Feature Categorization

Each Sidekiq worker, Batched Background migrations, controller action, test example or API endpoint must declare a feature_category attribute. This attribute maps each of these to a feature category. This is done for error budgeting, alert routing, and team attribution.

The list of feature categories can be found in the file config/feature_categories.yml. This file is generated from the stages.yml data file used in the GitLab Handbook and other GitLab resources.

Updating config/feature_categories.yml

Occasionally new features will be added to GitLab stages, groups, and product categories. When this occurs, you can automatically update config/feature_categories.yml by running scripts/update-feature-categories. This script will fetch and parse stages.yml and generate a new version of the file, which needs to be committed to the repository.

The Observability team currently maintains the feature_categories.yml file. They will automatically be notified on Slack when the file becomes outdated.

Gemfile

For each Ruby gem dependency we should specify which feature category requires this dependency. This should clarify ownership and we can delegate upgrading to the respective group owning the feature.

Tooling feature category

For Developer Experience internal tooling we use feature_category: :tooling. For example, knapsack and gitlab-crystalball are both used to run RSpec test suites in CI and they don’t belong to any product groups.

Test platform feature category

Gems that relate to end-to-end test infrastructure are maintained by the Development Experience section. We use the feature_category: :test_platform label. For example, capybara is defined in both Gemfile and qa/Gemfile to run tests involving UI. They don’t belong to a specific product group.

Rails platform feature category

Rails core framework gems are primarily maintained by Backend Maintainers. For example, rails, and zeitwerk should be defined as :rails_platform.

Shared feature category

As part of efforts to provide good maintenance of gems, all gems must use a specific feature category. If you are uncertain about the ownership of a gem, please reach out to the #backend_maintainers channel for help.

Sidekiq workers

The declaration uses the feature_category class method, as shown below.

class SomeScheduledTaskWorker
  include ApplicationWorker

  # Declares that this worker is part of the
  # `continuous_integration` feature category