Evaluate GitLab by moving one team's project through a realistic cycle: issue, branch, merge request, review, CI, deployment, and rollback. Measure where people must leave the platform and whether permissions are clear to developers and maintainers.
Choose the hosting and plan only after listing required features and support obligations. Check migration and export of issues, code, artifacts, and configuration. A unified interface can be valuable, but only when the team can recover from a failed pipeline or release without hidden manual steps.
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