• Emoji reactions for comments
• Custom emoji
  • Upload custom emoji to a group

Emoji reactions

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• Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
• Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

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• Renamed from “award emoji” to “emoji reactions” in GitLab 16.0.
• Reacting with emoji on work items (such as tasks, objectives, and key results) introduced in GitLab 16.0.
• Reacting with emoji on design discussion comments introduced in GitLab 16.2.

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When you’re collaborating online, you get fewer opportunities for high-fives and thumbs-ups. React with emoji on:

• Issues.
• Tasks.
• Merge requests and snippets.
• Epics.
• Objectives and key results.
• Anywhere else you can have a comment thread.

Emoji reactions make it much easier to give and receive feedback without a long comment thread.

“Thumbs up” and “thumbs down” emoji are used to calculate an issue or merge request’s position when sorting by popularity.

For information on the relevant API, see Emoji reactions API.

Emoji reactions for comments

Emoji reactions can also be applied to individual comments when you want to celebrate an accomplishment or agree with an opinion.

To add an emoji reaction:

1. In the upper-right corner of the comment, select the smile ({{< icon name=”slight-smile” >}}).
2. Select an emoji from the emoji picker.

To remove an emoji reaction, select the emoji again.

Custom emoji

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• Introduced for GraphQL API in GitLab 13.6 with a flag named custom_emoji. Disabled by default.
• Enabled on GitLab.com in GitLab 14.0.
• UI to add emoji introduced in GitLab 16.2.
• Enabled on GitLab Self-Managed in GitLab 16.7.
• Generally available in GitLab 16.9. Feature flag custom_emoji removed.

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Custom emoji show in the emoji picker everywhere you can react with emoji.

To add an emoji reaction to a comment or description:

1. Select Add reaction ({{< icon name=”slight-smile” >}}).
2. Select the GitLab logo ({{< icon name=”tanuki” >}}) or scroll down to the Custom section.
3. Select an emoji from the emoji picker.

To use them in a text box, type the filename between two colons. For example, :thank-you:.

Upload custom emoji to a group

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• Introduced in GitLab 16.5.

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Upload your custom emoji to a group to use them in all its subgroups and projects.

Prerequisites:

• You must at least have the developer role for the group.

To upload custom emoji:

1. On a description or a comment, select Add reaction ({{< icon name=”slight-smile” >}}).
2. At the bottom of the emoji picker, select Create new emoji.
3. Enter a name and URL for the custom emoji.
4. Select Save.

You can also upload custom emoji to a GitLab instance with the GraphQL API. For more information, see Use custom emoji with GraphQL.