Issue
A Drupal issue is a tracked record in a project's issue queue, with a category, priority and status, that follows one change from report to fix.
An issue is the unit of tracked work on Drupal.org. It records one bug report, feature request, task or plan, and in some projects a support request. Every project, from Drupal core to a small module, keeps its issues in its own issue queue. People discuss the issue there, attach proposed changes and move its status until the work is done.
How issues work in Drupal 11
An issue carries a category, a priority and a status. The categories are Bug, Task, Feature request, Support request and Plan; a Plan is a meta issue that gives an overview of a problem too big for one issue. The priorities are Critical (a site becomes unusable with no workaround, data is lost, or security is exposed), Major, Normal and Minor (cosmetic).
The status shows where the issue stands. A new issue starts as Active. Once a merge request is attached, the status moves between Needs work and Needs review. When community members consider the change ready to commit, it becomes Reviewed and tested by the community (RTBC). A committed fix is set to Fixed, and Drupal.org closes it on its own after two weeks without new comments. Other statuses cover work that is Postponed and issues closed as duplicate, won't fix, works as designed, cannot reproduce or outdated.
The issue summary field has a template with these headings: Problem/Motivation, Steps to reproduce, Proposed resolution, Remaining tasks, User interface changes, Introduced terminology, API changes, Data model changes and Release notes snippet.
To work on code, you create an issue fork with the Create issue fork button below the issue summary. The fork is a temporary repository for that issue, and a merge request carries the change back.
Drupal.org is migrating project issue queues to GitLab issues on git.drupalcode.org. Its GitLab issues page, last updated on 3 September 2026, says that during the transition some projects have their issues on Drupal.org and others on GitLab. A migrated issue keeps its number, which on GitLab is unique only within the project. Maintainers still grant contribution credit on Drupal.org.
Example
A site builder sees a PHP warning from a contributed module. She searches the project's queue and finds nothing, so she files a Bug with priority Normal. The summary lists the steps to reproduce and the exact module and core versions. A developer creates an issue fork and opens a merge request, so the status moves to Needs review. After testers confirm the fix, it reaches RTBC, and a maintainer commits it and sets the issue to Fixed.
Common mistakes
- Filing without searching. Drupal.org lists searching for issues to avoid duplicates as a standard topic, and Closed (duplicate) is the status for an identical issue.
- Asking for help in a project that does not take support requests. The Support request category is answered only in some projects.
- Marking a feature request as Critical. The category page says a feature request should not be marked critical.
- Leaving out versions and steps. The template asks for detailed instructions to reproduce the problem, including the exact versions used.
For marketing and content teams
The issue queue is the public record of what is known to be broken and what is being fixed. Before you plan around a fix, open the issue and read its status and latest comments, so you know how much work is still open. Drupal.org also has a guide on how to write a good issue about software usability. The core contributor term lists other ways to help.