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Manage epics (PREMIUM)

This page collects instructions for all the things you can do with epics or in relation to them.

Create an epic

To create an epic in the group you're in:

  1. Get to the New Epic form:

    • Go to your group and from the left sidebar select Epics. Then select New epic.
    • From an epic in your group, select New epic.
    • From anywhere, in the top menu, select New... ({plus-square}) > New epic.
    • In an empty roadmap, select New epic.

  2. Enter a title.

  3. Optional. Enter a description.

  4. Optional. To make the epic confidential, select the Confidentiality checkbox.

  5. Optional. Choose labels.

  6. Optional. Select a start and due date, or inherit them.

  7. Select Create epic.

The newly created epic opens.

Start and due date inheritance

Introduced in GitLab 12.5 to replace From milestones.

If you select Inherited:

  • For the start date: GitLab scans all child epics and issues assigned to the epic, and sets the start date to match the earliest start date found in the child epics or the milestone assigned to the issues.
  • For the due date: GitLab scans all child epics and issues assigned to the epic, and sets the due date to match the latest due date found in the child epics or the milestone assigned to the issues.

These are dynamic dates and recalculated if any of the following occur:

  • A child epic's dates change.
  • Milestones are reassigned to an issue.
  • A milestone's dates change.
  • Issues are added to, or removed from, the epic.

Because the epic's dates can inherit dates from its children, the start date and due date propagate from the bottom to the top. If the start date of a child epic on the lowest level changes, that becomes the earliest possible start date for its parent epic. The parent epic's start date then reflects this change and propagates upwards to the top epic.

Edit an epic

After you create an epic, you can edit the following details:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Start date
  • Due date
  • Labels

To edit an epic's title or description:

  1. Select the Edit title and description {pencil} button.
  2. Make your changes.
  3. Select Save changes.

To edit an epic's start date, due date, or labels:

  1. Select Edit next to each section in the epic sidebar.
  2. Select the dates or labels for your epic.

Bulk edit epics

Introduced in GitLab Premium 12.2.

Users with permission level of Reporter or higher can manage epics.

When bulk editing epics in a group, you can edit their labels.

To update multiple epics at the same time:

  1. In a group, go to Epics > List.
  2. Click Edit epics. A sidebar on the right-hand side of your screen appears with editable fields.
  3. Check the checkboxes next to each epic you want to edit.
  4. Select the appropriate fields and their values from the sidebar.
  5. Click Update all.

Delete an epic

NOTE: To delete an epic, you need to be an Owner of a group/subgroup.

When editing the description of an epic, select the Delete button to delete the epic. A modal appears to confirm your action.

Deleting an epic releases all existing issues from their associated epic in the system.

WARNING: If you delete an epic, all its child epics and their descendants are deleted as well. If needed, you can remove child epics from the parent epic before you delete it.

Close an epic

Whenever you decide that there is no longer need for that epic, close the epic by:

Reopen a closed epic

You can reopen an epic that was closed by:

Go to an epic from an issue

If an issue belongs to an epic, you can navigate to the containing epic with the link in the issue sidebar.

containing epic

Search for an epic from epics list page

You can search for an epic from the list of epics using filtered search bar (similar to that of issues and merge requests) based on following parameters:

  • Title or description
  • Author name / username
  • Labels
  • Reaction emoji

epics search

To search, go to the list of epics and select the field Search or filter results. It displays a dropdown menu, from which you can add an author. You can also enter plain text to search by epic title or description. When done, press Enter on your keyboard to filter the list.

You can also sort epics list by:

  • Created date
  • Last updated
  • Start date
  • Due date
  • Title

Each option contains a button that can toggle the order between Ascending and Descending. The sort option and order is saved and used wherever you browse epics, including the Roadmap.

epics sort

Change activity sort order

Introduced in GitLab Premium 13.2.

You can reverse the default order and interact with the activity feed sorted by most recent items at the top. Your preference is saved via local storage and automatically applied to every epic and issue you view.

To change the activity sort order, click the Oldest first dropdown menu and select either oldest or newest items to be shown first.

Issue activity sort order dropdown button

Make an epic confidential

If you're working on items that contain private information, you can make an epic confidential.

NOTE: A confidential epic can only contain confidential issues and confidential child epics. However, merge requests are public, if created in a public project. Read Merge requests for confidential issues to learn how to create a confidential merge request.

To make an epic confidential:

  • When creating an epic: select the checkbox Make this epic confidential.
  • In an existing epic: in the epic's sidebar, select Edit next to Confidentiality then select Turn on.

Manage issues assigned to an epic

This section collects instructions for all the things you can do with issues in relation to epics.

View count of issues in an epic

On the Epics and Issues tab, under each epic name, hover over the total counts.

The number indicates all epics associated with the project, including issues you might not have permission to.

Add a new issue to an epic

You can add an existing issue to an epic, or create a new issue that's automatically added to the epic.

