GitLab Issue to MR Automation

Create a cron automation that watches one or more GitLab projects for issues with a trigger label, starts an OpenHands conversation once per label event with the project's default branch already checked out, and opens a merge request with whatever the agent produced.

The automation script is deterministic: issue discovery, label-event tracking, state persistence, the clone, the branch, the commit, the push, the merge request, the issue comments, and the clone's removal are all handled in Python. The LLM is invoked only to write the code.

The agent is told which issue to implement, not what it says. It fetches the description, the discussion, and whatever they link to itself, so nothing in the prompt goes stale between dispatch and the moment the agent reads it.

That needs read access, so the conversation is handed one secret, GITLAB_TOKEN. AGENT_SECRET_NAMES stays an allow-list: the rest of the deployment's secret store is not reachable from a conversation whose instructions came from an issue.

The deployment's MCP servers are forwarded whole, matching github-pr-reviewer, so a connected GitLab server gives the agent typed tools rather than curl. What those servers reach is reachable from an issue-authored prompt, so connect only servers that may be driven by untrusted text.

The agent also finishes the job: it commits, pushes its branch, and opens the merge request, so the merge request appears when the agent stops rather than on the next poll. The script does not trust that it happened - when the conversation ends it asks GitLab whether the merge request exists, and opens it itself when it does not. origin still carries no credential, so every GitLab command the agent runs has to name GITLAB_TOKEN; the SDK only puts a secret in the environment of a command that mentions it, and masks it in the output.

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Prerequisites

Required secret

Verify that the following secret is set in OpenHands Settings -> Secrets:

Secret name	Token type	Minimum requirements
GITLAB_TOKEN	Personal access token	api scope, and at least the Developer role on every watched project
GITLAB_TOKEN	Project or group access token	api scope, role Developer or above

The api scope is what GitLab grants read and write on issues, notes, branches, and merge requests through one scope; read_api polls happily and then fails at the point of pushing. Developer is the lowest role that can push a branch and open a merge request.

Two things the role does not cover, and which fail the push rather than the poll:

• Protected branches. The default branch is usually protected, but the automation never pushes to it. Protect the branch prefix as well and the push is rejected; leave openhands/issue-* unprotected.
• CI/CD files. An issue asking for a pipeline change makes the agent touch .gitlab-ci.yml. That needs no extra scope, but a project with a protected CI/CD configuration path rejects the push.

When several projects are monitored, the token must cover all of them.

Check with:

curl -s "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/user" \
  -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: $GITLAB_TOKEN" \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(d.get('username') or d.get('message'))"

If the token is missing or invalid, inform the user and stop.

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Setup Workflow

Follow these steps in order.

Step 1 - Verify GITLAB_TOKEN

Run the curl check above, against the user's instance if it is not gitlab.com.

• If absent: "GITLAB_TOKEN is not set. Please add it in OpenHands Settings -> Secrets." Stop.
• If the API returns {"message": "401 Unauthorized"}: tell the user the token is invalid and ask them to update it. Stop.

Step 2 - Collect the GitLab API URL

Ask: "Which GitLab instance? (Press Enter for gitlab.com. For a self-managed instance give its API root, e.g. https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4.)"

Record as GITLAB_API_URL. Default: https://gitlab.com/api/v4. Use this URL in every check below.

Step 3 - Collect projects

Ask: "Which GitLab projects should be watched? (Format: group/project, e.g. myorg/backend. Subgroups are fine - myorg/team/service. List several separated by commas to serve them all from one automation.)"

