Quick action to create MR pipeline and set auto-merge

Problem to solve

Maintainers need a faster way to get merge requests merged when using Pipelines for Merged Results. The current workflow requires multiple manual steps:

  1. Click "Run Pipeline" (if more than 2 hours have elapsed)
  2. Wait for pipeline creation
  3. Click "Set to auto-merge"
  4. Wait for pipeline to pass and MR to merge

With Pipelines for Merged Results, every pipeline runs as if the changes were already merged into the target branch. This means if the target branch is broken, you just need to wait for a fix and rerun the pipeline—no rebasing required. However, this also means pipelines older than 2 hours may not reflect the current state of the target branch, requiring a fresh pipeline run before merging.

Proposal

Add a /create_pipeline quick action for merge requests.

We can then use this together with the /merge quick action to create a pipeline and set auto merge in a single command.

What it does:

  • Creates a new CI/CD pipeline for the merge request
  • Enables Auto merge

Usage:

/create_pipe /merge

This eliminates the need for maintainers to:

  • Set the auto merge in a single action, rather than clicking and waiting through to the pipelines tab and back.

Documentation

Should be documented in https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/quick_actions.html

Internal slack announcement thread: https://gitlab.slack.com/archives/CJWA4E9UG/p1762340589278019

What does success look like, and how can we measure that?

Success metrics:

  • Reduced time from "ready to merge" to "merged"
  • Fewer clicks required for maintainers
  • Reduced manual monitoring of MR status
Edited by Marc Shaw