gitlab-org--gitlab-foss/doc/user/admin_area/merge_requests_approvals.md

stage	group	info	type
Create	Source Code	To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers	reference, concepts

Merge request approval rules (PREMIUM ONLY)

Introduced in GitLab Premium 12.8.

Merge request approval rules prevent users from overriding certain settings on the project level. When enabled at the instance level, these settings are no longer editable on the project level.

To enable merge request approval rules for an instance:

1. Navigate to Admin Area > {push-rules} Push Rules and expand Merge requests approvals.
2. Set the required rule.
3. Click Save changes.

Available rules

Merge request approval rules that can be set at an instance level are:

• Prevent approval of merge requests by merge request author. Prevents project maintainers from allowing request authors to merge their own merge requests.
• Prevent approval of merge requests by merge request committers. Prevents project maintainers from allowing users to approve merge requests if they have submitted any commits to the source branch.
• Prevent users from modifying merge request approvers list. Prevents users from modifying the approvers list in project settings or in individual merge requests.