Validate access to each project, and confirm the token's role:

PROJECT_ID=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse,sys; print(urllib.parse.quote(sys.argv[1], safe=''))" "{group}/{project}")
curl -s "${GITLAB_API_URL}/projects/${PROJECT_ID}" \
  -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: $GITLAB_TOKEN" \
  | python3 -c "
import json, sys
d = json.load(sys.stdin)
if 'message' in d or 'error' in d:
    print('ERROR:', d.get('message') or d.get('error'))
else:
    perms = d.get('permissions') or {}
    levels = [(perms.get(k) or {}).get('access_level') for k in ('project_access', 'group_access')]
    levels = [n for n in levels if isinstance(n, int)]
    role = max(levels) if levels else 'unknown'
    print(f\"Accessible. Default branch: {d.get('default_branch')}. Access level: {role}\")
"

Record every accepted project into PROJECTS = ["{group}/{project}", ...]. If one project fails the check, say which and ask whether to continue without it. An access level below 30 (Developer) means the automation cannot open merge requests there; ask for a token with a higher role.

Each project is polled independently and keeps its own state, so issue numbers never collide between them. The trigger label, branch prefix, and schedule are shared; a project needing different settings wants its own automation.

Step 4 - Collect trigger label

Ask: "Which issue label should trigger an implementation? (Press Enter for the default: openhands.)"

Record the answer as TRIGGER_LABEL. If the label does not exist yet, tell the user that GitLab will still record the event once the label is created and applied to an issue.

The automation works an issue when it sees the latest matching label event for that label. To ask for another attempt later, remove and re-apply the label - that opens a second branch and a second merge request rather than overwriting the first.

Step 5 - Collect the merge request mode

Ask: *"Should the merge requests be opened as drafts?

1. Draft (default) - title prefixed Draft:, ready for a human to mark ready
2. Ready for review - opened as a normal merge request (Press Enter for Draft)"*

Map the choice to DRAFT_MERGE_REQUEST (True or False). GitLab has no draft flag on the merge request API; a draft is a title carrying the Draft: prefix, which the script adds.

Step 6 - Collect the branch prefix

Ask: "What branch prefix should the automation use? (Press Enter for the default: openhands/issue, which produces openhands/issue-42.)"

Record as BRANCH_PREFIX. Keep it free of spaces and of characters git rejects in a ref name, and make sure the prefix is not covered by a protected-branch rule.

Step 7 - Collect cron schedule

Ask: "How often should the automation poll for labelled issues? (Press Enter for the default: every 5 minutes. Use a cron expression for a different interval, e.g. 0 * * * * = hourly)"

Default: */5 * * * *.

Record as CRON_SCHEDULE.

Step 8 - Confirm the secret scope

The agent is handed GITLAB_TOKEN, because it reads the issue and its discussion itself. Ask: "Beyond the GitLab token, does the project's build need a secret of its own - a package registry token, for example? (Press Enter for none.)"

Record the answers appended to the default, as AGENT_SECRET_NAMES = ["GITLAB_TOKEN", "NAME", ...].

Keep it an allow-list. Forwarding the whole secret store would put every credential in the deployment behind a prompt written by whoever opened the issue. If the projects are public and you would rather the conversation held no credential at all, set the list to [] - the agent can still read a public issue unauthenticated, and private projects then stop working.

The deployment's MCP servers are a separate matter: they are forwarded whole, so the conversation can reach everything they expose. Say so, and check the user is willing to have those servers driven by text written by whoever opened an issue. Removing a server from the deployment's MCP settings is the only way to keep it out of these conversations.

Step 9 - Generate the automation script

Read scripts/main.py from this skill's directory. Apply exactly six constant substitutions near the top of the file:

The script also reads a config.json shipped beside it, if there is one, over these constants. That is how the catalog entry (automations/catalog/gitlab-issue-to-mr/) configures an unmodified copy, since a declarative host cannot rewrite Python. This setup path substitutes the constants and ships no config.json, so the two never collide.

Placeholder	Replace with
PROJECTS = ["group/project"]	PROJECTS = ["{group_project}", ...] - one entry per project collected in Step 3
TRIGGER_LABEL = "openhands"	TRIGGER_LABEL = "{trigger_label}"
BRANCH_PREFIX = "openhands/issue"	BRANCH_PREFIX = "{branch_prefix}"
DRAFT_MERGE_REQUEST = True	DRAFT_MERGE_REQUEST = {True or False}
GITLAB_API_URL = "https://gitlab.com/api/v4"	GITLAB_API_URL = "{gitlab_api_url}"
AGENT_SECRET_NAMES: list[str] = ["GITLAB_TOKEN"]	AGENT_SECRET_NAMES: list[str] = ["{name}", ...]

