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---
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stage: Create
group: Source Code
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
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type: concepts
---
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# Authorization for Merge requests
There are two main ways to have a merge request flow with GitLab:
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1. Working with [protected branches ](../protected_branches.md ) in a single repository.
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1. Working with forks of an authoritative project.
## Protected branch flow
With the protected branch flow everybody works within the same GitLab project.
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The project maintainers get Maintainer access and the regular developers get
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Developer access.
The maintainers mark the authoritative branches as 'Protected'.
The developers push feature branches to the project and create merge requests
to have their feature branches reviewed and merged into one of the protected
branches.
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By default, only users with Maintainer access can merge changes into a protected
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branch.
**Advantages**
- Fewer projects means less clutter.
- Developers need to consider only one remote repository.
**Disadvantages**
- Manual setup of protected branch required for each new project
## Forking workflow
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With the forking workflow the maintainers get Maintainer access and the regular
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developers get Reporter access to the authoritative repository, which prohibits
them from pushing any changes to it.
Developers create forks of the authoritative project and push their feature
branches to their own forks.
To get their changes into master they need to create a merge request across
forks.
**Advantages**
- In an appropriately configured GitLab group, new projects automatically get
the required access restrictions for regular developers: fewer manual steps
to configure authorization for new projects.
**Disadvantages**
- The project need to keep their forks up to date, which requires more advanced
Git skills (managing multiple remotes).
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