254 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
254 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: none
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group: unassigned
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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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type: reference, index
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description: 'Read through the GitLab User documentation to learn how to use, configure, and customize GitLab and GitLab.com to your own needs.'
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---
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# User Docs **(FREE)**
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Welcome to GitLab! We're glad to have you here!
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As a GitLab user you have access to all the features
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your [subscription](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/)
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includes, except [GitLab administrator](../administration/index.md)
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settings, unless you have administrator privileges to install, configure,
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and upgrade your GitLab instance.
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Administrator privileges for [GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/) are restricted to the GitLab team.
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For more information on configuring GitLab self-managed instances, see the [Administrator documentation](../administration/index.md).
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## Overview
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GitLab is a fully integrated software development platform that enables your team to be transparent, fast, effective, and cohesive from discussion on a new idea to production, all on the same platform.
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For more information, see [All GitLab Features](https://about.gitlab.com/features/).
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### Concepts
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To get familiar with the concepts needed to develop code on GitLab, read the following articles:
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- [Demo: Mastering Code Review With GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2017/03/17/demo-mastering-code-review-with-gitlab/).
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- [What is GitLab Flow?](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/version-control/what-is-gitlab-flow/).
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- [Tutorial: It's all connected in GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/03/08/gitlab-tutorial-its-all-connected/): an overview on code collaboration with GitLab.
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- [Trends in Version Control Land: Microservices](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/16/trends-in-version-control-land-microservices/).
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- [Trends in Version Control Land: Innersourcing](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/version-control/what-is-innersource/).
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## Use cases
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GitLab is a Git-based platform that integrates a great number of essential tools for software development and deployment, and project management:
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- Hosting code in repositories with version control.
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- Tracking proposals for new implementations, bug reports, and feedback with a
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fully featured [Issue tracker](project/issues/index.md).
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- Organizing and prioritizing with [issue boards](project/issue_board.md).
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- Reviewing code in [merge requests](project/merge_requests/index.md) with live-preview changes per
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branch with [Review Apps](../ci/review_apps/index.md).
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- Building, testing, and deploying with built-in [Continuous Integration](../ci/index.md).
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- View the current health and status of each CI environment running on Kubernetes with [deploy boards](project/deploy_boards.md).
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- Leverage continuous delivery method with [Canary Deployments](project/canary_deployments.md).
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- Deploying personal and professional static websites with [GitLab Pages](project/pages/index.md).
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- Integrating with Docker by using [GitLab Container Registry](packages/container_registry/index.md).
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- Tracking the development lifecycle by using [GitLab Value Stream Analytics](analytics/value_stream_analytics.md).
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- Provide support with [Service Desk](project/service_desk.md).
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- [Export issues as CSV](project/issues/csv_export.md).
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With GitLab Enterprise Edition, you can also:
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- Improve collaboration with:
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- [Merge request approvals](project/merge_requests/approvals/index.md).
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- [Multiple Assignees for Issues](project/issues/multiple_assignees_for_issues.md).
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- [Multiple issue boards](project/issue_board.md#multiple-issue-boards).
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- Create formal relationships between issues with [linked issues](project/issues/related_issues.md).
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- Use [Burndown Charts](project/milestones/burndown_and_burnup_charts.md) to track progress during a sprint or while working on a new version of their software.
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- Leverage [Elasticsearch](../integration/elasticsearch.md) with [Advanced Search](search/advanced_search.md) for faster, more advanced code search across your entire GitLab instance.
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- [Authenticate users with Kerberos](../integration/kerberos.md).
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- [Mirror a repository](project/repository/mirror/index.md) from elsewhere on your local server.
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- View your entire CI/CD pipeline involving more than one project with [Multiple-Project Pipelines](../ci/pipelines/multi_project_pipelines.md).
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- [Lock files](project/file_lock.md) to prevent conflicts.
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- Scan your code for vulnerabilities and [display them in merge requests](application_security/sast/index.md).
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You can also [integrate](project/integrations/overview.md) GitLab with numerous third-party applications, such as Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, Trello, Slack, Bamboo CI, Jira, and a lot more.
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## User types
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There are several types of users in GitLab:
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- Regular users.
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- [Internal users](../development/internal_users.md) often referred to as bot or system users.
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- [Auditor](permissions.md#auditor-users) with read access to self-managed instances.
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- [GitLab Administrator](../administration/index.md) with full access to
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self-managed instances including settings and the [Admin Area](admin_area/index.md).
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Each user can be a member in a [group](group/index.md).
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See the [permissions page](permissions.md) for details on how each user type is used.
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## User activity
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GitLab tracks user contribution activity.
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You can follow or unfollow other users from their [user profiles](profile/index.md#access-your-user-profile).
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To view a user's activity in a top-level Activity view:
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1. From a user's profile, select **Follow**.
