> [!warning] > **Blocker: `slack_assistant/v1` must be registered in CustomersDot before this flag is enabled for anyone but us.** > > Credits key on the flow reference and CustomersDot has no entry for `slack_assistant/v1`. Unmapped keys fall through to success rather than erroring, so while the flag is on the flow runs **silently unbilled** — no error, no UI signal, nothing in the usage data. > > Tracked in #628678: register it mapped to the Duo Developer credit pool. The mapping must alias at **check** time, not only at invoicing, so a namespace without credits still gets a `402`. > > Unmetered usage is accepted while the flag is on for our own group during the first internal iteration. Every rollout step below is gated on #628678 being live. ## Scope **This is the epic-level flag for [Make Duo for Slack fast and conversational, without CI runners](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/epics/23521).** Every MR delivered under that epic gates on `slack_duo_api_flow` rather than introducing its own flag, so there is one switch and one rollout decision for the whole thing. What it gates today: - **Visibility** — `Ai::Catalog::FoundationalFlow#blocked_by_feature_flag?` makes "GitLab Duo for Slack" appear in a group's Duo settings (!254799). - **Routing** — an `@mention` in Slack starts `slack_assistant/v1` instead of `developer/v1` (!254801). More effects will join as the epic lands, including the switch to the headless runtime. Running on CI today is a step towards that, not the end state, so the runtime switch is deliberately gated by this same flag: it is the destination of the same iteration, not a separate product change. It changes the runtime **for this flow only** — no other flow's runtime is affected. Two things to hold to as effects are added: 1. **The actor is always a top-level group.** If one call site checks a project or a user instead, the flag means different things in different code paths and the rollout commands below stop being truthful. 2. **This is a kill switch to the old path, not a step back between iterations.** A group with the flag on moves to each new iteration — including the runtime switch — on deploy, with no separate decision. Turning the flag off returns them to Duo Developer entirely; there is no way to step back one iteration to the CI-runner version of `slack_assistant`. Acceptable for an experiment, but worth knowing before enabling for anyone else. ## Summary Roll out [Duo in Slack running the API-only `slack_assistant` flow](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/628428) currently behind the `slack_duo_api_flow` feature flag. - DRI: @thomas-schmidt - Team Slack channel: `#f_external_agents` > [!note] > > Process and guidance live in the docs — this issue is just the commands and a place to track the rollout. "Rolling out" means incrementally enabling the flag on GitLab.com to validate stability — it is not the same as releasing the feature, which happens when the flag is removed. [Feature flag controls](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/controls/) · [Feature flag lifecycle](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product-development/how-we-work/product-development-flow/feature-flag-lifecycle/#feature-flag-lifecycle) ## What could go wrong? **Blast radius is limited to Duo in Slack**, but grows as the epic lands — re-read this section before each rollout step. Today the flag has two effects, both scoped to that surface: 1. It makes "GitLab Duo for Slack" visible in a group's Duo settings, so a group can enable the flow. {width=815 height=600} 2. For the user's default Duo namespace, it makes an `@mention` in Slack run `slack_assistant/v1` instead of `developer/v1`. With the flag off, both the flow and the Slack goal are byte-identical to today. Nothing outside the Slack mention path reads it. **No data-loss risk.** The flow has no file, shell, git or merge-request-creation tools. It can create and update issues, work items and notes through the API, which is a subset of what Duo Developer can already do from Slack today. **Watch for:** - **Billing.** Credits key on the flow reference. `slack_assistant/v1` declares `billing_reference: developer/v1`, so a Slack mention bills exactly as it does today. If that is wrong, credits land on an unmapped key — and an unmapped key falls through to success, so the flow would run silently unbilled with nothing visible in the UI. Verify on the first namespace before going wide. - **`coding_environment: none`.** This is the first foundational flow to skip the repository clone. `Ai::Catalog::CodingEnvironment.resolve` defaults to `:full` on anything unrecognised, so a regression here restores the clone quietly rather than failing. Check a job log rather than assuming. **Dashboards:** [AI gateway overview](https://dashboards.gitlab.net/d/ai-gateway-main/ai-gateway-overview). ## Rollout Run all production `/chatops` in [`#production`](https://gitlab.slack.com/archives/C101F3796) and cross-post the results to `#g_agent_developer`. Background: [incremental rollout process](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/controls/#process), [feature actors](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/#feature-actors). **Non-production** ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set slack_duo_api_flow 50 --actors --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref /chatops gitlab run feature set slack_duo_api_flow true --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref ``` **Production** — percentage rollout (wait ≥15 min between steps, watch dashboards): ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set slack_duo_api_flow <percentage> --actors ``` Or target a specific group instead: ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set --group=gitlab-org slack_duo_api_flow true ``` > [!note] > The actor is always a **top-level group**. `Ai::Catalog::FoundationalFlow#blocked_by_feature_flag?` checks it against the group whose Duo settings show the toggle, and the Slack routing checks it against the user's default Duo namespace root ancestor. Project and user actors are never passed, so `--project=` and `--user=` have no effect on this flag. ## Before global rollout Confirm the relevant gotchas before going to 100% — see [enabling a feature for GitLab.com](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/controls/#enabling-a-feature-for-gitlabcom): - [Docs + version history](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/documentation/feature_flags/) updated - [Breaking changes](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/documentation/release_notes/#deprecations-removals-and-breaking-changes) announced, if any - [Change management issue](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/infrastructure-platforms/change-management/#feature-flags-and-the-change-management-process) opened, if required - [External API consumers](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/#do-not-use-feature-flags-in-external-api-consumers) handled with a fail-open mechanism, if applicable ## Cleanup Remove the flag once [deemed stable](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product-development/how-we-work/product-development-flow/feature-flag-lifecycle/#feature-flag-lifecycle) — see [cleaning up](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/feature_flags/controls/#cleaning-up). Track it here, or open a follow-up [Feature Flag Cleanup issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/new?description_template=Feature%20Flag%20Cleanup). Remove the flag and its YAML definition from the codebase, then: ``` /chatops gitlab run release check <merge-request-url> <milestone> /chatops gitlab run feature delete slack_duo_api_flow --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref --production ``` ## Rollback ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set slack_duo_api_flow false # production /chatops gitlab run feature set slack_duo_api_flow false --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref # non-production /chatops gitlab run feature delete slack_duo_api_flow --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref --production # remove entirely ``` <!--Uncomment the appropriate type label /label ~"type::feature" ~"feature::addition" /label ~"type::maintenance" /label ~"type::bug"--> ## Related - Feature issue: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/628428 - Merge requests, in merge order: !254800, !254799, !254801 - Flow config and prompt: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/modelops/applied-ml/code-suggestions/ai-assist/-/merge_requests/6867