GitLab CLI (glab)

Manage GitLab projects entirely from the terminal using glab. This skill covers creating merge requests, triaging issues, running pipelines, cutting releases, and making raw API calls — all without leaving your shell.

When to Use

• Creating, reviewing, approving, or merging merge requests
• Creating, listing, updating, or closing issues and incidents
• Running, retrying, canceling, or viewing CI/CD pipelines and jobs
• Creating releases with assets and changelogs
• Cloning, forking, or managing repositories
• Managing CI/CD variables, schedules, and snippets
• Making raw REST or GraphQL API calls to GitLab
• Working with stacked diffs (experimental)
• Managing labels, milestones, deploy keys, SSH/GPG keys
• Authenticating to GitLab instances

Prerequisites

• glab installed (brew install glab, apt install glab, or see https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli)
• Authenticated via glab auth login (minimum scopes: api, write_repository)
• Inside a Git repository with a GitLab remote (or use -R OWNER/REPO to target another project)

Command Structure

glab <command> <subcommand> [flags]

All commands support -h/--help and -R/--repo OWNER/REPO (to target a different project).

Reference Guides

Topic	File	Load when...
Merge requests	references/merge-requests.md	Creating, reviewing, approving, merging, or listing MRs
Issues	references/issues.md	Creating, listing, updating, closing, or triaging issues/incidents
CI/CD pipelines & jobs	references/ci-cd.md	Running, viewing, retrying, canceling pipelines or jobs; linting CI config
Releases	references/releases.md	Creating releases, uploading assets, managing changelogs
Repo, auth & config	references/repo-and-config.md	Cloning, forking, creating repos; authenticating; configuring glab
API, variables & advanced	references/api-and-advanced.md	Making raw API calls; managing variables, snippets, schedules, stacks, labels, milestones, aliases
Writing issues & MRs	references/writing-issues-and-mrs.md	REQUIRED before creating or updating any issue or MR title/description

Core Workflows

Create a Merge Request

REQUIRED: Read references/writing-issues-and-mrs.md for full guidelines before writing titles/descriptions.

Title format: <type>[scope]: <imperative description> (closes #N) Types: feat, fix, docs, refactor, test, chore, perf, ci Max 72 chars. Imperative mood ("Add", not "Added").

# Interactive — prompts for title, description, target branch
glab mr create

# Non-interactive with conventional title, reviewers, and labels
glab mr create -t "feat(auth): add OAuth2 login (closes #123)" --yes -a assignee --reviewer reviewer1 --label "ready for review" -b main

# Draft MR for early feedback
glab mr create -f --draft

Review and Merge

glab mr list --reviewer=@me          # MRs awaiting your review
glab mr diff 42                       # View changes
glab mr approve 42                    # Approve
glab mr merge 42                      # Merge (prompts for method)

Create an Issue

REQUIRED: Read references/writing-issues-and-mrs.md for full guidelines before writing titles/descriptions.

Title format: [Type]: <specific problem/action> <context> Types: [Bug], [Feature], [Docs], [Task] 50-70 chars. Sentence case. Include location + symptom.

glab issue create -t "[Bug]: Login fails on iOS Safari 17 after timeout" -l bug,P1 -m v2.0
glab issue list --label bug --assignee=@me
glab issue close 99

Run and Monitor CI/CD

glab ci run -b main                   # Trigger pipeline on branch
glab ci status                        # Current pipeline status
glab ci view                          # Interactive pipeline viewer
glab ci retry lint                    # Retry a specific job by name
glab ci lint                          # Validate .gitlab-ci.yml

Create a Release

glab release create v1.2.0 ./dist/*.tar.gz \
  --notes "Bugfix release" \
  --milestone v1.2.0

Raw API Calls

# REST
glab api projects/:fullpath/members

# GraphQL
glab api graphql -f query='{ currentUser { username } }'

# With pagination
glab api issues --paginate --output ndjson

Manage Variables

glab variable list
glab variable set MY_SECRET "s3cret"
glab variable get MY_SECRET
glab variable delete MY_SECRET

All Top-Level Commands

Command	Purpose
glab alias	Create command shortcuts
glab api	Make authenticated REST/GraphQL API calls
glab attestation	Manage attestations
glab auth	Authenticate to GitLab instances
glab changelog	Generate changelogs
glab check-update	Check for glab updates
glab ci	Manage CI/CD pipelines and jobs
glab cluster	Manage cluster agents
glab completion	Generate shell completions (bash/zsh/fish/PowerShell)
glab config	Set and get glab configuration
glab deploy-key	Manage deploy keys
glab duo	Interact with GitLab Duo AI
glab gpg-key	Manage GPG keys
glab incident	Manage incidents
glab issue	Manage issues
glab iteration	Manage iterations
glab job	Manage CI/CD jobs
glab label	Manage labels
glab mcp	Model Context Protocol server
glab milestone	Manage milestones
glab mr	Manage merge requests
glab opentofu	OpenTofu integration
glab release	Manage releases
glab repo	Manage repositories
glab schedule	Manage pipeline schedules
glab securefile	Manage secure files
glab snippet	Manage snippets
glab ssh-key	Manage SSH keys
glab stack	Stacked diffs (experimental)
glab token	Manage personal access tokens
glab user	Interact with user accounts
glab variable	Manage CI/CD variables
glab version	Show glab version

Global Flags

Flag	Description
-h, --help	Show help for any command
-R, --repo OWNER/REPO	Target a different repository (also accepts GROUP/NAMESPACE/REPO or full URL)
-v, --version	Show glab version

Tips

• Title conventions: Always use conventional commit prefixes for MR titles (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.) and descriptive problem-statement titles for issues. See references/writing-issues-and-mrs.md.
• Auto-detection: glab reads your Git remotes to determine the GitLab project. No need to specify --repo when inside the project directory.
• Multiple instances: Use glab auth login for each GitLab host. glab picks the right credentials based on your remote URL.
• Output formats: Many list commands accept -F json for machine-readable output.
• Aliases: Create shortcuts with glab alias set mrc 'mr create --fill --yes' then use glab mrc.
• Editor: Set EDITOR or VISUAL env vars to control which editor opens for descriptions.
• Recover: Use --recover on mr create and issue create to save progress if creation fails.