Gitlab Api Commits Behind/Ahead Master

Question

On the Gitlab webpage you have the possibility to check how many commits a branch is behind or ahead of the master branch. My question is if it is possible to get information about this with the "gitlab API"? I checked the docs but unfortunately couldn't find anything.

Answer 1

Look for include_diverged_commits_count: "true" (default is false) in the MR API: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/merge_requests.html#get-single-mr.

The only downer (IMHO) is that this seems to be only available via the MR API, and so you need to first create a MR.

Answer 2

The specific Gitlab API that does the trick is

GET /projects/:id/repository/compare

More info at https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/repositories.html#compare-branches-tags-or-commits

Execution example to bring you number of commits that differentiates the 2 branches

curl -s --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <access_token>" "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/<project_id>/repository/compare?from=<branch_name_behind_in_commits>&to=<branch_name_ahead_in_commits>&straight=true" | jq '. | .commits | length'

1. If you want to see how many commits is master branch behind of feature branch. You should add the master to from field and feature branch at to field
2. If you want to see how many commits is master branch ahead of feature branch. You should add the feature branch to from field and master branch at to field