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Drupal’s GitLab Issue Migration: Navigating the New Workflow

· 2 min read
Victor Jimenez
Victor Jimenez
Software Engineer & AI Agent Builder

The Drupal project is undergoing one of its most significant infrastructure changes in years: the migration of project issue management from the custom-built Drupal.org queue to GitLab issues. This move modernizes the contribution experience and aligns Drupal with broader open-source standards.

The Shift: From Fields to Labels​

The most visible change in the new workflow is how issue metadata is handled. On Drupal.org, we had fixed fields for Status, Priority, Category, and Version. In GitLab, these are replaced by a flexible, maintainer-controlled system of labels.

Mapping the Workflow​

For migrated projects, you'll see labels like Status: Active, Priority: Normal, or Category: Task. This shift gives project maintainers more autonomy to define their own internal workflows while maintaining a recognizable structure for the community.

  • Status: Dropdown (Active, Needs Work, RTBC, etc.)
  • Priority: Dropdown (Critical, Normal, etc.)
  • Tags: Free-text comma-separated

Why This Matters​

  1. Issue Boards: Maintainers can now use GitLab's native Issue Boards to visualize their pipeline, dragging issues from "Needs Work" to "Needs Review."
  2. Unified Experience: Contributors no longer need to jump between a custom issue UI and the code hosting platform. Forks and Merge Requests (MRs) are now more tightly integrated.
  3. Extensibility: Because it's "just GitLab," projects can use external integrations, webhooks, and automation tools that were previously impossible with the custom Drupal.org system.

What I Learned​

  • Modernization is Iterative: The Drupal Association is rolling this out in phases. Some projects are opted-in, while others (including Core) still use the legacy queue.
  • Labels are Powerful: Moving from rigid database fields to labels allows for more nuanced workflows without requiring custom code on the hosting platform.
  • API-First Contribution: With issues now accessible via the standard GitLab API, building tools for the Drupal ecosystem just got a lot easier.

References​