Welcome to Your New GitLab Setup!

This guide covers the essential aspects of using GitLab for version control, CI/CD, and review apps in our development workflow.

Getting Started with GitLab

GitLab is our primary platform for source code management, issue tracking, and continuous integration/deployment.

Key Features

  • Repository Management: Store and version your code

  • Issue Tracking: Track bugs, features, and tasks

  • Merge Requests: Code review and collaboration

  • Wiki: Project documentation

  • CI/CD Pipelines: Automated testing and deployment

Basic Workflow

  1. Clone the repository to your local machine

  2. Create a new branch for your feature/fix

  3. Make your changes and commit them

  4. Push your branch to GitLab

  5. Create a merge request

  6. Review and merge after approval

GitLab CI/CD

Our CI/CD pipeline automates testing, building, and deployment processes.

Pipeline Stages

  • Build: Compile and prepare the application

  • Test: Run automated tests

  • Deploy: Deploy to staging/production environments

Configuration

The pipeline is configured via .gitlab-ci.yml file in the repository root. This file defines:

  • Jobs and their dependencies

  • Docker images to use

  • Scripts to execute

  • Deployment targets

Video opportunity: Detailed walkthrough of .gitlab-ci.yml configuration

GitLab Review Apps

Review Apps provide temporary environments for each merge request, allowing you to preview changes before merging.

Benefits

  • Preview Changes: See your changes in a live environment

  • Stakeholder Review: Share links with non-technical team members

  • Testing: Test features in isolation

  • Quality Assurance: Catch issues before production

How It Works

  1. Create a merge request

  2. Review App automatically deploys your branch

  3. Access the temporary environment via the provided URL

  4. Review and test your changes

  5. App is automatically destroyed when MR is merged/closed

Video opportunity: Setting up Review Apps configuration