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1. In the GitLab menu, select **Activity**.
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1. Select the **Followed users** tab.
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### User contribution events
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Each of these contribution events is tracked:
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- `approved`
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- Merge request
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- `closed`
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- [Epic](group/epics/index.md)
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- Issue
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- Merge request
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- Milestone
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- `commented` on any `Noteable` record.
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- Alert
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- Commit
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- Design
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- Issue
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- Merge request
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- Snippet
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- `created`
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- Design
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- [Epic](group/epics/index.md)
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- Issue
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- Merge request
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- Milestone
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- Project
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- Wiki page
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- `destroyed`
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- Design
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- Milestone
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- Wiki page
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- `expired`
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- Project membership
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- `joined`
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- Project membership
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- `left`
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- Project membership
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- `merged`
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- Merge request
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- `pushed` commits to (or deleted commits from) a repository, individually or in bulk.
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- Project
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- `reopened`
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- [Epic](group/epics/index.md)
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- Issue
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- Merge request
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- Milestone
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- `updated`
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- Design
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- Wiki page
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## Projects
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In GitLab, you can create [projects](project/index.md) to host
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your code, track issues, collaborate on code, and continuously
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build, test, and deploy your app with built-in GitLab CI/CD. Or, you can do
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it all at once, from one single project.
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- [Repositories](project/repository/index.md): Host your codebase in
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repositories with version control and as part of a fully integrated platform.
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- [Issues](project/issues/index.md): Explore the best of GitLab Issues' features.
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- [Merge requests](project/merge_requests/index.md): Collaborate on code,
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reviews, live preview changes per branch, and request approvals with merge requests.
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- [Milestones](project/milestones/index.md): Work on multiple issues and merge
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requests towards the same target date with Milestones.
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## Account
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There is a lot you can customize and configure to enjoy the best of GitLab.
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- [Settings](profile/index.md): Manage your user settings to change your personal information,
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personal access tokens, authorized applications, etc.
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- [Authentication](../topics/authentication/index.md): Read through the authentication
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methods available in GitLab.
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- [Permissions](permissions.md): Learn the different set of permissions levels for each
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user type (guest, reporter, developer, maintainer, owner).
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- [Feature highlight](feature_highlight.md): Learn more about the little blue dots
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around the app that explain certain features.
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- [Abuse reports](report_abuse.md): Report abuse from users to GitLab administrators.
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## Groups
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With GitLab [Groups](group/index.md) you can assemble related projects together
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and grant members access to several projects at once.
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Groups can also be nested in [subgroups](group/subgroups/index.md).
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## Discussions
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In GitLab, you can comment and mention collaborators in issues,
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merge requests, code snippets, and commits.
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When performing inline reviews to implementations
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to your codebase through merge requests you can
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gather feedback through [resolvable threads](discussions/index.md#resolve-a-thread).
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### GitLab Flavored Markdown (GFM)
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Read through the [GFM documentation](markdown.md) to learn how to apply
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the best of GitLab Flavored Markdown in your threads, comments,
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issues and merge requests descriptions, and everywhere else GFM is
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supported.
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## To-Do List
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Never forget to reply to your collaborators. [GitLab To-Do List](todos.md)
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is a tool for working faster and more effectively with your team,
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by listing all user or group mentions, as well as issues and merge
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requests you're assigned to.
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## Search
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[Search and filter](search/index.md) through groups, projects, issues, merge requests, files, code, and more.
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## Snippets
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[Snippets](snippets.md) are code blocks that you want to store in GitLab, from which
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you have quick access to. You can also gather feedback on them through [Discussions](#discussions).
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## GitLab CI/CD
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Use built-in [GitLab CI/CD](../ci/index.md) to test, build, and deploy your applications
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directly from GitLab. No third-party integrations needed.
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## Features behind feature flags
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Understand what [features behind feature flags](feature_flags.md) mean.
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## Keyboard shortcuts
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There are many [keyboard shortcuts](shortcuts.md) in GitLab to help you navigate between
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pages and accomplish tasks faster.
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## Integrations
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[Integrate GitLab](../integration/index.md) with your preferred tool, such as Trello, Jira, etc.
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## Webhooks
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Configure [webhooks](project/integrations/webhooks.md) to listen for
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specific events like pushes, issues or merge requests. GitLab sends a
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POST request with data to the webhook URL.
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## API
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Automate GitLab via [API](../api/index.md).
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## Git and GitLab
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Learn what is [Git](../topics/git/index.md) and its best practices.
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## Instance-level analytics
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See [various statistics](admin_area/analytics/index.md) of your GitLab instance.
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## Operations Dashboard
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See [Operations Dashboard](operations_dashboard/index.md) for a summary of each project's operational health.
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