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---
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stage: Create
group: Ecosystem
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/#assignments
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---
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# External issue tracker **(FREE)**
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GitLab has a great [issue tracker ](../user/project/issues/index.md ) but you can also use an external
one. External issue trackers are configurable per GitLab project.
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Once configured, you can reference external issues using the format `CODE-123` , where:
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- `CODE` is a unique code for the tracker.
- `123` is the issue number in the tracker.
These references in GitLab merge requests, commits, or comments are automatically converted to links to the issues.
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You can keep the GitLab issue tracker enabled in parallel or disable it. When enabled, the **Issues** link in the
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GitLab menu always opens the internal issue tracker. When disabled, the link is not visible in the menu.
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## Configuration
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The configuration is done via a project's **Settings > Integrations** .
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### Integration
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To enable an external issue tracker you must configure the appropriate **Integration** .
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Visit the links below for details:
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- [Bugzilla ](../user/project/integrations/bugzilla.md )
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- [Custom Issue Tracker ](../user/project/integrations/custom_issue_tracker.md )
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- [Engineering Workflow Management ](../user/project/integrations/ewm.md )
- [Jira ](../user/project/integrations/jira.md )
- [Redmine ](../user/project/integrations/redmine.md )
- [YouTrack ](../user/project/integrations/youtrack.md )
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### Service Template
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To avoid configuring each project's service individually, GitLab provides the ability to set
Service Templates. These can then be overridden in each project's settings.
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Read more on [Services Templates ](../user/project/integrations/services_templates.md ).
