GitLab 18 transforms developer workflows by deeply integrating AI across the platform. Premium and Ultimate customers can now access AI-powered Code Suggestions and Chat for real-time code completion, explanations, refactoring, test generation, and code fixes—directly within their preferred editor or IDE, all at no extra cost.

These AI-native capabilities enhance GitLab Premium’s powerful foundation to help scaling organisations deliver secure source code management, advanced CI/CD, and an improved developer experience without requiring separate tooling, licensing, or governance.

Additionally, in response to customer demand, GitLab Premium customers can now purchase Duo Enterprise, GitLab’s comprehensive suite of AI offerings, without requiring an upgrade to GitLab Ultimate.

“Today’s fragmented landscape of AI point solutions creates unnecessary complexity for development teams,” said David DeSanto, chief product officer at GitLab.

“By natively integrating the essential capabilities of GitLab Duo Code Suggestions and Chat directly within the GitLab DevSecOps platform, we’re eliminating the need for separate tools, licenses, and governance structures,”

“This unified approach enables teams to accelerate their workflows and improve productivity while maintaining security and compliance standards.”

Enhancing Core Platform Capabilities in GitLab 18

GitLab is also introducing significant enhancements to its platform capabilities, extending core DevSecOps workflows by centralising artifact management, optimising CI/CD pipelines for speed and security, and empowering cross-functional teams with a unified platform.

• Built-in artifact management provides a native GitLab solution for maintaining artifacts, packages, containers, and more, including a new virtual registry for Maven and immutable tag management for greater tool consolidation on a single platform.
  
  
• Enhanced CI/CD offers structured inputs and enhanced, modular pipeline management with streamlined artifact handling and change detection, delivering a more secure way to configure parent/child pipelines and optimise pipeline execution.
  
  
• GitLab Query Language enables users to find, filter, and embed content from anywhere in the GitLab platform, enhancing collaboration, reporting, and project management across teams.

Further enhancements to GitLab 18 include strengthening its built-in security and compliance capabilities to help customers achieve comprehensive visibility and control over security risk.

• Custom compliance frameworks offer out-of-the-box controls for SOC 2, ISO 27001, and CIS benchmarks, along with the ability to define, implement, and enforce custom compliance controls.
  
  
• Reachability analysis for dependencies to help further improve detection accuracy, reduce false positive noise, and focus on code that threat actors can exploit.
  
  
• Custom logic for advanced Static Application Security Testing (SAST) adjusts SAST detection logic to an organisation’s libraries, tech stack, or security requirements by providing additional context to help address false positives and negatives.
  
  
• Vulnerability dashboards provide insights into an organisation’s security posture and track trends with organisation-level and application-specific views, robust filtering, and reporting features to pinpoint critical findings.
  
  
• FIDO passkey support offers a more secure and user-friendly login experience with support for biometric authentication, device PINs, and YubiKeys.
  
  
• Security policy impact assessment provides context for informed decision-making about security policy changes, including a “warn mode” to help developers understand requirements without blocking merge requests.

“For us, as GitLab users, Duo’s intelligent code suggestions have become a daily asset for our developers,” said Felix Kortmann, chief technology officer at Ignite by FORVIA HELLA.

“Combined with the chat feature, it allows for immediate feedback and iteration, resulting in faster development cycles and a more secure codebase. It’s a seamless and powerful addition to our workflows.”

“GitLab has already been instrumental in eliminating our reliance on a fragmented toolchain, which cut costs from disconnected solutions, and streamlined our workflow,” said Andrei Nita, chief technology officer at McKenzie Intelligence Services.

“Enhancing GitLab Premium with Duo will give us even greater efficiency and cost savings as our developers spend less time on routine coding tasks and more time tackling complex challenges that drive real business value.”

With GitLab 18, the company continues its mission to streamline the software development lifecycle—now enhanced by AI to deliver smarter, faster, and more efficient workflows. The release marks a significant step forward in empowering developers to build, test, and deploy with greater speed and confidence.