Checked October 19, 2026

GitLab™ merge requests in IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and other JetBrains IDEs

JetBrains IDEs have GitLab merge request support built in: IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, PhpStorm, GoLand, CLion and Rider have had it since 2023.2, and many readers need no plugin. JetBrains' issue tracker lists what is still open (merge requests across projects, a Request changes action, applying suggested changes, pipelines), and Marketplace has plugins that cover some of it. These are the general options for reviewing GitLab merge requests that we found.

Disclosure: Lesstep makes one of them (Merge Request Inbox for GitLab). The others are described from JetBrains' help and issue tracker and from their JetBrains Marketplace pages (descriptions, change notes, version lists and US prices) and, where linked, their own README. Where those do not say something, this page says "not stated in its description" instead of guessing. GITLAB is a trademark of GitLab Inc. in the United States and other countries and regions. Merge Request Inbox for GitLab is not affiliated, endorsed, sponsored, or approved with or by GitLab Inc. Corrections are welcome at support@lesstep.com. 日本語

Which one fits

You want to list, comment on, approve and merge from the IDE: start with the built-in support. It is part of the IDE, and JetBrains' help says it supports GitLab 14.0 and later.
You need merge requests across projects or a group, request changes, applying suggestions, or a CI view listing a project's builds: these are open requests for the built-in support. Cockpit for GitLab covers all projects of an instance, request changes and pipelines with retry and cancel; JetLab lists request changes and applying suggestions; Sciak Flow and MerryLab show pipelines with job logs; Merge Request Inbox (ours) lists merge requests from the open projects, their group or the instance.
Your Self-Managed GitLab is older than 17: the built-in support names 14.0 and later and JetLab 12.x or later (its Request Changes needs 17.2, Premium). Cockpit for GitLab needs 17 or later. MerryLab, Sciak Flow and Merge Request Inbox (ours) do not state a minimum version; we tested ours against GitLab CE 18.11 and 19.5 (October 22, 2026), not against anything older.
You are on IDE 2024.3 to 2025.2: the built-in support is there (multiline comments need 2026.1). Marketplace offers no version of JetLab for these; MerryLab offers version 2026.07.21 to all three, Sciak Flow has versions for 2025.1 and 2025.2 (not 2024.3), Cockpit for GitLab starts at 2025.2, and Merge Request Inbox (ours) at 2024.1.
You want a free plugin: Cockpit for GitLab and Sciak Flow. Merge Request Inbox (ours) is free for reading. JetLab and MerryLab are paid.
You want AI agent hooks: JetLab lists an MCP server, an "AI Review" action and text improvement with your own API key; Sciak Flow's change notes list MCP tools.
You mainly review, want the review requests of your open projects, their group or the instance in one list with what is new to you, and want no AI features and no telemetry: Merge Request Inbox for GitLab (Lesstep's). Cockpit for GitLab, free, also lists review requests across an instance.

The main options

Built into JetBrains IDEs (since 2023.2)

IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, PhpStorm, GoLand, CLion and Rider since 2023.2, according to their What's New pages; the help of RubyMine, DataGrip, RustRover and DataSpell has the same pages (start version not stated). Bundled and enabled by default; the help marks no edition limit.
GitLab: GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition 14.0 and later, according to the help, which does not use the names GitLab.com, Self-Managed or Dedicated. Sign-in in the help is a personal access token (scopes api and read_user); OAuth sign-in is in the 2026.3 early-access builds (IJPL-201684); for a server other than gitlab.com, JetBrains says there that an OAuth application has to be set up on that server. Multiline comments need IDE 2026.1 or later (IJPL-82603) and GitLab 18.6 or later; saving comments as drafts needs GitLab 16.3 or later (IJPL-148909).
Merge requests: A list with filters (state, author, assignee, reviewer, label), overview and timeline. Checking out the branch starts Review mode, with changes and comments in the diff and the editor. Comment, save as draft, reply, resolve, react, attach files; Approve or Submit a review, Revoke Approval, Request Review, Merge, Squash and Merge, Close; create merge requests. Files can be marked as viewed (kept in the IDE since 2024.1, IJPL-81408), and the details show one line for the jobs of the merge request's head pipeline, with a list that opens each job on GitLab (IJPL-84261, fixed in 2023.2.2; what it reads, in its source). Help: review, create and merge.
Also: Clone and share projects, GitLab snippets and CI/CD configuration file support, per the help.
Open requests: In JetBrains' issue tracker on October 19, 2026: merge requests across projects or a group (IJPL-82840, Open); a Request changes action (IJPL-160672, Open); applying suggested changes (IJPL-82601, In Design); a CI view listing a project's builds with their status, restart and cancel (IJPL-82612, Backlog); syncing viewed marks with GitLab (IJPL-162283, Shelved); a TLS client certificate for an account (IJPL-84200, Open).
Price: Part of the IDE; no separate price.

JetLab — Integration for GitLab

IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA and other JetBrains IDEs; its description names WebStorm, PyCharm, Rider, PhpStorm, Android Studio, GoLand, RubyMine, CLion, DataGrip, DataSpell and AppCode. Builds for 2025.3 and later (version 2026.3.4 on 2026.2, October 12, 2026); Marketplace offers no version for 2024.3, 2025.1 or 2025.2. Some features below differ by build.
GitLab: GitLab.com and GitLab Self-Managed 12.x or later, according to its description; Dedicated is not stated. Per its change notes, Request Changes needs GitLab 17.2 or later (Premium).
Merge requests: Review diffs with inline comments and discussions; iterative reviews (see what changed since your last review); create, approve, merge and close; check out the branch and browse comments in the editor. Its change notes add Request Changes, Re-request review, applying suggestions, resolving threads, draft comments and, in version 2026.3.4 (its 2026.2 build), an "Awaiting My Review" filter.
Also: GitLab issues, linked with merge requests. AI: an "AI Review" action (version 2026.3.3, September 2026; not on its 2025.3 build); a built-in MCP server for AI agents (in the change notes of its 2026.1 and 2026.2 builds, not its 2025.3 build); AI text improvement for comments and descriptions, which needs your own API key (all builds).
Price: Paid: $1.50 a month or $15 a year for individuals, $3 a month or $30 a year for organizations (its description does not say per user), 30-day trial.

MerryLab — Integration for GitLab

IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA, according to its description; other IDEs are not stated. Builds for 2024.1 and later: version 2026.07.21 on 2024.3 to 2025.3, version 2026.08.04 on 2026.1 and later.
GitLab: Editions and versions are not stated in its description.
Merge requests: Its description says it manages merge requests and CI/CD pipelines. Its change notes (in Chinese and English) list diffs with comments (add, reply, edit, delete), a code review mode, discussion resolution status, selecting commits, creating a merge request from the current branch and checking out its branch. Its description does not list approving or merging.
Also: Pipelines with filters and job logs. No AI features are listed in its description or change notes.
Price: Paid: $1 a month or $10 a year for individuals and for organizations, lower in later years, 30-day trial.

Cockpit for GitLab

IDEs: IntelliJ-based IDEs from 2025.2 on, according to its README (it names IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and GoLand). Marketplace offers nothing for 2024.3 or 2025.1. Its Marketplace versions start on July 15, 2026; the current one is 0.18.0 (July 30, 2026).
GitLab: gitlab.com and self-managed GitLab 17 or later, with a personal access token that has the api scope; Dedicated is not stated.
Merge requests: Browse and filter by role (author, reviewer, reviewer not yet approved) or user, across one project, every project of the instance, and multi-root repositories. Discussion threads with replies, draft reviews submitted in one go, inline comments, reviewed-files tracking, a changes-by-version selector, and a merge button with "merge when the pipeline succeeds". Per its README: approve and revoke, request changes, check out the source branch, close.
Also: Pipelines for each merge request (stages, jobs, retry, cancel, play, live logs) and notifications that work with the tool window closed. No AI features are listed in its description, README or change notes.
Price: Free; Marketplace and its README list the Apache 2.0 license.

Sciak Flow for Gitlab

IDEs: Not stated in its description. Marketplace offers a separate version line for each IDE version from 2025.1 on (18.2.0, October 18, 2026, on 2026.2; 15.0.x on 2025.1 and 2025.2) and nothing for 2024.3.
GitLab: Editions and versions are not stated in its description. It needs a personal access token with full API access.
Merge requests: Open merge requests and the files they change, diffs, comments on the merge request and on files, comments shown in the diff; create, update, approve, merge and close. Per its description it does not support projects with several repositories.
Also: Pipelines: list, jobs, job log, cancel and restart. Its change notes list MCP tools for AI agents from version 16.4.0 (its 2025.3 build and later): issues, creating merge requests, pipeline jobs and job logs, and from 17.0.0 commenting on merge requests. They also mention "ai" skills for code review and merge request descriptions, which are not described.
Price: Free; Marketplace lists the MIT license.

