Frontend Vision Group

Attributes

Context

Currently, our frontend development guidelines only document features and practices we are currently using in production. There is no clear documentation about what we see as a desired state of the frontend at GitLab, nor guidelines regarding practices we plan to deprecate. It would be nice to define a set of high-level expectations regarding frontend architecture, tech stack, and best practices as we see them in the scope of three years from now. Here is a non-exhaustive list of topics we should discuss:

• Single-Page Application vs Multi-Page Application vs hybrid approach (multiple SPA’s that handle some functionality).
• Server-Side rendering
• Technical stack (frontend framework, state management approach, testing levels and tools)
• Real-time features, optimistic updates, frontend caching and “snappy GitLab experience” overall
• Exception process when certain group requires the tool that deviates from the main strategy

Exit Criteria

Updates are being tracked every other week within https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/419576.

1. Add introduction page to frontend documentation, explaining direction and high-level overview of the frontend codebase/architecture.
2. Include evolution of codebase over three year horizon.
3. List frontend technologies used and the design principals that guide the frontend team’s work.
4. Explicitely define deprecation/removal plans, including why these features are being deprecated.
5. Communicate outcome to the broader frontend functional group.
6. Discuss and document communication plan, including frequency of updates from working group.
7. Document the requirements for reusable components outside of GitLab UI.
8. Determine DRIs around specific parts of frontend documentation.
9. Determine how the exception to the main strategy process will work, and if there is a need for a separate area for “wild” ideas.
10. Determine evaluation and decision-making process for RFCs.

Exit Criteria Progress

Roles and Responsibilities

View page source - Edit this page - please contribute.