Best Practices

Guidance for software delivery with GitLab.

Six pillars help you improve how software moves from an idea to the people who use it. Start with the area you want to improve, consider the choices, and decide what fits your team. Use the linked recommendations and GitLab Docs when you're ready to put a decision into practice.

Structure: Each pillar brings together design principles, recommendations, and a checklist
Checklists: Questions grounded in real examples, without a score
How this fits: Use this site to decide how to work in GitLab. Use GitLab Docs for product setup and reference.

How to use Best Practices

Within each pillar

Choose the area you want to improve, then use the guidance that helps with your question.

A pillarThe area you want to improve

Design principlesUnderstand what matters and why
Learn the reasoning that anchors the pillar, including choices and tradeoffs to consider.
RecommendationsGet more from this area of GitLab
Explore practical approaches to the pillar's goals and how to apply them in your team.
ChecklistReview how you're doing
Look at real settings and recent work, then decide what to improve next.

Each pillar offers three ways into the guidance. Start with the question you have; you don't need to read them in order.

The six pillars

Choose the area you are working on

These areas follow the work rather than GitLab menu names. You may need guidance from more than one pillar. Together, they support a governed software factory: people, automation, and agents working with clear responsibility, current context, independent checks, and a way to recover. The guidance applies whether your next improvement involves AI or not.

Your team's context

Choose how to put the guidance into practice

Start with the outcome you need, then choose an approach that fits your responsibilities and available features.

Recommendations explain when particular approaches fit. The linked product documentation covers availability and setup.