Discussion Skill

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

Quick Reference

Operation	Command Pattern	Risk
List MR discussions	glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions	-
List issue discussions	glab api projects/:id/issues/:iid/discussions	-
Get discussion	glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions/:id	-
Create discussion	glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/:iid/discussions -X POST -f ...	⚠️
Reply to discussion	glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id/notes -X POST -f ...	⚠️
Resolve discussion	glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id -X PUT -f resolved=true	⚠️
Delete note	glab api projects/:id/.../discussions/:id/notes/:nid -X DELETE	⚠️⚠️

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:

Field	Required	Description
base_sha	Yes	SHA of the base commit (target branch)
head_sha	Yes	SHA of the head commit (source branch)
start_sha	Yes	SHA of the start commit
position_type	Yes	text for code, image for images
new_path	For new/modified	Path in new version
new_line	For new/modified	Line number in new version
old_path	For deleted	Path in old version
old_line	For deleted	Line number in old version

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

Issue	Cause	Solution
400 Bad Request	Missing position fields	Include all required position fields
404 Discussion not found	Invalid discussion ID	Check discussion exists
Cannot resolve	Not resolvable or not authorized	Check note type and permissions
Position invalid	Wrong SHAs or line numbers	Get fresh diff_refs from MR
Note empty	Body not set	Check -f body=... parameter

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