Reply by email
GitLab can be set up to allow users to comment on issues and merge requests by replying to notification emails.
Requirement
Reply by email requires an IMAP-enabled email account. GitLab allows you to use three strategies for this feature:
- using email sub-addressing
- using a dedicated email address
- using a catch-all mailbox
Email sub-addressing
If your provider or server supports email sub-addressing, we recommend using it.
Sub-addressing is
a feature where any email to [email protected]
will end up
in the mailbox for [email protected]
, and is supported by providers such as
Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com and iCloud, as well as the Postfix
mail server which you can run on-premises.
Dedicated email address
This solution is really simple to set up: you just have to create an email address dedicated to receive your users' replies to GitLab notifications.
Catch-all mailbox
A catch-all mailbox for a domain will "catch all" the emails addressed to the domain that do not exist in the mail server.
How it works?
1. GitLab sends a notification email
When GitLab sends a notification and Reply by email is enabled, the Reply-To
header is set to the address defined in your GitLab configuration, with the
%{key}
placeholder (if present) replaced by a specific "reply key". In
addition, this "reply key" is also added to the References
header.
2. You reply to the notification email
When you reply to the notification email, your email client will:
- send the email to the
Reply-To
address it got from the notification email - set the
In-Reply-To
header to the value of theMessage-ID
header from the notification email - set the
References
header to the value of theMessage-ID
plus the value of the notification email'sReferences
header.
3. GitLab receives your reply to the notification email
When GitLab receives your reply, it will look for the "reply key" in the following headers, in this order:
- the
To
header - the
References
header
If it finds a reply key, it will be able to leave your reply as a comment on the entity the notification was about (issue, merge request, commit...).
For more details about the Message-ID
, In-Reply-To
, and References headers
,
please consult RFC 5322.
Set it up
If you want to use Gmail / Google Apps with Reply by email, make sure you have IMAP access enabled and allowed less secure apps to access the account.
To set up a basic Postfix mail server with IMAP access on Ubuntu, follow these instructions.
Omnibus package installations
-
Find the
incoming_email
section in/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
, enable the feature and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:# Configuration for Postfix mail server, assumes mailbox [email protected] gitlab_rails['incoming_email_enabled'] = true # The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to. # The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@`). gitlab_rails['incoming_email_address'] = "incoming+%{key}@gitlab.example.com" # Email account username # With third party providers, this is usually the full email address. # With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address. gitlab_rails['incoming_email_email'] = "incoming" # Email account password gitlab_rails['incoming_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]" # IMAP server host gitlab_rails['incoming_email_host'] = "gitlab.example.com" # IMAP server port gitlab_rails['incoming_email_port'] = 143 # Whether the IMAP server uses SSL gitlab_rails['incoming_email_ssl'] = false # Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS gitlab_rails['incoming_email_start_tls'] = false # The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox". gitlab_rails['incoming_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox [email protected] gitlab_rails['incoming_email_enabled'] = true # The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to. # The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@`). gitlab_rails['incoming_email_address'] = "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com" # Email account username # With third party providers, this is usually the full email address. # With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address. gitlab_rails['incoming_email_email'] = "[email protected]" # Email account password gitlab_rails['incoming_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]" # IMAP server host gitlab_rails['incoming_email_host'] = "imap.gmail.com" # IMAP server port gitlab_rails['incoming_email_port'] = 993 # Whether the IMAP server uses SSL gitlab_rails['incoming_email_ssl'] = true # Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS gitlab_rails['incoming_email_start_tls'] = false # The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox". gitlab_rails['incoming_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
-
Reconfigure GitLab and restart mailroom for the changes to take effect:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure sudo gitlab-ctl restart mailroom
-
Verify that everything is configured correctly:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:incoming_email:check
Reply by email should now be working.
Installations from source
-
Go to the GitLab installation directory:
cd /home/git/gitlab
-
Find the
incoming_email
section inconfig/gitlab.yml
, enable the feature and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:sudo editor config/gitlab.yml
# Configuration for Postfix mail server, assumes mailbox [email protected] incoming_email: enabled: true # The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to. # The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@`). address: "incoming+%{key}@gitlab.example.com" # Email account username # With third party providers, this is usually the full email address. # With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address. user: "incoming" # Email account password password: "[REDACTED]" # IMAP server host host: "gitlab.example.com" # IMAP server port port: 143 # Whether the IMAP server uses SSL ssl: false # Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS start_tls: false # The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox". mailbox: "inbox"
# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox [email protected] incoming_email: enabled: true # The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to. # The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@`). address: "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com" # Email account username # With third party providers, this is usually the full email address. # With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address. user: "[email protected]" # Email account password password: "[REDACTED]" # IMAP server host host: "imap.gmail.com" # IMAP server port port: 993 # Whether the IMAP server uses SSL ssl: true # Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS start_tls: false # The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox". mailbox: "inbox"
-
Enable
mail_room
in the init script at/etc/default/gitlab
:sudo mkdir -p /etc/default echo 'mail_room_enabled=true' | sudo tee -a /etc/default/gitlab
-
Restart GitLab:
sudo service gitlab restart
-
Verify that everything is configured correctly:
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:incoming_email:check RAILS_ENV=production
Reply by email should now be working.
Development
Go to the GitLab installation directory.
-
Find the
incoming_email
section inconfig/gitlab.yml
, enable the feature and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox [email protected] incoming_email: enabled: true # The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to. # The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@`). address: "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com" # Email account username # With third party providers, this is usually the full email address. # With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address. user: "[email protected]" # Email account password password: "[REDACTED]" # IMAP server host host: "imap.gmail.com" # IMAP server port port: 993 # Whether the IMAP server uses SSL ssl: true # Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS start_tls: false # The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox". mailbox: "inbox"
As mentioned, the part after
+
is ignored, and this will end up in the mailbox for[email protected]
. -
Uncomment the
mail_room
line in yourProcfile
:mail_room: bundle exec mail_room -q -c config/mail_room.yml
-
Restart GitLab:
bundle exec foreman start
-
Verify that everything is configured correctly:
bundle exec rake gitlab:incoming_email:check RAILS_ENV=development
Reply by email should now be working.