Code Reviews

Once you have submitted a merge request the code review process kicks in which can be summarized as:

  • A core developer picks your MR for review.
  • The core developer checks your code in respect to e.g. style and correctness.
  • The core developer may also give hints on how to improve the code regarding to e.g. readability or performance.
  • You iterate (make modifications) on the code.
  • The core developer again checks the code and finally approves the changes.
  • If also the CI is happy (all checks and tests did pass) the MR is merged.

For more information on merge requests see the GitLab documentation.

How to request a code review

The default label upon creating a merge request is workflow::in development.

To request a code review set the merge request label to workflow::please review!

A merge request reviewer will now have look. If changes are requested the reviewer may change the label to workflow::needs update indicating that the merge request author is now back in charge again.

To indicate that you are currently not working on a merge request set it to workflow::paused (disables also CI – there is also a dedicated label for disabling CI: ci skip).

The following diagram summarises the workflow:

graph TB subgraph cr[Code Review] review([please review]) review-->|reviewer requests update|update([needs update]) update-->|author fixed issues and requests review again|review end mr(Create a merge request)-->dev subgraph ds[Development State] dev([in development])-->|author requests review|review dev-->blocked([blocked]) blocked-->dev dev<-->paused([paused]) paused-->dev end update-->dev style dev stroke:#418bc9,stroke-width:2px style paused stroke:#418bc9,stroke-width:2px style blocked stroke:#ad4363,stroke-width:2px style review stroke:#5bb85c,stroke-width:2px style update stroke:#7f8b8d,stroke-width:2px style cr stroke:#5bb85c,stroke-width:4px

How to indicate that the MR is ready for merge

  • Set the merge request label to workflow::please review.
  • Remove the Draft-flag (if you have set it previously).

How to checkout a MR from another developer locally

On the merge request page in the first box which contains information on the MR author and branch name there is button labelled Check out branch which will show you instructions on how to locally checkout this MR:

The checkout branch button in the GitLab web interface


This article was written by Lars Bilke. If you are missing something or you find an error please let us know.
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