description: "Getting started with Merge Requests."
---
# Getting started with Merge Requests
A Merge Request (**MR**) is the basis of GitLab as a code
collaboration and version control.
When working in a Git-based platform, you can use branching
strategies to collaborate on code.
A repository is composed by its _default branch_, which contains
the major version of the codebase, from which you create minor
branches, also called _feature branches_, to propose changes to
the codebase without introducing them directly into the major
version of the codebase.
Branching is especially important when collaborating with others,
avoiding changes to be pushed directly to the default branch
without prior reviews, tests, and approvals.
When you create a new feature branch, change the files, and push
it to GitLab, you have the option to create a **Merge Request**,
which is essentially a _request_ to merge one branch into another.
The branch you added your changes into is called _source branch_
while the branch you request to merge your changes into is
called _target branch_.
The target branch can be the default or any other branch, depending
on the branching strategies you choose.
In a merge request, beyond visualizing the differences between the
original content and your proposed changes, you can execute a
[significant number of tasks](#what-you-can-do-with-merge-requests)
before concluding your work and merging the merge request.
You can watch our [GitLab Flow video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InKNIvky2KE) for
a quick overview of working with merge requests.
## How to create a merge request
Learn the various ways to [create a merge request](creating_merge_requests.md).
## What you can do with merge requests
When you start a new merge request, you can immediately include the following
options, or add them later by clicking the **Edit** button on the merge
request's page at the top-right side:
- [Assign](#assignee) the merge request to a colleague for review. With GitLab Starter and higher tiers, you can [assign it to more than one person at a time](#multiple-assignees-starter).
- Set a [milestone](../milestones/index.md) to track time-sensitive changes.
- Add [labels](../labels.md) to help contextualize and filter your merge requests over time.
- Require [approval](merge_request_approvals.md) from your team. **(STARTER)**
- [Close issues automatically](#merge-requests-to-close-issues) when they are merged.
- Enable the [delete source branch when merge request is accepted](#deleting-the-source-branch) option to keep your repository clean.
- Enable the [squash commits when merge request is accepted](squash_and_merge.md) option to combine all the commits into one before merging, thus keep a clean commit history in your repository.
- Set the merge request as a [Work In Progress (WIP)](work_in_progress_merge_requests.md) to avoid accidental merges before it is ready.
Once you have created the merge request, you can also:
- [Discuss](../../discussions/index.md) your implementation with your team in the merge request thread.
- Add [merge request dependencies](merge_request_dependencies.md) to restrict it to be merged only when other merge requests have been merged. **(PREMIUM)**
- Preview continuous integration [pipelines on the merge request widget](reviewing_and_managing_merge_requests.md#pipeline-status-in-merge-requests-widgets).
- Preview how your changes look directly on your deployed application with [Review Apps](reviewing_and_managing_merge_requests.md#live-preview-with-review-apps).
- [Allow collaboration on merge requests across forks](allow_collaboration.md).
- Perform a [Review](../../discussions/index.md#merge-request-reviews) in order to create multiple comments on a diff and publish them once you're ready.
- Add [code suggestions](../../discussions/index.md#suggest-changes) to change the content of merge requests directly into merge request threads, and easily apply them to the codebase directly from the UI.
- Add a time estimation and the time spent with that merge request with [Time Tracking](../time_tracking.md#time-tracking).
Many of these can be set when pushing changes from the command line,
with [Git push options](../push_options.md).
See also other [features associated to merge requests](reviewing_and_managing_merge_requests.md#associated-features).
### Assignee
Choose an assignee to designate someone as the person responsible
for the first [review of the merge request](reviewing_and_managing_merge_requests.md).
Open the drop down box to search for the user you wish to assign,
