GitLab Inc. is looking to ease day-to-day work for developers that rely on its popular code hosting platform.

The startup released a new version over the weekend that aims to streamline several key aspects of software projects, starting with the task of rolling out application changes. GitLab 9.1 brings a feature called Canary Deployments that lets development teams implement a new update on a small part of their production environments to check whether everything is in order. If something goes wrong, the patch can be easily reversed with little to no impact on end-users.

It’s one of several capabilities that GitLab 9.1 provides to help avoid potential issues. Yet no matter how many measures a development team takes to vet updates, an occasional error is bound to slip through the cracks sooner or later. To address such scenarios, the new version brings a service desk tool for communicating with users.

According to GitLab, the feature provides the ability to set up a channel for sharing bug reports, feature requests and feedback that can be checked directly from within its platform. The goal is to reduce developers’ reliance on third-party support tools that need to run separately from the environment where they do their work. A similar motive lies behind Burndown Charts, the third major addition in the new release, which in turn aims to substitute external project management tools.

The feature lets teams track the progress of their work using a line graph that drops every time a task is completed until meeting the horizontal axis. It should complement Deploy Board, a console introduced in the previous release that can be used to monitor an update as it’s rolled out to production. GitLab is constantly adding new features in a bid to stay ahead of the industry curve, and more specifically rival GitHub Inc., which is likewise working to make its platform more appealing for developers.

Image: Pixabay