Orbit Onboarding Compass

A GitLab Duo Agent that uses GitLab Orbit to help new contributors instantly map any codebase — key files, active owners, recent MRs, and suggested first steps.

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🧭 Orbit Onboarding Compass

The Problem

Every developer knows the feeling: you join a new GitLab project and spend hours just figuring out where to start. Which files matter? Who owns what? What's been changing? The information exists — but it's scattered across MRs, blame views, commit history, and wikis.

The Solution

Orbit Onboarding Compass is a GitLab Duo Agent powered by GitLab Orbit's knowledge graph. Invoke it in Duo Chat and it instantly maps any GitLab project for you:

  • Key Files — the 5-8 most important entry points with descriptions
  • Active Owners — contributors who merged code in the last 30 days
  • Recent Activity — last 3-5 MRs summarized: what changed and why
  • Component Map — how major components relate via Orbit graph traversal
  • Suggested First Steps — 2-3 specific issues or files to explore first

How I Built It

Built as a custom GitLab Duo Agent on the GitLab Duo Agent Platform. The agent uses a structured system prompt that drives GitLab Orbit queries via the CLI (glab orbit query) and REST API (/orbit/knowledge-graph). The skill definition lives in a SKILL.md file in the repo and is published to the AI Catalog as a reusable public agent.

Challenges

  • Learning the GitLab Orbit API and CLI query patterns from scratch
  • Structuring the agent system prompt to produce consistent, actionable output
  • Keeping the onboarding summary concise while covering all the key dimensions

What's Next

  • Add Orbit skill integration for deeper graph traversal
  • Support cross-project dependency mapping
  • Auto-generate "good first issue" recommendations based on Orbit contributor data
  • Slack/email digest mode for team leads onboarding multiple contributors

Built With

  • gitlab-cli-(glab)
  • gitlab-duo-agent-platform
  • gitlab-orbit
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