`	Log time spent
`/remove_time_spent`	—	Remove all time spent

Merge control

Command	Parameters	Description
`/merge`	—	Merge when pipeline succeeds
`/draft`	—	Mark MR as draft
`/ready`	—	Mark MR as ready for review
`/rebase`	—	Rebase source branch on target
`/squash`	—	Enable squash on merge
`/target_branch`	`<branch>`	Change target branch

glab mr note 456 -m "/approve
/merge"

glab mr note 456 -m "/draft"
glab mr note 456 -m "/ready
/assign_reviewer @lead"

State & other

Command	Parameters	Description
`/close`	—	Close the MR
`/reopen`	—	Reopen a closed MR
`/copy_metadata`	`#issue` or `!mr`	Copy labels and milestone from another item
`/react`	`:emoji:`	Add emoji reaction
`/title`	`<new title>`	Change MR title
`/todo`	—	Add to your to-do list
`/done`	—	Mark todo as done
`/subscribe`	—	Subscribe to MR notifications
`/unsubscribe`	—	Unsubscribe from MR notifications
`/relate`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	Add related issue links
`/blocks`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	This MR blocks issues
`/blocked_by`	`#issue [#issue2 ...]`	This MR is blocked by issues

When to use quick actions vs native glab commands

Scenario	Recommended approach
Single field update	`glab issue update` / `glab mr update` (explicit flags)
3+ changes at once	Quick actions batch in one comment
Action not in `update` flags	Quick actions (e.g., `/spend`, `/epic`, `/promote_to`, `/rebase`)
Scripting triage of many items	Loop with `glab issue note` quick actions
Need flag autocomplete	Native `glab update` commands
Audit trail via comment	Quick actions (visible in activity feed)
Approve + merge atomically	`/approve` then `/merge` in same comment

Decision guide

Do you need to update a single field?
├─ Yes → Use native glab command (e.g., glab issue update --label)
│
├─ No, multiple fields at once?
│   ├─ 2-3 fields supported by --flags → native glab update
│   └─ 3+ fields OR unsupported fields → quick actions batch
│
└─ Is the action not available in glab update?
    └─ Yes → Quick actions only (e.g., /spend, /epic, /promote_to, /rebase, /merge)

Automation examples

Triage script: label + assign + milestone in one pass

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# triage-issues.sh — apply triage metadata to a list of issue IDs
# Usage: ./triage-issues.sh 123 456 789

ASSIGNEE="${ASSIGNEE:-@me}"
LABEL="${LABEL:-~needs-triage}"
MILESTONE="${MILESTONE:-%\"Sprint 5\"}"

for IID in "$@"; do
  glab issue note "$IID" -m "/assign $ASSIGNEE
/label $LABEL
/milestone $MILESTONE"
  echo "Triaged #$IID"
done

Bulk close stale issues

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# close-stale.sh — close all issues with label ~stale
glab issue list --label stale --state opened --output json \
  | jq -r '.[].iid' \
  | while read -r IID; do
      glab issue note "$IID" -m "/close
/unlabel ~stale"
      echo "Closed #$IID"
    done

MR ready for review + assign reviewer

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# ready-for-review.sh — mark current branch MR ready and request review
MR_IID=$(glab mr list --source-branch "$(git branch --show-current)" --output json | jq -r '.[0].iid')

glab mr note "$MR_IID" -m "/ready
/assign_reviewer @team-lead
/label ~needs-review"
echo "MR !$MR_IID marked ready"

Time tracking: log spent time from CLI

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# log-time.sh — log time spent on an issue
# Usage: ./log-time.sh 123 2h30m "2024-03-15"
IID="$1"
TIME="$2"
DATE="${3:-}"

if [[ -n "$DATE" ]]; then
  glab issue note "$IID" -m "/spend $TIME $DATE"
else
  glab issue note "$IID" -m "/spend $TIME"
fi
echo "Logged $TIME on #$IID"

Sprint rotation: move issues to next milestone

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# rotate-sprint.sh — move open issues from one milestone to the next
OLD_MILESTONE="Sprint 5"
NEW_MILESTONE="Sprint 6"

glab issue list --milestone "$OLD_MILESTONE" --state opened --output json \
  | jq -r '.[].iid' \
  | while read -r IID; do
      glab issue note "$IID" -m "/milestone %\"$NEW_MILESTONE\""
      echo "Moved #$IID to $NEW_MILESTONE"
    done

Approve and queue merge

# Approve an MR and queue it to merge when pipeline passes
glab mr note 456 -m "/approve
/merge"

Notes & limitations

Quick actions that require specific permissions (e.g., /merge, /approve) will silently fail if you lack the role.
/merge queues the MR to merge when the pipeline succeeds — it does not force-merge immediately.
Quick actions in issue/MR descriptions are processed on creation and on edit.
Some quick actions are only available on specific GitLab tiers (e.g., /epic, /iteration, /weight, /health_status require GitLab Premium or Ultimate).
Quick actions posted as comments are not editable after the fact — post a corrective comment if needed.
The glab CLI does not validate quick action syntax before posting — check for typos in user/label names.

Related sub-skills

glab-issue — native issue create/update/close commands
glab-mr — native MR create/update/approve/merge commands
glab-label — manage labels before using /label
glab-milestone — manage milestones before using /milestone
glab-iteration — manage iterations before using /iteration

References

GitLab Quick Actions documentation
glab issue note --help
glab mr note --help

About this skill

Quick start

Syntax rules

Issue quick actions

Assignment

Labels

Milestone & scheduling

Time tracking

State changes

Relations

Planning & hierarchy

Advanced

MR quick actions

Approval

Assignment

Labels & milestone

Time tracking

Merge control

State & other

When to use quick actions vs native glab commands

Decision guide

Automation examples

Triage script: label + assign + milestone in one pass

Bulk close stale issues

MR ready for review + assign reviewer

Time tracking: log spent time from CLI

Sprint rotation: move issues to next milestone

Approve and queue merge

Notes & limitations

Related sub-skills

References