Issue Skill

Issue operations for GitLab using the glab CLI.

Quick Reference

Operation	Command	Risk
List issues	glab issue list	-
View issue	glab issue view <id>	-
Create issue	glab issue create	⚠️
Update issue	glab issue update <id>	⚠️
Close issue	glab issue close <id>	⚠️
Reopen issue	glab issue reopen <id>	⚠️
Delete issue	glab issue delete <id>	⚠️⚠️
Add note	glab issue note <id>	⚠️

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

When to Use This Skill

ALWAYS use when:

• User wants to work with issues
• User mentions "issue", "bug", "task", "ticket" or related terms
• User wants to track or manage work items

NEVER use when:

• User wants bulk operations on 10+ issues (use gitlab-bulk instead)
• User is only searching/filtering issues (use gitlab-search instead)

Available Commands

List Issues

glab issue list [options]

Options:

Flag	Description
-a, --assignee=<user>	Filter by assignee (use @me for yourself)
--author=<user>	Filter by author
-l, --label=<labels>	Filter by comma-separated labels
-m, --milestone=<milestone>	Filter by milestone
-s, --state=<state>	Filter by state: opened, closed, all (default: opened)
-c, --closed	Get only closed issues
--all	Get all issues
-P, --per-page=<n>	Number of items per page
--confidential	Filter to only confidential issues
--search=<query>	Search issues by title/description

Examples:

# List all open issues
glab issue list

# List issues assigned to you
glab issue list --assignee=@me

# List closed issues
glab issue list --closed

# List issues with specific label
glab issue list --label=bug

# List issues in a milestone
glab issue list --milestone="Release 1.0"

# Search issues
glab issue list --search="login bug"

# Get all issues (paginated)
glab issue list --all

View Issue Details

glab issue view <id> [options]

Options:

Flag	Description
-w, --web	Open issue in browser
-c, --comments	Show issue comments
-s, --system-logs	Show system activities

Examples:

# View issue in terminal
glab issue view 42

# Open issue in browser
glab issue view 42 --web

# View with comments
glab issue view 42 --comments

Create Issue

glab issue create [options]

Options:

Flag	Description
-t, --title=<title>	Issue title
-d, --description=<desc>	Issue description
-a, --assignee=<users>	Comma-separated assignees
-l, --label=<labels>	Comma-separated labels
-m, --milestone=<milestone>	Milestone title
--confidential	Create as confidential
--weight=<n>	Issue weight (0-9)
-w, --web	Open in browser after creation
-y, --yes	Skip confirmation prompts

Examples:

# Create issue with title
glab issue create -t "Fix login bug"

# Create issue with full details
glab issue create -t "Add dark mode" -d "Implement dark mode toggle" -l "enhancement,ui"

# Create issue with milestone and assignee
glab issue create -t "Release prep" -m "Release 2.0" -a "@me"

# Create confidential issue
glab issue create -t "Security vulnerability" --confidential

# Create and open in browser
glab issue create -t "New feature" --web

Update Issue

glab issue update <id> [options]

Options:

Flag	Description
-t, --title=<title>	Update title
-d, --description=<desc>	Update description
-a, --assignee=<users>	Update assignees
--unassign	Remove all assignees
-l, --label=<labels>	Add labels
--unlabel=<labels>	Remove labels
-m, --milestone=<milestone>	Set milestone
--confidential	Mark as confidential
--public	Mark as public
--lock-discussion	Lock discussion
--unlock-discussion	Unlock discussion

Examples:

# Update title
glab issue update 42 -t "Updated title"

# Add labels
glab issue update 42 -l "priority,reviewed"

# Remove labels
glab issue update 42 --unlabel="needs-review"

# Change assignee
glab issue update 42 -a "username"

# Add to milestone
glab issue update 42 -m "Sprint 5"

Close/Reopen Issue

# Close issue
glab issue close <id>

# Reopen issue
glab issue reopen <id>

Delete Issue

glab issue delete <id>

Warning: This permanently deletes the issue. Use with caution.

Add Note/Comment

glab issue note <id> -m "<message>"

Examples:

# Add comment
glab issue note 42 -m "Working on this now"

# Add closing comment
glab issue note 42 -m "Fixed in !123"

Subscribe/Unsubscribe

# Subscribe to issue notifications
glab issue subscribe <id>

# Unsubscribe
glab issue unsubscribe <id>

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Triage Issues

# 1. List unassigned issues
glab issue list --assignee=""

# 2. View issue details
glab issue view 42

# 3. Assign and label
glab issue update 42 -a "developer" -l "bug,priority"

Workflow 2: Work on Issue

# 1. Find assigned issues
glab issue list --assignee=@me

# 2. View details
glab issue view 42

# 3. Create branch and work
git checkout -b fix/issue-42

# 4. Add progress note
glab issue note 42 -m "Started work on this"

# 5. Close when MR is merged
glab issue close 42

Workflow 3: Quick Bug Report

# Create issue with all details
glab issue create \
  -t "Login fails with special characters" \
  -d "Steps to reproduce:
1. Enter username with @ symbol
2. Click login
3. Error: 500

Expected: Login succeeds" \
  -l "bug,login"

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
Authentication failed	Invalid/expired token	Run glab auth login
Issue not found	Invalid ID or no access	Verify ID with glab issue list
Permission denied	Insufficient rights	Check project permissions
Cannot close	Issue is locked	Request unlock from maintainer

Related Documentation

• Safeguards
• Quick Reference