GitLab Design Management — the feature that lets users attach design assets such as wireframes and mockups to issues — is deprecated and begins removal in GitLab 20.0: new uploads stop, and existing designs become read-only until GitLab 21.0

What this means for you

Design Management is the GitLab feature that lets you upload design assets — wireframes, mockups, screenshots — directly onto an issue and collaborate on them with comments and version history. GitLab announced the deprecation in the 18.6 milestone and will begin removing it in GitLab 20.0, which GitLab's own release schedule dates to 20 May 2027. From GitLab 20.0 and later, users will no longer be able to upload new designs. Existing designs stay available in read-only mode until GitLab 21.0, which is the window GitLab gives you to export and save anything you need. GitLab says the ongoing maintenance of the feature outweighed its usage and that it is focusing on solutions that better fit modern designer workflows; it has not named a built-in replacement, describing the alternatives it is "exploring" as integrations with the tools designers already use. Anyone who relies on GitLab issues as the system of record for design review — product and design teams that pin mockups to issues, agencies that hand off assets through GitLab, teams whose audit trail for design decisions lives in issue-attached designs — needs a plan to get those assets out before read-only access ends at 21.0.

Where to go

Treat GitLab 20.0 (20 May 2027) as the date new uploads stop and GitLab 21.0 as the hard deadline to have your designs saved elsewhere, because read-only access ends there. Before 20.0, audit which issues carry designs you still depend on and export them — download the assets and record the review context (comments, versions) you need to keep, since there is no automated migration to a successor feature. GitLab has not shipped an in-product replacement; it points to integrating external design tools (for example Figma or similar) into your workflow instead, so plan to move design review into whichever tool your team already uses and link back to GitLab issues rather than storing the assets inside them. Track the official removal work item for scope and timing changes.

• Export design assets to an external design tool (e.g. Figma) and link it from GitLab issues — GitLab's stated direction, though it has not named a specific built-in replacement
• Store design files in a repository or object storage and reference them from issues/merge requests