  This review highlights the role of the Gaia space mission in transforming
white dwarf research. These stellar remnants constitute 5-7% of the local
stellar population in volume, yet before Gaia the lack of trigonometric
parallaxes hindered their identification. The mission's Data Release 2 in 2018
provided the first unbiased colour-absolute magnitude diagram of the local
stellar population, identifying 260,000 white dwarfs, with the number later
increasing to over 355,000 in Data Release 3. Since then, more than 400 white
dwarf studies have made critical use of Gaia data, establishing it as a
fundamental resource for white dwarf identification, fundamental parameter
determination and more recently spectral type characterisation. The review
underscores the routine reliance on Gaia parallaxes and extensive use of its
photometry in white dwarf surveys. We also discuss recent discoveries firmly
grounded in Gaia data, including white dwarf mergers, exotic compact binaries
and evolved planetary systems.
