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stage: Plan
group: Project Management
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# Use custom emojis with GraphQL **(FREE SELF)**
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/37911) in GitLab 13.6
> - [Deployed behind a feature flag](../../user/feature_flags.md), disabled by default.
> - Enabled on GitLab.com.
> - Recommended for production use.
> - To use in GitLab self-managed instances, ask a GitLab administrator to [enable it](#enable-or-disable-custom-emoji-api). **(FREE SELF)**
This in-development feature might not be available for your use. There can be
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[risks when enabling features still in development ](../../administration/feature_flags.md#risks-when-enabling-features-still-in-development ).
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Refer to this feature's version history for more details.
To use custom emoji in comments and descriptions, you can add them to a group using the GraphQL API.
Parameters:
| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
| :----------- | :------------- | :--------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `group_path` | integer/string | ** {check-circle}** Yes | ID or [URL-encoded path of the group ](../index.md#namespaced-path-encoding ) |
| `name` | string | ** {check-circle}** Yes | Name of the custom emoji. |
| `file` | string | ** {check-circle}** Yes | URL of the custom emoji image. |
## Create a custom emoji
```graphql
mutation CreateCustomEmoji($groupPath: ID!) {
createCustomEmoji(input: {groupPath: $groupPath, name: "party-parrot", file: "https://cultofthepartyparrot.com/parrots/hd/parrot.gif", external: true}) {
clientMutationId
name
errors
}
}
```
After adding custom emoji to the group, members can use it in the same way as other emoji in the comments.
## Get custom emoji for a group
```graphql
query GetCustomEmoji($groupPath: ID!) {
group(fullPath: $groupPath) {
id
customEmoji {
nodes {
name
}
}
}
}
```
## Set up the GraphiQL explorer
This procedure presents a substantive example that you can copy and paste into GraphiQL
explorer. GraphiQL explorer is available for:
- GitLab.com users at [https://gitlab.com/-/graphql-explorer ](https://gitlab.com/-/graphql-explorer ).
- Self-managed users at `https://gitlab.example.com/-/graphql-explorer` .
1. Copy the following code excerpt:
```graphql
query GetCustomEmoji {
group(fullPath: "gitlab-org") {
id
customEmoji {
nodes {
name,
url
}
}
}
}
```
1. Open the [GraphiQL explorer tool ](https://gitlab.com/-/graphql-explorer ).
1. Paste the `query` listed above into the left window of your GraphiQL explorer tool.
1. Click Play to get the result shown here:
![GraphiQL explore custom emoji query ](img/custom_emoji_query_example.png )
For more information on:
- GraphQL specific entities, such as Fragments and Interfaces, see the official
[GraphQL documentation ](https://graphql.org/learn/ ).
- Individual attributes, see the [GraphQL API Resources ](reference/index.md ).
## Enable or disable custom emoji API **(FREE SELF)**
Custom emoji is under development and but ready for production use. It is
deployed behind a feature flag that is **disabled by default** .
[GitLab administrators with access to the GitLab Rails console ](../../administration/feature_flags.md )
can enable it.
To enable it:
```ruby
Feature.enable(:custom_emoji)
```
To disable it:
```ruby
Feature.disable(:custom_emoji)
```