Skills
skills/grandcamel/gitlab-assistant-skills/gitlab-discussion

gitlab-discussion

SKILL.md

Discussion Skill

Threaded discussion management for GitLab using glab api raw endpoint calls.

Quick Reference

Operation Command Pattern Risk
List MR discussions glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions -
List issue discussions glab api projects/:id/issues/:iid/discussions -
Get discussion glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions/:id -
Create discussion glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions -X POST -f ... ⚠️
Reply to discussion glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id/notes -X POST -f ... ⚠️
Resolve discussion glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id -X PUT -f resolved=true ⚠️
Delete note glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id/notes/:nid -X DELETE ⚠️⚠️

Risk Legend: - Safe | ⚠️ Caution | ⚠️⚠️ Warning | ⚠️⚠️⚠️ Danger

When to Use This Skill

ALWAYS use when:

  • User mentions "discussion", "thread", "conversation"
  • User wants to add code review comments
  • User mentions "resolve", "unresolve" discussions
  • User wants to reply to existing comments/threads
  • User wants line-specific comments on MRs

NEVER use when:

  • User wants simple notes/comments (use glab mr note or glab issue note)
  • User wants to review MR changes (use gitlab-mr)
  • User wants to search comments (use gitlab-search with notes scope)

API Prerequisites

Required Token Scopes: api

Permissions:

  • Read discussions: Reporter+ (for private repos)
  • Create discussions: Reporter+
  • Resolve discussions: Developer+ (or MR author)

Available Commands

List MR Discussions

# List all discussions on MR
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --method GET

# With pagination
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --paginate

# Using project path
glab api "projects/$(echo 'mygroup/myproject' | jq -Rr @uri)/merge_requests/1/discussions"

List Issue Discussions

# List all discussions on issue
glab api projects/123/issues/42/discussions --method GET

# With pagination
glab api projects/123/issues/42/discussions --paginate

Get Specific Discussion

# Get MR discussion by ID
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123 --method GET

# Get issue discussion by ID
glab api projects/123/issues/42/discussions/def456 --method GET

Create Discussion on MR

# Create general discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --method POST \
  -f body="This looks good overall, but I have some suggestions."

# Create discussion on specific line (diff note)
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --method POST \
  -f body="This could be simplified using a helper function." \
  -f position[base_sha]="abc123" \
  -f position[head_sha]="def456" \
  -f position[start_sha]="abc123" \
  -f position[position_type]="text" \
  -f position[new_path]="src/app.py" \
  -f position[new_line]=42

# Create discussion on old line (removed code)
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --method POST \
  -f body="Why was this removed?" \
  -f position[base_sha]="abc123" \
  -f position[head_sha]="def456" \
  -f position[start_sha]="abc123" \
  -f position[position_type]="text" \
  -f position[old_path]="src/old.py" \
  -f position[old_line]=15

# Create suggestion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --method POST \
  -f body='```suggestion
def improved_function():
    return "better implementation"
```'

Create Discussion on Issue

# Create discussion
glab api projects/123/issues/42/discussions --method POST \
  -f body="I think we should reconsider this approach."

Reply to Discussion

# Reply to MR discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123/notes --method POST \
  -f body="Good point, I'll fix this."

# Reply to issue discussion
glab api projects/123/issues/42/discussions/def456/notes --method POST \
  -f body="I agree with the above."

Resolve/Unresolve Discussion

# Resolve MR discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123 --method PUT \
  -f resolved=true

# Unresolve MR discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123 --method PUT \
  -f resolved=false

Update Note

# Update note in discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123/notes/789 --method PUT \
  -f body="Updated comment text"

Delete Note

# Delete note from discussion
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/abc123/notes/789 --method DELETE

Position Object for Diff Notes

For line-specific comments on MRs, you need to provide position information:

Field Required Description
base_sha Yes SHA of the base commit (target branch)
head_sha Yes SHA of the head commit (source branch)
start_sha Yes SHA of the start commit
position_type Yes text for code, image for images
new_path For new/modified Path in new version
new_line For new/modified Line number in new version
old_path For deleted Path in old version
old_line For deleted Line number in old version

Get SHAs for Position

# Get MR details to find SHAs
mr_info=$(glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1)
base_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.base_sha')
head_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.head_sha')
start_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.start_sha')

echo "Base: $base_sha"
echo "Head: $head_sha"
echo "Start: $start_sha"

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Review MR with Comments

project_id=123
mr_iid=1

# Get diff refs
mr_info=$(glab api projects/$project_id/merge_requests/$mr_iid)
base_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.base_sha')
head_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.head_sha')
start_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.start_sha')

# Add comment on line 42 of new file
glab api projects/$project_id/merge_requests/$mr_iid/discussions --method POST \
  -f body="Consider adding error handling here." \
  -f position[base_sha]="$base_sha" \
  -f position[head_sha]="$head_sha" \
  -f position[start_sha]="$start_sha" \
  -f position[position_type]="text" \
  -f position[new_path]="src/handler.py" \
  -f position[new_line]=42

Workflow 2: Resolve All Discussions

# Get all unresolved discussions
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --paginate | \
  jq -r '.[] | select(.notes[0].resolvable == true and .notes[0].resolved == false) | .id' | \
  while read discussion_id; do
    echo "Resolving: $discussion_id"
    glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions/$discussion_id --method PUT \
      -f resolved=true
  done

Workflow 3: List Unresolved Discussions

# Show unresolved discussions with content
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --paginate | \
  jq -r '.[] | select(.notes[0].resolvable == true and .notes[0].resolved == false) | "[\(.id)] \(.notes[0].author.username): \(.notes[0].body | split("\n")[0])"'

Workflow 4: Add Suggestion

project_id=123
mr_iid=1

mr_info=$(glab api projects/$project_id/merge_requests/$mr_iid)
base_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.base_sha')
head_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.head_sha')
start_sha=$(echo "$mr_info" | jq -r '.diff_refs.start_sha')

# Create suggestion (multi-line needs proper escaping)
glab api projects/$project_id/merge_requests/$mr_iid/discussions --method POST \
  -f body='```suggestion
const result = await fetchData();
return result.data;
```' \
  -f position[base_sha]="$base_sha" \
  -f position[head_sha]="$head_sha" \
  -f position[start_sha]="$start_sha" \
  -f position[position_type]="text" \
  -f position[new_path]="src/api.js" \
  -f position[new_line]=25

Workflow 5: Summarize Discussion Activity

# Count discussions by state
glab api projects/123/merge_requests/1/discussions --paginate | \
  jq '{
    total: length,
    resolved: [.[] | select(.notes[0].resolved == true)] | length,
    unresolved: [.[] | select(.notes[0].resolvable == true and .notes[0].resolved == false)] | length
  }'

Troubleshooting

Issue Cause Solution
400 Bad Request Missing position fields Include all required position fields
404 Discussion not found Invalid discussion ID Check discussion exists
Cannot resolve Not resolvable or not authorized Check note type and permissions
Position invalid Wrong SHAs or line numbers Get fresh diff_refs from MR
Note empty Body not set Check -f body=... parameter

Discussion vs Note

  • Discussion: A thread that can have multiple notes/replies
  • Note: A single comment within a discussion
  • Resolvable: Discussions on MR diffs can be resolved/unresolved
  • System notes: Auto-generated (commits, status changes) - not editable

Related Documentation

Weekly Installs
7
Repository
grandcamel/gitl…t-skills
GitHub Stars
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First Seen
Feb 20, 2026
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