Leave MAX_NEW_PER_RUN and DEFAULT_OPENHANDS_URL alone unless the user asks for a different cap or a non-default OpenHands URL.

A project may be given as group/project, as a clone URL, or as an SSH remote; the script normalizes each one at startup and names the value it could not read rather than blaming the token. Subgroups are preserved.

Use a safe string writer such as json.dumps(value) when inserting user-provided project paths, labels, or prefixes into Python string literals. json.dumps(list_of_projects) produces the whole PROJECTS list safely in one step.

Write the customized script to a temporary build directory:

mkdir -p /tmp/issue-to-mr-build
# write the customized main.py to /tmp/issue-to-mr-build/main.py

Validate syntax before packaging:

python3 -m py_compile /tmp/issue-to-mr-build/main.py && echo "Syntax OK"

Fix any syntax errors before proceeding.

Step 10 - Package and upload

Determine the Automation backend URL and auth from the <RUNTIME_SERVICES> block in your system context:

• OPENHANDS_HOST: the Automation backend url_from_agent
• Auth: X-Session-API-Key: $OPENHANDS_AUTOMATION_API_KEY

tar -czf /tmp/issue-to-mr.tar.gz -C /tmp/issue-to-mr-build .

TARBALL_PATH=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "${OPENHANDS_HOST}/api/automation/v1/uploads?name=gitlab-issue-to-mr" \
  -H "X-Session-API-Key: $OPENHANDS_AUTOMATION_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/gzip" \
  --data-binary @/tmp/issue-to-mr.tar.gz \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['tarball_path'])")

echo "Uploaded: $TARBALL_PATH"

Step 11 - Register the automation

curl -s -X POST "${OPENHANDS_HOST}/api/automation/v1" \
  -H "X-Session-API-Key: $OPENHANDS_AUTOMATION_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"name\": \"GitLab Issue to MR: {project_summary} label {trigger_label}\",
    \"trigger\": {\"type\": \"cron\", \"schedule\": \"{cron_schedule}\"},
    \"tarball_path\": \"$TARBALL_PATH\",
    \"entrypoint\": \"python3 main.py\",
    \"timeout\": 900
  }" | python3 -m json.tool

Use the single project as {project_summary} when there is one, and something like 3 projects when there are several. A poll clones a project per queued issue and pushes finished branches, so the timeout allows for that; a run never waits for an agent to finish, only for it to be started.

Record the returned id.

Step 12 - Confirm

Tell the user:

✅ GitLab Issue to MR is running!

• Automation ID: {id}
• Projects: {group}/{project}, ... (one line each)
• GitLab API: {gitlab_api_url}
• Trigger label: {trigger_label}
• Branch prefix: {branch_prefix}
• Merge requests: {draft or ready for review}
• Polling schedule: {cron_schedule}
• State file per project: ~/.openhands/workspaces/automation-state/gitlab_issue_to_mr_{id}_{group}__{project}.json

Apply the {trigger_label} label to an issue to queue an implementation. Each label event is processed once. To ask for another attempt, remove and re-apply the label - that opens a second branch and merge request.

The agent runs without a checkout credential; the automation pushes the branch and opens the merge request once the agent has stopped.

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Runtime Behaviour (per poll)

Each cron run executes main.py, which loads config.json if the catalog shipped one, checks that git is available, resolves and validates GITLAB_TOKEN once, then processes every project in PROJECTS independently. One project failing does not stop the others; the run fails only if every project fails.

