Extends

Your repo config file can "extend" an existing config file that lives somewhere else. This makes it easy re-use configurations across your organization and/or base your configuration off of a template.

You can reference templates in another repo, or point directly to a public HTTPS URL.

In the GitLab beta, extends does not yet automatically authenticate with templates from private repos.

Extends with repos

Use the "owner/repo" shorthand for files located on GitHub (or in your GitHub Enterprise instance). This works for private repos in the same organization, assuming PullApprove has permission to access to it.

# .pullapprove.yml by default
extends: "yourorg/pullapprove"

# specify the filename
extends: "yourorg/pullapprove:pullapprove-dev.yml"

# specify a git ref
extends: "yourorg/pullapprove@v1"

# specify a git ref and filename
extends: "yourorg/pullapprove@v1:pullapprove-ops.yml"

# use a file located in the same repo
extends: "./pullapprove-ops.yml"

# using a GitHub API URL
extends: "https://api.github.com/repos/example/pullapprove-config/contents/.pullapprove.yml"

Extends with URLs

URLs need to be publicly accessible, but can be obscure if you need some level of privacy.

extends: "https://example.com/pullapprove-config.yml"

Merging behavior

When you extend a template and provide settings in the .pullapprove.yml file itself, the settings will be merged together. You can see your merged config in the "Config" tab of the PullApprove status page.

The basic rule is that dictionaries will be merged, and any other kinds of fields will be overwritten.

Basic example

# Template YAML
version: 3
groups:
  template_group: ...

# Repo YAML
version: 3
extends: <template url>
groups:
  repo_group: ...

# Merged YAML
version: 3
extends: <template url>
groups:
  template_group: ...
  repo_group: ...

Fields that override

Fields that are lists, integers, or strings will be overwritten by your repo config. A common example of this is overrides.

# Template YAML
version: 3
overrides:
- <template override>

# Repo YAML
version: 3
extends: <template url>
overrides:
- <repo override>

# Merged YAML
version: 3
extends: <template url>
overrides:
- <repo override>

Expressions

YAML fields