Foundational agents

  • Tier: Premium, Ultimate
  • Add-on: GitLab Duo Core, Pro, or Enterprise
  • Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated
  • Status: Beta

Version history

Foundational agents are specialized AI assistants that extend the capabilities of GitLab Duo Chat with domain-specific expertise and context awareness.

Unlike the general-purpose GitLab Duo agent, foundational agents understand the unique workflows, frameworks, and best practices of their specialized domains. Each agent combines deep knowledge of GitLab features with role-specific reasoning to provide targeted help that aligns with how practitioners actually work.

Foundational agents are built and maintained by GitLab and display a GitLab-maintained badge ({tanuki-verified}).

Available foundational agents

The following foundational agents are available:

  • Planner, for product management and planning workflows.
  • Security Analyst, for security analysis and vulnerability management.
  • Data Analyst, for analysis and visualization of platform data.

Duplicate an agent

To make changes to a foundational agent, create a copy of it.

Prerequisites:

  • You must have at least the Maintainer role for the project.

To duplicate an agent:

  1. On the top bar, select Search or go to > Explore.
  2. Select AI Catalog, then select the Agents tab.
  3. Select the agent you want to duplicate.
  4. In the upper-right corner, select Actions ({ellipsis_v}) > Duplicate.
  5. Under Visibility & access:
    1. From the Managed by dropdown list, select a project for the agent.
    2. For Visibility, select Private or Public.
  6. Optional. Edit any fields you want to change.
  7. Select Create agent.

A custom agent is created. To use it, you must enable it.

Turn foundational agents on or off

By default, foundational agents are turned on. You can turn them on or off for a top-level group (namespace) or for an instance.

If you turn foundational agents off by default:

  • Foundational agents that use the default configuration, including newly released agents, are turned off.
  • You can still use the default GitLab Duo Agent.

For GitLab.com

Prerequisites:

  • You must have the Owner role for the group.
  1. On the top bar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Settings > GitLab Duo.
  3. Select Change configuration.
  4. Under Foundational agents, for Default availability, select one of the following:
    • On by default
    • Off by default
  5. Under Availability settings, for each agent, select one of the following:
    • On
    • Off
    • On (default) or Off (default)
  6. Select Save changes.

These settings apply to:

  • Users who have the top-level group as the default GitLab Duo namespace.
  • Users without a default namespace, and who visit a namespace that belongs to the top-level group.

If you turn off foundational agents for a top-level group, users with that group as their default GitLab Duo namespace can't access foundational agents in any namespace.

For an instance

Prerequisites:

  • You must be an administrator.
  1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
  2. On the left sidebar, select GitLab Duo.
  3. Select Change configuration.
  4. Under Foundational agents, for Default availability, select one of the following:
    • On by default
    • Off by default
  5. Under Availability settings, for each agent, select one of the following:
    • On
    • Off
    • On (default) or Off (default)
  6. Select Save changes.