Feature Request: Add support for Work Items

Problem Statement

The GitLab Go package currently lacks high-level API support for work items, which are GitLab's collective term for epics, issues, and tasks. While issues have comprehensive support through the IssuesService, and epics were previously supported via REST API (now deprecated), there's no convenient way to interact with the work items GraphQL API.

Currently, developers must use GraphQL.Do() to issue arbitrary GraphQL queries, which creates significant friction:

  1. Query complexity: Developers must learn GraphQL syntax and construct queries manually, which is a barrier to entry for those just trying to solve immediate business needs
  2. Data structure definition: GraphQL responses require developers to define matching Go structs based on their specific queries
  3. Type conversions: Response fields often need transformation (e.g., IID returned as string needs parsing to int64)

This offloads substantial complexity onto users that the library should reasonably handle.

Proposed Solution

Create a new WorkItemsService with:

  • Pre-defined data structures matching common work item fields and operations
  • High-level functions (e.g., GetWorkItem(), ListWorkItems(), CreateWorkItem(), UpdateWorkItem()) that abstract away GraphQL query construction
  • Automatic type conversion from GraphQL response types to idiomatic Go types
  • Consistent API patterns following the conventions established by IssuesService and other existing services

The service would internally use GraphQL queries but expose a clean, REST-like interface that Go developers expect from this package.

Context

  • The REST API for epics is deprecated in favor of the work items GraphQL API
  • Tasks currently have no high-level API support
  • Work items represent GitLab's unified approach to work tracking across epics, issues, and tasks

Next Steps

I'm willing to implement this feature but would like alignment on the approach before investing time and effort. Happy to discuss API design, scope, and implementation details.

Edited by 🤖 GitLab Bot 🤖