<!-- The first section "Release notes" is required if you want to have your release post blog MR auto generated. Currently in BETA, details on the **release post item generator** can be found in the handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/#release-post-item-generator and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfn9ebgTwKg. The next four sections: "Problem to solve", "Intended users", "User experience goal", and "Proposal", are strongly recommended in your first draft, while the rest of the sections can be filled out during the problem validation or breakdown phase. However, keep in mind that providing complete and relevant information early helps our product team validate the problem and start working on a solution. --> ### Release notes We are excited to introduce the Deployment Approval capability in the GitLab interface. Deployment approvers can view a pending deployment and approve or reject it in the Environments page. This capability continues our work to enable teams to create workflows for approving software to go to production or other protected environments. <!-- What is the problem and solution you're proposing? This content sets the overall vision for the feature and serves as the release notes that will populate in various places, including the [release post blog](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/categories/releases/) and [Gitlab project releases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/releases). " --> ### Problem to solve <!-- What problem do we solve? Try to define the who/what/why of the opportunity as a user story. For example, "As a (who), I want (what), so I can (why/value)." --> https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/15819 explains how to implement manual approvals from the `gitlab-ci.yml` file but there is no visual representation on the UI. The goal of this issue is to outline the first MVC for [Approving/Rejecting deployment jobs](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/6832) to enable users with the right permissions to approve or reject manual jobs from the environments page. ### Intended users <!-- Who will use this feature? If known, include any of the following: types of users (e.g. Developer), personas, or specific company roles (e.g. Release Manager). It's okay to write "Unknown" and fill this field in later. Personas are described at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/ * [Cameron (Compliance Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#cameron-compliance-manager) * [Parker (Product Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#parker-product-manager) * [Delaney (Development Team Lead)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) * [Presley (Product Designer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#presley-product-designer) * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Devon (DevOps Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#devon-devops-engineer) * [Sidney (Systems Administrator)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sidney-systems-administrator) * [Sam (Security Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sam-security-analyst) * [Rachel (Release Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#rachel-release-manager) * [Alex (Security Operations Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#alex-security-operations-engineer) * [Simone (Software Engineer in Test)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#simone-software-engineer-in-test) * [Allison (Application Ops)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#allison-application-ops) * [Priyanka (Platform Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#priyanka-platform-engineer) * [Dana (Data Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#dana-data-analyst) * [Eddie (Content Editor)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#eddie-content-editor) --> **[Software Developer](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/strategic-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) (Requester)** As a software developer, I want my code to be approved to go into production quickly, so I can move on to my next tasks **[Release Manager](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/strategic-marketing/roles-personas/#rachel-release-manager) (Approver)** As a release manager, I want to make sure every deployment that is approved to go into production is in order, so I can reduce risk to our system's reliability **[Development Team Lead](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/strategic-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) (Approver)** As a team lead, I want to approve my developers' code to go into production quickly, without introducing unnecessary risks, so we can deliver value to customers faster ### User experience goal <!-- What is the single user experience workflow this problem addresses? For example, "The user should be able to use the UI/API/.gitlab-ci.yml with GitLab to <perform a specific task>" https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/ux-research-training/user-story-mapping/ --> The user should be able to use the environments page within GitLab to approve or deny a specific deployment job to an environment. ### Proposal <!-- How are we going to solve the problem? Try to include the user journey! https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/journeys/#user-journey --> **Requirements / User Stories** - For every stage that the `gitlab-ci.yml` file defines that approvals are required, the pipeline execution of that run should pause before entering a stage that uses the environment. - As an approver, I see the option to approve/deny a manual job that targets the listed environment. - Only approvers can see this option. - If a protected environment has a “Deploy to” dropdown as one of its [action buttons](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/335228) or dropdown options, then it should be removed. - Users configured as approvers must review and approve or reject the deployment. - If there are multiple runs executing simultaneously, each one must be approved or rejected independently. - As an approver, I can approve the manual job to allow the deployment job to proceed after my review. - This action is recorded in the audit log. - As an approver, I can reject the manual job to not allow the deployment job to proceed. - This action is recorded in the audit log. - As a product manager, I can view metrics related to usage of this functionality. - When a user approves a deployment, this is captured and counted. - When a user rejects a deployment, this is captured and counted. - When a user approves a protected deployment job from an existing "run manual job" action, this is captured and counted. **UI States** <details> <summary> Expand </summary> --- - All users + Environments Page - Table | `All States` * Upcoming