Add an existing issue to an epic

Existing issues that belong to a project in an epic's group, or any of the epic's subgroups, are eligible to be added to the epic. Newly added issues appear at the top of the list of issues in the Epics and Issues tab.

An epic contains a list of issues and an issue can be associated with at most one epic. When you add a new issue that's already linked to an epic, the issue is automatically unlinked from its current parent.

To add a new issue to an epic:

  1. On the epic's page, under Epics and Issues, select the Add dropdown button.

  2. Select Add an existing issue.

  3. Identify the issue to be added, using either of the following methods:

    • Paste the link of the issue.
    • Search for the desired issue by entering part of the issue's title, then selecting the desired match (introduced in GitLab 12.5).

    If there are multiple issues to be added, press Space and repeat this step.

  4. Select Add.

Create an issue from an epic

Introduced in GitLab 12.7.

Creating an issue from an epic enables you to maintain focus on the broader context of the epic while dividing work into smaller parts.

To create an issue from an epic:

  1. On the epic's page, under Epics and Issues, select the Add dropdown button.
  2. Select Add a new issue.
  3. Under Title, enter the title for the new issue.
  4. From the Project dropdown, select the project in which the issue should be created.
  5. Select Create issue.

Remove an issue from an epic

You can remove issues from an epic when you're on the epic's details page. After you remove an issue from an epic, the issue is no longer associated with this epic.

To remove an issue from an epic:

  1. Select the Remove ({close}) button next to the issue you want to remove. The Remove issue warning appears.
  2. Select Remove.

List of issues assigned to an epic

Reorder issues assigned to an epic

Introduced in GitLab 12.5.

New issues appear at the top of the list in the Epics and Issues tab. You can reorder the list of issues by dragging them.

To reorder issues assigned to an epic:

  1. Go to the Epics and Issues tab.
  2. Drag issues into the desired order.

Move issues between epics (ULTIMATE)

Introduced in GitLab Ultimate 13.0.

New issues appear at the top of the list in the Epics and Issues tab. You can move issues from one epic to another.

To move an issue to another epic:

  1. Go to the Epics and Issues tab.
  2. Drag issues into the desired parent epic.

Promote an issue to an epic

If you have the necessary permissions to close an issue and create an epic in the immediate parent group, you can promote an issue to an epic with the /promote quick action. Only issues from projects that are in groups can be promoted. When you attempt to promote a confidential issue, a warning is displayed. Promoting a confidential issue to an epic makes all information related to the issue public as epics are public to group members.

When the quick action is executed:

  • An epic is created in the same group as the project of the issue.
  • Subscribers of the issue are notified that the epic was created.

The following issue metadata is copied to the epic:

  • Title, description, activity/comment thread.
  • Upvotes/downvotes.
  • Participants.
  • Group labels that the issue already has.
  • Parent epic. (ULTIMATE)

Use an epic template for repeating issues

You can create a spreadsheet template to manage a pattern of consistently repeating issues.

For an introduction to epic templates, see GitLab Epics and Epic Template Tip.

For more on epic templates, see Epic Templates - Repeatable sets of issues.

Multi-level child epics (ULTIMATE)

Introduced in GitLab Ultimate 11.7.

You can add any epic that belongs to a group or subgroup of the parent epic's group. New child epics appear at the top of the list of epics in the Epics and Issues tab.

When you add an epic that's already linked to a parent epic, the link to its current parent is removed.

Epics can contain multiple nested child epics, up to a total of seven levels deep.

Add a child epic to an epic

To add a child epic to an epic:

  1. Select the Add dropdown button.

  2. Select Add a new epic.

  3. Identify the epic to be added, using either of the following methods:

    • Paste the link of the epic.
    • Search for the desired issue by entering part of the epic's title, then selecting the desired match (introduced in GitLab 12.5).

    If there are multiple epics to be added, press Space and repeat this step.

  4. Select Add.

Move child epics between epics

Introduced in GitLab Ultimate 13.0.

New child epics appear at the top of the list in the Epics and Issues tab. You can move child epics from one epic to another. When you add a new epic that's already linked to a parent epic, the link to its current parent is removed. Issues and child epics cannot be intermingled.

To move child epics to another epic:

  1. Go to the Epics and Issues tab.
  2. Drag epics into the desired parent epic.

Reorder child epics assigned to an epic

Introduced in GitLab 12.5.

New child epics appear at the top of the list in the Epics and Issues tab. You can reorder the list of child epics.

To reorder child epics assigned to an epic:

  1. Go to the Epics and Issues tab.
  2. Drag epics into the desired order.

Remove a child epic from a parent epic

To remove a child epic from a parent epic:

  1. Select the x button in the parent epic's list of epics.
  2. Select Remove in the Remove epic warning message.

Cached epic count

In a group, the sidebar displays the total count of open epics and this value is cached if higher than 1000. The cached value is rounded to thousands (or millions) and updated every 24 hours.