Discussion Skill

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

Quick Reference

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:

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

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

• API Helpers
• Safeguards
• Quick Reference
• GitLab Discussions API