GitLab 18.6: Enhanced Merge Request Reviews, Dependency Management & AI Capabilities

New in GitLab 18.6: Transforming Developer Efficiency and DevSecOps with Smart Enhancements

GitLab 18.6 has arrived, bringing powerful improvements across code collaboration, dependency management, and AI-powered productivity. These updates continue GitLab’s mission to streamline the DevSecOps lifecycle and empower development teams globally.

Enhanced Merge Request Review Experience

With 18.6, GitLab refines the merge request workflow with clearer visuals and context through a modernised review sidebar. Review large MR diffs more efficiently with indicators grouped by comment type, markdown file support, and external tool integration. GitLab Duo’s experimental AI-generated summaries and test plans also now support Markdown files, improving MR understanding significantly.

Dependency Management & Governance Boosts

GitLab 18.6 adds experimental drag-and-drop support for CycloneDX SBOM uploads, extending dependency visibility across diverse toolchains. You can now more easily reconcile open-source dependencies and manage software Bill of Materials efficiently, increasing compliance visibility and supply chain security.

Smarter AI: GitLab Duo & LLM Advancements

AI capabilities grow stronger in this release. GitLab Duo Chat can now reason over pipeline configuration files and CI/CD syntax files; developers gain interactive guidance for their CI/CD needs. Meanwhile, GitLab-provided LLM APIs become beta for Premium and Ultimate users, simplifying setup, governance, and monitoring of code intelligence across the team.

Visibility Enhancements

Security teams now benefit from a refined interface for detecting top-level group runner usage, while updated visualisation of issue weights helps product and project teams plan more accurately. Better watermarking in compliance dashboards makes auditing simpler across globally distributed teams.

IDEA GitLab Solutions: Your Regional GitLab Experts

Are you ready to drive developer performance and security to the next level with GitLab 18.6? As a GitLab Select Partner, IDEA GitLab Solutions offers expert consultancy, end-to-end support, and license provisioning across the UK, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia — as well as remotely in Israel, South Africa and Paraguay.

Contact us today to optimise your GitLab experience with certified professional services and tailored DevSecOps strategies.

• Addressing Complex Development Challenges Using GitLab Duo Workflow
• GitLab 18.6 Release Highlights – From Configuration to Full Control
• Secure Your GitLab Pipelines: Switch from Variables to Inputs
• GitLab Duo Deprecates Claude Sonnet 3.7: What You Need to Know
• GitLab Advanced SAST: Smarter, Faster Security Testing for Modern DevSecOps