Support Web IDE on GitLab Self-Managed Instances in Air-Gapped Environments

PMM What's Shipping Summary

  • Feature title: Web IDE Support for Air-Gapped Self-Managed Instances
  • Feature overview: Enables GitLab Self-Managed administrators in air-gapped or tightly-controlled network environments to configure their own Web IDE extension host domain, allowing full Web IDE functionality without external internet access. This removes the dependency on .cdn.web-ide.gitlab-static.net by allowing the GitLab instance itself to serve Web IDE extension host assets.
  • Proposed launch date: 18.6
  • User pain point: Self-Managed customers in air-gapped environments cannot use the full Web IDE feature set because it requires external connectivity to .cdn.web-ide.gitlab-static.net to load VSCode and third-party extensions. This blocks Web IDE adoption for security-conscious organizations, government/public sector customers, and enterprises with strict network policies.
  • Common use case(s):
    • Government agencies and public sector organizations with strict security requirements operating in isolated networks (e.g., 24,000-user Ultimate + 2000-user Duo customer in US Public Sector)
    • Enterprise customers with controlled network environments who need security approval for any external dependencies
    • Organizations requiring markdown preview, code editing, and Duo Chat functionality within the Web IDE in offline environments
    • Customers upgrading from legacy Web IDE to new VSCode-based Web IDE who lost functionality post-upgrade
    • Ultimate and Premium tier customers wanting to leverage Web IDE extensions without internet connectivity
  • **In scope: **Epic
  • Out of scope:
    • Backporting solution to 18.4 and 18.5 releases
  • Will there be future iterations this is building to? If so, please describe: Potentially, not clear at the time of this writing.
  • Docs: https://docs.gitlab.com/administration/settings/web_ide/
  • Availability: GA

Current status

Last update date: November 10, 2025

Status: ✅ COMPLETE - Ready for 18.6 Release

  • Implementation complete: All code merged, including security review approval
  • Documentation live: Admin setup guide published at docs.gitlab.com/administration/settings/web_ide/
  • Customer validation: Early customer feedback positive - "all good from our perspective... we're excited to test it out"
  • Next step: Confirm inclusion in 18.6 release post

This resolves high-priority requests from multiple Ultimate and Premium customers, including critical US Public Sector customer with 24,000 users + 2,000 Duo seats who had upgrade/Duo implementation blocked by this limitation.

  • Milestone: [apply delivery milestone to issue]
  • Labels: [apply applicable platform labels (platform: GitLab.com, platform: dedicated, platform: dedicated for gov, platform: self-managed)]
  • Assignee: [<]assigne to AI PM DRI]

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Edited by 🤖 GitLab Bot 🤖