Merge Requests

Review and apply code, variables, and secrets from one environment to another.

Overview

Merge requests let you review environment changes before applying them to another environment. They compare a source environment with a target environment, show what will change, and then apply those changes when you merge.

Use merge requests to promote tested changes from dev, staging, or a feature environment into another environment, including protected production.

Cerebrum handles merge requests. Ask “open a merge request from feature-auth to staging” or “review merge request for feature-123” — Cerebrum will create the request or guide the review.

What a Merge Request Reviews

A merge request shows the differences between two environments:

Change type	What is reviewed
Code	Service code changes in the source environment branch compared with the target environment branch
Variables & Secrets	Variables and secrets that will be created or updated in the target environment

The target environment is not changed while the merge request is open. Changes are applied only when the merge request is merged.

How Merge Requests Work

1. Choose source and target

   Select the environment that contains the changes and the environment that should receive them.

2. Review differences

   Check code changes and Variables & Secrets changes relative to the target environment.

3. Check conflicts

   Ardor checks whether the source environment branch can be merged into the target environment branch.

4. Merge

   If there are no conflicts, Ardor merges the source environment branches into the target environment branches and applies variable changes.

Applying Changes

When you merge a request:

• Source environment code branches are merged into the target environment code branches
• Variables and secrets from the source environment are created in the target environment when they do not exist there
• Existing variables and secrets in the target environment are updated with the source environment values

After the merge, the target environment contains the reviewed code and configuration changes from the source environment.

Merge Conflicts

If code changes cannot be merged cleanly, Ardor shows the conflicts before the merge is applied. A merge request with conflicts cannot be merged until the conflicts are resolved.

Conflicts usually happen when the same code was changed differently in both the source and target environment branches. Review the conflict details, update the source or target environment, then try the merge again.

Cerebrum resolves the conflicts. Ask “there is conflicts in merge request mr-123” - Cerebrum will find the way to finish the job.

Typical Workflow

1. Make changes in dev, staging, or a feature environment
2. Test the source environment
3. Open a merge request into the environment you want to update
4. Review code, variables, and secrets changes
5. Resolve any conflicts if Ardor reports them
6. Merge the request

Best Practices

Create merge requests from tested environments

Merge from an environment where you have already verified the code and configuration.

Review variables and secrets carefully

A code change can depend on new or updated runtime configuration. Make sure the target environment will receive the variables and secrets the code expects.

Keep target environments up to date

Merging smaller, frequent changes reduces the chance of code conflicts between environment branches.

What’s Next

Environments

Learn how environments isolate code, variables, and secrets

Variables & Secrets

Configure environment-specific runtime settings

Deployments

Deploy reviewed environment changes

Services Overview

Understand services and their configuration