For each project:

1. Loads that project's state (see references/state-schema.md) and reads its default branch and clone URL.
2. Lists open issues carrying TRIGGER_LABEL, newest-updated first. GitLab keeps merge requests on their own endpoint, so labelling a merge request never queues an implementation.
3. For each labelled issue, up to MAX_NEW_PER_RUN new ones per run:
   • Refetches the issue so a label removed since the listing does not start work.
   • Finds the latest matching resource label event with action: "add", and skips it if that event has already been tracked.
   • Picks the first free branch name, {BRANCH_PREFIX}-{iid} or a numbered variant of it.
   • Clones the default branch, shallow and single-branch, into {WORKSPACE_BASE}/issue-to-mr/{group}__{project}/issue-{iid}-{event_id}, sets the commit identity, and creates the branch. origin keeps its plain HTTPS URL, so the workspace holds no credential.
   • Starts an OpenHands conversation whose working directory is that clone, told which issue to read, with the secrets named in AGENT_SECRET_NAMES and the deployment's MCP servers attached.
   • Comments on the issue with the branch, the label event, and the conversation link.
   • Records the task with status: "active".
   • If the clone or the conversation cannot be created, the clone is removed and nothing is recorded, so the next poll retries the label event.
4. For each active task:
   • Abandons a conversation that has not reached a terminal status within two hours, comments on the issue, and reclaims its clone.
   • When the conversation reaches idle, finished, error, or stuck:
     • Adopts the merge request the agent opened, if GitLab says one exists for the branch, and comments its link on the issue. Everything below is the path taken when it does not.
     • Skips the merge request if the issue was closed meanwhile.
     • Reports the problem on the issue if the conversation ended in error or stuck.
     • Commits whatever the agent left uncommitted, on top of any commits it made itself.
     • Posts the agent's answer on the issue, and opens no merge request, when there are no commits at all - that is how an agent reports an issue too ambiguous to implement.
     • Otherwise pushes the branch, opens the merge request (draft by default, titled Draft: [#42] <issue title>, with the agent's summary and Closes #42 in the description), and comments the link on the issue.
     • A push or merge request that fails is retried on the next two polls before the task is reported as failed, so a transient GitLab error does not throw the work away.
5. Removes the clone of every finished task, but only after confirming the conversation has stopped - deleting it under a running agent would remove its working directory. When that cannot be confirmed the directory is left alone and the next poll tries again.
6. Saves that project's state atomically.

The completion callback fires once for the whole run.

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Additional Resources

• references/state-schema.md - State JSON schema, field definitions, and the task lifecycle.
• scripts/main.py - The complete automation script. Customize the six constants at the top before packaging.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Nothing is ever queued	Trigger label not present, or applied to a merge request rather than an issue	Apply the configured label to an issue
"401 Unauthorized" in run logs	Token expired	Rotate and update GITLAB_TOKEN
"The token's role on ... is below Developer"	The token has Reporter or Guest on that project	Grant Developer or above, or drop the project from PROJECTS
Push rejected: "You are not allowed to push code to protected branches"	The branch prefix is covered by a protected-branch rule	Leave {BRANCH_PREFIX}-* unprotected
Push rejected on .gitlab-ci.yml	The project protects its CI/CD configuration path	Allow the token's role to update it, or exclude such issues
404 on project access	Project path wrong, or no access	Re-check the entry in PROJECTS and the token's role. Subgroups must be included in full
git is not available in the automation runtime	The runtime image has no git	Use a runtime image that ships git; the script clones, commits, and pushes with it
Issue commented "did not change any code"	The agent judged the issue too ambiguous, or made no edits	Read its answer in the comment, add the missing detail to the issue, then re-apply the label
Same issue not picked up again after new comments	Its label event was already processed	Remove and re-apply the trigger label
Agent reports it cannot push or open an MR	By design - it has no push credentials in origin	No action; the automation pushes and opens the merge request after the agent stops
Warning: could not fetch MCP config in run logs	The settings endpoint was unreachable	Non-fatal; the agent falls back to the REST calls in the prompt
A backlog of labelled issues starts slowly	MAX_NEW_PER_RUN caps how many conversations one poll starts	Wait for the next polls, or raise the cap in the script
Clones remain under issue-to-mr/	Their conversations had not stopped yet	They are removed by a later poll once the conversation is terminal