External issue trackers

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated

GitLab has its own issue tracker, but you can also configure an external issue tracker per GitLab project. You can then use:

  • The external issue tracker with the GitLab issue tracker
  • The external issue tracker only

With an external tracker, you can use the format CODE-123 to mention external issues in GitLab merge requests, commits, and comments where:

  • CODE is a unique code for the tracker.
  • 123 is the issue number in the tracker.

References are displayed as issue links.

Disable the GitLab issue tracker

To disable the GitLab issue tracker for a project:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. Select Settings > General.
  3. Expand Visibility, project features, permissions.
  4. Under Issues, turn off the toggle.
  5. Select Save changes.

After you disable the GitLab issue tracker:

  • If an external issue tracker is configured, Issues is visible on the left sidebar but redirects to the external issue tracker.
  • If no external issue tracker is configured, Issues is not visible on the left sidebar.

Configure an external issue tracker

You can configure any of the following external issue trackers: