Frontend Development Guidelines
This document describes various guidelines to ensure consistency and quality across GitLab's frontend team.
Overview
GitLab is built on top of Ruby on Rails using Haml with Hamlit. Be wary of the limitations that come with using Hamlit. We also use SCSS and plain JavaScript with modern ECMAScript standards supported through Babel and ES module support through webpack.
We also utilize webpack to handle the bundling, minification, and compression of our assets.
Working with our frontend assets requires Node (v4.3 or greater) and Yarn (v0.17 or greater). You can find information on how to install these on our installation guide.
jQuery is used throughout the application's JavaScript, with Vue.js for particularly advanced, dynamic elements.
Browser Support
For our currently-supported browsers, see our requirements.
Architecture
How we go about making fundamental design decisions in GitLab's frontend team or make changes to our frontend development guidelines.
Testing
How we write frontend tests, run the GitLab test suite, and debug test related issues.
Design Patterns
Common JavaScript design patterns in GitLab's codebase.
Vue.js Best Practices
Vue specific design patterns and practices.
Style Guides
JavaScript Style Guide
We use eslint to enforce our JavaScript style guides. Our guide is based on the excellent Airbnb style guide with a few small changes.
SCSS Style Guide
Our SCSS conventions which are enforced through scss-lint.
Performance
Best practices for monitoring and maximizing frontend performance.
Security
Frontend security practices.
Accessibility
Our accessibility standards and resources.