GitLab, a significant player in the open-source and DevOps communities, has announced a major restructuring as it prepares for what CEO Bill Staples calls the “agentic era” of software development, in which AI agents play a larger role in planning, coding, reviewing, deployment, and maintenance.
The “GitLab Act 2” announcement confirms the start of a restructuring process, including a voluntary separation window and workforce reductions. The platform plans to finalize its new structure by June 1, subject to local legal requirements.
Operational changes include reducing GitLab’s presence by up to 30% in countries with small teams, eliminating up to three management layers in some areas, reorganizing R&D into about 60 smaller teams, and using AI agents to automate internal reviews, approvals, and handoffs.
GitLab states that the restructuring and updated product strategy are related but distinct. The company notes its current structure was designed for an earlier phase of software development and must evolve as AI agents become more central to software creation and delivery.
The broader strategy reflects GitLab’s belief that software will increasingly be “built by machines, directed by people.” In this model, AI agents will handle planning, coding, review, deployment, and repair, while human engineers focus on architecture, product understanding, trade-offs, and judgment.
This direction builds on GitLab’s Duo Agent Platform, released in January. The company reports promising early adoption in the first quarter and plans to accelerate development in this area.
A key part of the plan is infrastructure for machine-scale software development. GitLab expects AI agents to open merge requests in parallel, trigger pipelines continuously, and push commits at rates beyond human teams. The company is therefore rebuilding parts of its platform to support agent-rate activity by default.
GitLab also plans to reimagine CI/CD as an orchestration layer for both humans and agents. Rather than processing only human-rate commits and deployments, the platform will coordinate agents throughout the software lifecycle, manage context, enforce policies, validate work, and involve humans as needed.
GitLab assures customers that support, roadmap commitments, and contractual terms will continue without disruption. Customers should expect changes in the pace and depth of product development, not immediate disruption to existing services.
GitLab is also updating its internal operating model. The company is retiring its CREDIT values framework and introducing three new principles: Speed with Quality, Ownership Mindset, and Customer Outcomes. According to the platform, the goal is to reduce bureaucracy, shorten decision paths, and increase accountability within smaller teams.
