Flows

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

Introduced as an experiment in GitLab 18.4 with a feature flag named ai_catalog_flows. Disabled by default.
Changed to beta in GitLab 18.7.
Enabled on GitLab.com in GitLab 18.7.
Enabled on GitLab Self-Managed and GitLab Dedicated in GitLab 18.8.
Feature flag ai_catalog_flows enabled by default in GitLab 18.8.
Additional flags are required for foundational flows.
Foundational flows changed to generally available in GitLab 18.8.
Custom flows changed to beta in GitLab 18.8.
Feature flag ai_catalog_flows removed in GitLab 19.2.
Custom flows changed to generally available in GitLab 19.2.

A flow is a combination of one or more agents working together to solve a complex problem.

GitLab provides two types of flows:

Foundational flows are pre-built, production-ready workflows created by GitLab for common development tasks.
Custom flows are workflows you create to automate your team’s specific processes. You define the workflow steps and agents, and define triggers to control when the flow runs.

Flows are available in the GitLab UI, the GitLab Duo CLI, and IDEs:

In the UI, flows run directly in GitLab CI/CD, so you can automate common development tasks in your browser.
In the GitLab Duo CLI, the Developer Flow runs where you run the CLI.
In IDEs, the Software Development Flow runs in VS Code, Visual Studio, and JetBrains.

To decide which flow to use for a coding task, see choose a flow for coding tasks.

For more information about how flows execute in CI/CD, see the flow execution documentation. For information about the security of flows, see the composite identity documentation.

Prerequisites

Meet the prerequisites for the GitLab Duo Agent Platform.
Turn on Allow foundational flows for the top-level group.
Configure push rules to allow a service account.
Configure your own runners or turn on GitLab hosted runners for your project.
Recommended. Create an agent configuration file so that flows in CI/CD have access to your project’s toolchain and dependencies.

Monitor running flows in the GitLab UI

To view flows that are running for your project:

In the top bar, select Search or go to and find your project.
In the left sidebar, select AI > Sessions.

View flow history in the IDEs

Prerequisites:

In VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, use the classic layout.

To view a history of flows you’ve run in your project:

On the Flows tab, scroll down and view Recent agent sessions.

Customize flows with `AGENTS.md`

Use AGENTS.md files to provide context and instructions for GitLab Duo to follow while executing foundational and custom flows.

For more information, see AGENTS.md customization files.

Give feedback

Flows are part of GitLab AI-powered development platform. Your feedback helps us improve these workflows. To report issues or suggest improvements for flows, complete this survey.

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