column moved to the second place on the table + Environments Page - Table | `Deployment job for a protected environment pending approval` * Upcoming column shows “Needs Approval” badge for protected environments with upcoming deployment * “Needs Approval” badge shows tooltip on hover + Single Environment Page - Deployments Table | `All States` * New column with “Approval status” shows “Approved by <avatar>” or “Rejected by <avatar>” for each deployment that went through approvals * Column displays popover with details on hover: same metadata from approval popover + comment left by approver at the bottom. - User has approver permissions | `Deployment job for protected environment X pending approval` + Environments Page -Table * Upcoming deployment block visible under environment X row * Approval action enabled on environment X row + Approval Popover * Button shows popover with metadata, comment field and [Approve] and [Reject] options - User does not have approver permissions | `Deployment job for protected environment X pending approval` + Environments Page - Table * Approval action disabled on environment X row, shows tooltip * Approval action shows popover with text and link to documentation </details> --- |Action| Details| |--|--| |Approval action | `approve/deny`| |The user | `username`| |Environment |`<Environment name>`| |Time| `timestamp`| |Stage|`pipeline stage`| - As an approver, I can approve the manual job to reject the deployment job if I have any concerns. - This action is recorded in the audit log. - If a user rejects the manual job, we can either force it to fail, or create a new job status of `rejected`. [From the docs](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/jobs.html), this is what we currently support: | Attribute | Type | Required | Description | |-----------|------|----------|-------------| | scope | string or array of strings | no | Scope of jobs to show. Either one of or an array of the following: created, pending, running, failed, success, canceled, skipped, or manual. All jobs are returned if scope is not provided. | **~backend requirements** Expose the following fields to internal API: - [x] `environment.tier` - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/80440 - [x] `environment.required_approval_count` - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/80440 - [x] `deployment.pending_approval_count` - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/80440 - [x] `deployment.approvals` - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/81487 - [x] `deployment.approvals.created_at` - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/81487 ### What we will do in a future iteration - Add approval/rejection message (to be added as an MR comment) - Notifications that your approval is required (TODO, email, slack...) ### Permissions and Security <!-- What permissions are required to perform the described actions? Are they consistent with the existing permissions as documented for users, groups, and projects as appropriate? Is the proposed behavior consistent between the UI, API, and other access methods (e.g. email replies)? Consider adding checkboxes and expectations of users with certain levels of membership https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html * [ ] Add expected impact to members with no access (0) * [ ] Add expected impact to Guest (10) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Reporter (20) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Developer (30) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Maintainer (40) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Owner (50) members --> ### Documentation <!-- See the Feature Change Documentation Workflow https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html#for-a-product-change * Add all known Documentation Requirements in this section. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html * If this feature requires changing permissions, update the permissions document. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html --> ### Availability & Testing <!-- This section needs to be retained and filled in during the workflow planning breakdown phase of this feature proposal, if not earlier. What risks does this change pose to our availability? How might it affect the quality of the product? What additional test coverage or changes to tests will be needed? Will it require cross-browser testing? Please list the test areas (unit, integration and end-to-end) that needs to be added or updated to ensure that this feature will work as intended. Please use the list below as guidance. * Unit test changes * Integration test changes * End-to-end test change See the test engineering planning process and reach out to your counterpart Software Engineer in Test for assistance: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/test-engineering/#test-planning --> ### Available Tier <!-- This section should be used for setting the appropriate tier that this feature will belong to. Pricing can be found here: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/ * Free * Premium/Silver * Ultimate/Gold --> ### What does success look like, and how can we measure that? Users approve/reject deployments from the new UI, and we can see a majority of manual jobs to protected environments being approved from this interface (as opposed to the pipelines page or job page, for example). <!-- Define both the success metrics and acceptance criteria. Note that success metrics indicate the desired business outcomes, while acceptance criteria indicate when the solution is working correctly. If there is no way to measure success, link to an issue that will implement a way to measure this. Create tracking issue using the Snowplow event tracking template. See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Snowplow%20event%20tracking.md --> ### What is the type of buyer? <!-- What is the buyer persona for this feature? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/buyer-persona/ In which enterprise tier should this feature go? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/pricing/#three-tiers --> ### Is this a cross-stage feature? <!-- Communicate if this change will affect multiple Stage Groups or product areas. We recommend always start with the assumption that a feature request will have an impact into another Group. Loop in the most relevant PM and Product Designer from that Group to provide strategic support to help align the Group's broader plan and vision, as well as to avoid UX and technical debt. https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#cross-stage-features --> ### Links / references <!-- Label reminders - you should have one of each of the following labels. Use the following resources to find the appropriate labels: - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/labels - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/features/ -->