What does the "Next" flag indicate on GitLab top bar?

Question

This morning when I logged into GitLab I noticed this "Next" flag on the top bar:

It appears whether I am logged in or not. What does "Next" indicate?

A Google search turns up nothing. It doesn't appear in any GitLab screen shots I am able to find either.

Answer 1

This is the canary version of Gitlab you are being served, you can find out more here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/#canary-testing

You can swap the version of Gitlab you see here: https://next.gitlab.com/?nav_source=navbar

The reasoning behind providing the Canary versions to users either at random or by those who have opt-ed in:

GitLab makes use of a 'Canary' stage. Production Canary is a series of servers running GitLab code in production environment. The Canary stage contains code functional elements like web, container registry and git servers while sharing data elements such as sidekiq, database, and file storage with production. This allows UX code and most application logic code to be consumed by smaller subset of users under real world scenarios before being made available to all users on GitLab.com.