Merge Request Inbox for GitLab (Lesstep)

IDEs: 2024.1 and later: IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, Rider and the other JetBrains IDEs with Git, and Android Studio Koala (2024.1.1) and later.
GitLab: GitLab.com and GitLab Self-Managed (Free tier and up). A minimum Self-Managed version and GitLab Dedicated are not stated on its page; its page says the paid actions were tested against GitLab CE 18.11 and 19.5.
Merge requests: An inbox of the merge requests waiting for your review, from the projects you have open, their group (subgroups included) or the whole instance, with what is new to you; every changed file in one diff window; viewed marks; discussion threads in the diff, with open ones at the top and resolved ones folded away; merge checks in plain words with the pipeline; check out the source branch, also from a fork.
Also: Focused on merge requests. No AI features and no telemetry; the token stays in the IDE's password safe.
Price: Reading is free. Approving, requesting changes, commenting, replying, resolving, merging, rebasing, marking as ready, closing and creating merge requests: $1.50 a month or $15 a year for individuals, $3 a month or $30 a year per user for organizations, 30-day trial.

Install it from JetBrains Marketplace

Smaller or narrower entries also exist. AOne GitLab Connect (free) is a beta (1.0.0-beta.1, July 25, 2026) for IDE 2026.2 and later; its description says GitLab 13.x to 19.x and lists merge request details and pipeline status. GitLab MR (free; not published by GitLab, Inc.) needs IDE 2024.2 or later; its description lists merge requests with filters, changed files in the IDE's diff viewer, and creating, merging and closing; comments are not stated. Git Desk (paid, $19 perpetual, 14-day trial; beta versions) covers GitHub and GitLab pull and merge requests, aggregated across the repositories you configure, with comments and reviews, next to merge sessions and worktrees. GitLab-Merge and GitLabPlus (free, short descriptions; not published by GitLab, Inc.) list creating and viewing merge requests. Merge Request Integration CE (last updated March 7, 2021) and GITMergeRequestToolBox (September 24, 2019) are not offered by Marketplace for 2024.3 to 2026.2. GitLab's own GitLab Duo (published by GitLab, Inc.) is an AI assistant for code suggestions, agents and chat; its description does not mention reviewing merge requests. Plugins built around AI code review, creating merge requests, pipelines or opening GitLab in the browser are left out; this page keeps to general tools for reviewing GitLab merge requests in the IDE.

Prices are the US year-one prices Marketplace listed on October 19, 2026 (ours on October 23, 2026); other countries and later years can differ. Dates are from the same pages (in UTC).

The built-in support's own lines, checked in its source

In its status lines and its failure messages, the built-in support shows lines of its own rather than GitLab's text. We read those lines in the source of IntelliJ IDEA's GitLab support (October 30, 2026) and put each with the page on what is behind it on the GitLab side:

Signing in: "Login failed. Check your API token or GitLab version." for any failure to read the server's version with the token, and "GitLab versions older than 14.0 are not supported." (GitLab 401 "invalid_token").
The list: "Failed to load merge requests.", and "The authorization token was revoked", which also shows for an expired token (the list of merge requests answered 400 or 404).
Creating: "Failed to create merge request", and three lines the IDE works out from your local repository: "No changes between …", "Unable to create merge request from … to …" and "Commits will be pushed to a protected branch" (why the merge request was not created).
Reviewers and approval: "Missing reviewer", "Waiting for review from …", "… approved review" and "… is waiting for updates" (why the approval was refused).
Merging: "Review has conversations that must be resolved", "Source branch must be rebased before merging", "Branch has conflicts that must be resolved", and the pipeline line, from "All required checks have passed" to "Checks failed" (why the merge was refused).

Other comparisons

Sources

JetBrains help, GitLab topics (IntelliJ IDEA): GitLab, set up a GitLab account (August 25, 2026), review incoming merge requests (June 19, 2026) and create and merge (August 17, 2026); the same topics are in the help of the other IDEs named above
JetBrains What's New: GitLab integration in IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 and the 2023.2 pages of PyCharm, WebStorm, PhpStorm, GoLand, CLion and Rider; the bundled GitLab plugin on Marketplace
JetBrains issue tracker, states on October 19, 2026: the issues linked above
Plugins: their JetBrains Marketplace pages, linked above (descriptions, change notes, version and compatibility lists, prices and trial lengths as of October 19, 2026), the README of Cockpit for GitLab (linked from its Marketplace page), and for Merge Request Inbox for GitLab its own page
How the list was made: Marketplace searches on October 19, 2026 for 48 terms, among them "gitlab", "gitlab merge request", "gitlab mr", "gitlab code review", "gitlab self-managed", "merge request", "code review" and "review requests", with and without an IDE version filter (2024.3, 2025.2 and 2026.2); every result's description was read for GitLab and merge requests. Other plugins may exist that these searches do not return.