The handbook started when GitLab was a company of just ten people to make sharing information efficient and easy. We knew that future GitLab team-members wouldn’t be able to see emails about process changes that were being sent before they joined and that most of the people who would eventually join GitLab likely hadn’t even heard of us yet. The handbook was our way of ensuring that all of our company information was accessible to everyone regardless of when they became part of the team.
At GitLab our handbook is extensive and keeping it relevant is an important part of everyone’s job. It is a vital part of who we are and how we communicate. We established these processes because we saw these benefits:
One common concern newcomers to the handbook express is that the strict documentation makes the company more rigid. In fact, writing down our current process in the handbook has the effect of empowering contributors to propose change. As a result, this handbook is far from rigid. You only need to look at the handbook changelog to see the evidence. Every attempt is made to document guidelines and processes in the handbook. However, it is not possible to document every possible situation or scenario that could potentially occur. Just because something is not yet in the handbook does not mean that it is allowed. GitLab will review each team member’s concern or situation based on local laws to determine the best outcome and then update the handbook accordingly. If you have questions, please discuss with your manager or contact the People Success team.
The handbook is subject to interpretation. We do our best to be as clear as possible to minimize confusion and/or misinterpretation. We also recognize that we have a global audience and that may bring different interpretations. If you have any questions or need further clarification please check with the content owner of the page. When in doubt please reach out and ask.
Remember that everything is in draft at GitLab and subject to change, this includes our handbook.
It’s easy to see that the handbook is large, but have you ever wondered just how large? The handbook is over two thousand pages long. That’s a lot of good info!
| Date | Word Count | Page Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-01-01 | 298,806 | 228 | |
| 2018-10-01 | 427,929 | 335 | |
| 2019-01-01 | 520,519 | 439 | |
| 2019-04-01 | 656,668 | 586 | |
| 2019-07-01 | 818,064 | 766 | |
| 2019-10-01 | 987,397 | 884 | |
| 2020-01-01 | 1,204,642 | 1,035 | |
| 2020-04-01 | 1,491,017 | 1,222 | |
| 2020-07-01 | 1,851,350 | 1,488 | |
| 2020-10-01 | 2,166,627 | 1,759 | |
| 2021-01-01 | 2,410,554 | 1,914 | |
| 2021-04-01 | 2,615,372 | 2,056 | |
| 2021-07-01 | 2,956,781 | 2,271 | |
| 2021-10-01 | 3,138,952 | 2,355 | |
| 2022-01-01 | 3,280,108 | 2,395 | |
| 2022-04-01 | 3,474,993 | 2,553 | |
| 2022-07-01 | 3,628,280 | 2,641 | |
| 2022-10-01 | 3,732,384 | 2,724 | |
| 2023-01-01 | 3,732,186 | 2,722 | ⬅️ Last entry before migration |
| 2023-07-01 | 3,905,979 | 2,743 | |
| 2023-10-01 | 3,478,407 | 2,306 | |
| 2023-12-22 | 0 | 0 | ⬅️ Handbook Migration Complete |
| Date | Word Count | Page Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-07-01 | 150,732 | 133 | |
| 2023-10-01 | 1,909,139 | 1,403 | |
| 2024-01-01 | 3,631,360 | 3,003 | ⬅️ Migration Completed |
| 2024-11-21 | 3,906,174 | 3,131 | ⬅️ Hugo generated Live Count |
Word and page counts are determined through a simple two-step process:
find sites/handbook/source/handbook -type f -name "*.md" -o -name "*.md.erb" | xargs wc -w from the root of the repository.grep -l -r "\" * | wc -l from the root of the repository.Note: If you need to go back to an earlier version of the handbook, use git checkout `git rev-list -n 1 --first-parent --before="2021-07-02 00:00" master` specifying the next day after the day you want.
On this page you can see handbook trends and discover popular pages that you may not know about.
GitLab uses Snowplow to track handbook usage; the information can be viewed on Tableau.
We’ve gathered some information about the handbook here, but there’s still more elsewhere.
This area has traditionally been referred to as “the handbook”, but over time has grown in scope to include multiple sites, projects, repos, and types of content.
Therefore, we are using the term “content websites” here to avoid ambiguity and properly frame discussions around this scope of responsibility.
See our direction page for more.
If you need help, please see the editing handbook section, or escalation information if it’s urgent.
The GitLab Handbook is the single source of truth for how we operate at GitLab, including processes, policies, and product direction. In keeping with our value of transparency, the GitLab Handbook is entirely open to the world. We welcome feedback from the community and hope that it serves as inspiration for other current or future companies. The GitLab Handbook is also an incredible talent acquisition tool, providing candidates with valuable insight into how GitLab runs as a company.
For information on team members’ roles and responsibilities, see Content Websites page.
The Handbook is a critical part of empowering team members to do their jobs effectively. As such, we have a group of team members who assist in resolving issues affecting all team members.
If you’re looking for general help, please see the editing handbook page.
Any issues should be reported in the #handbook-escalation channel in Slack.
GitLab’s general communications practices are detailed at GitLab Communication, but beyond those we do have some channel-specific guidance available. See the list of resources below for links to other guides.
Handbook style guidance is covered primarily by the handbook markdown guide, and the editing handbook page.
In the absence of handbook-specific guidance, follow:
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