## Summary Roll out [the feature](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/work_items/22957) currently behind the `agent_presence_consolidation` feature flag. The flag turns on a standard actor line, "Session by [Agent] on behalf of [User]", on agent-created work items, merge requests, comments, and agent session system notes, linking back to the originating agent session. - DRI: @allison_villa - Team Slack channel: `#f_agent-observability` > [!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) Introduced in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/255699. Nothing reads the flag yet; consumers land in follow-up MRs under the epic. ## What could go wrong? - The feature actor is the root namespace (`project.root_ancestor` / `group.root_ancestor`), so enabling it for one top-level group turns agent presence on for every project and subgroup beneath it. Percentage-of-actors rollout therefore moves in whole namespaces. - The same flag will also gate a database authorship change that rewrites the stored `author` on agent-created work items, comments, and system notes to the triggering human, which affects author-based filtering, notification and todo recipients, and any analytics reading `author`. - Rendering and authorship must ship enabled together. If one lags the other, attribution is half-applied: the UI shows the human actor line while the stored author is still the service account, or vice versa. - `note_agent_session_bar` governs overlapping note UI but uses `current_user` as its actor, not the root namespace, so the two flags can disagree for the same page view during rollout. ## Events - [Exceptions with agent_presence_consolidation:1](https://log.gprd.gitlab.net/app/discover#/?_g=(time:(from:now-1d,to:now))&_a=(index:'7092c4e2-4eb5-46f2-8305-a7da2edad090',query:(language:kuery,query:'json.exception.feature_flag_states.keyword:%22agent_presence_consolidation:1%22'),columns:!(json.exception.class,json.exception.message,json.extra.workflow_id,json.meta.caller_id),sort:!(!(json.time,desc)))) - [Events with agent_presence_consolidation:1](https://log.gprd.gitlab.net/app/discover#/?_g=(time:(from:now-1d,to:now))&_a=(index:'7092c4e2-4eb5-46f2-8305-a7da2edad090',query:(language:kuery,query:'json.feature_flag_states:%22agent_presence_consolidation:1%22'),columns:!(json.meta.caller_id,json.feature_flag_states),sort:!(!(json.time,desc)))) ## Rollout Run all production `/chatops` in [`#production`](https://gitlab.slack.com/archives/C101F3796) and cross-post the results to `#f_agent-observability` (dev discussion in `#g_agent-execution`). 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 agent_presence_consolidation 50 --actors --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref /chatops gitlab run feature set agent_presence_consolidation true --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref ``` **Production** — percentage rollout (wait ≥15 min between steps, watch dashboards): ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set agent_presence_consolidation <percentage> --actors ``` Or target specific actors instead: ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set --group=gitlab-org,gitlab-com agent_presence_consolidation true /chatops gitlab run feature set --user=allison_villa agent_presence_consolidation true ``` ## 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 - Flag type changed from `wip` to `gitlab_com_derisk` or `beta`, since a `wip` flag is not meant to be enabled ## 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). 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 agent_presence_consolidation --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref --production ``` ## Rollback ``` /chatops gitlab run feature set agent_presence_consolidation false # production /chatops gitlab run feature set agent_presence_consolidation false --dev --pre --staging --staging-ref # non-production ```