swiftbar-gitlab-threads

A macOS menu bar counter for the GitLab review threads still waiting on you.

CodeRabbit and colleagues leave review comments on your merge requests. GitLab only notifies you when someone mentions you, so unresolved threads pile up unseen. This plugin keeps the count in the menu bar and lets you jump straight to any thread.

🔀 6
─────────────────────────────────────────
🐰 34  ·  👤 1
─────────────────────────────────────────
platform  (16)
  design-system
  !17 (16) Update tokens for dark mode    ▸
─────────────────────────────────────────
clients / acme  (4)
  Acme Backend
  !119 (1) Reduce Sentry event volume     ▸
  Acme Mobile
  !422 (3) Fix ANR crash rate             ▸
─────────────────────────────────────────
Last check at 15:25:52 (12s ago)
Refresh now

The menu bar shows how many merge requests need attention. The dropdown groups them by GitLab group and project, and each merge request expands into its unresolved threads, previewed and linked to the exact comment anchor. Groups, projects, merge requests and threads all lead with the most recent comment, so what moved last sits at the top.

Install

brew install --cask swiftbar
brew install glab jq
glab auth login --hostname gitlab.example.com

git clone https://github.com/OwnWeb/swiftbar-gitlab-threads.git
ln -s "$PWD/swiftbar-gitlab-threads/gitlab-threads.1m.sh" ~/.swiftbar/gitlab-threads.1m.sh

On first launch SwiftBar asks for a plugin folder: point it at ~/.swiftbar.

Configuration

Self-hosted instances need one line of configuration:

mkdir -p ~/.config
echo 'GITLAB_HOST=gitlab.example.com' > ~/.config/swiftbar-gitlab-threads.conf

Variable	Default	Purpose
GITLAB_HOST	glab config get host	GitLab instance, must match the host you ran glab auth login against
BOT_AUTHOR	coderabbitai	Username counted as a bot in the 🐰 / 👤 split

The config file is sourced by the plugin, so environment variables work too.

Marking merge requests as seen

Open a merge request's submenu and pick Mark as seen: it leaves the menu bar count and moves to the Seen submenu at the bottom, where you can send it back to the inbox at any time.

Marking records the id of the newest note on the merge request. A later comment carries a higher id, which is what brings the merge request back on its own. Resolving a thread only lowers that id, so it does not resurface.

How it works

glab runs one GraphQL query for your open merge requests and their discussions, keeping the threads that are resolvable and still unresolved. Each thread is attributed to whoever commented last: if that is you, the ball is in someone else's court, but the thread still counts as open.

Rendering never blocks. The script prints a cached menu in about 40ms and fetches in the background when the cache is older than 30 seconds, so opening the menu is instant even though the query takes a few seconds. A failed check leaves the last known state in place and adds a red line with the time and the cause.

Requirements

macOS, SwiftBar, glab, jq.

Tests

./test.sh exercises the seen rule against a fixed payload, no network needed.

License

MIT