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.

# 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

Issue quick actions

Assignment

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

Labels

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

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

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

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

Relations

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

Planning & hierarchy

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

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

glab mr note 456 -m "/approve"

Assignment

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

Labels & milestone

Time tracking

Merge control

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

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

State & other

When to use quick actions vs native glab commands

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