GitLab Documentation

Welcome to GitLab Documentation.

Here you can access the complete documentation for GitLab, the single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle.

Overview

No matter how you use GitLab, we have documentation for you.

Essential Documentation	Essential Documentation
User Documentation Discover features and concepts for GitLab users.	Administrator documentation Everything GitLab self-managed administrators need to know.
Contributing to GitLab At GitLab, everyone can contribute!	New to Git and GitLab? We have resources to get you started.
Building an integration with GitLab? Consult our automation and integration documentation.	Coming to GitLab from another platform? Consult our handy guides.
Install GitLab Installation options for different platforms.	Subscribe to GitLab Get access to more features.
Update GitLab Update your GitLab self-managed instance to the latest version.	GitLab Releases What's new in GitLab.

Popular Documentation

Have a look at some of our most popular documentation resources:

Popular Topic	Description
Configuring .gitlab-ci.yml	Complete syntax documentation for configuring your CI pipelines.
GitLab CI/CD examples	Get up to speed quickly with common CI/CD scenarios.
GitLab Container Registry	Host containers within GitLab.
GitLab Pages	Host static websites for your projects with GitLab.
GitLab.com settings	Settings for GitLab.com.
Kubernetes integration	Use GitLab with Kubernetes.
SSH authentication	Secure your network communications.
Using Docker images	Build and test your applications with Docker.

The entire DevOps Lifecycle

GitLab is the first single application for software development, security, and operations that enables Concurrent DevOps, making the software lifecycle faster and radically improving the speed of business.

GitLab provides solutions for all the stages of the DevOps lifecycle:

GitLab is like a top-of-the-line kitchen for making software. As the executive chef, you decide what software you want serve. Using your recipe, GitLab handles all the prep work, cooking, and delivery, so you can turn around orders faster than ever.

The following sections provide links to documentation for each DevOps stage:

DevOps Stage	Documentation for
Manage	Statistics and analytics features.
Plan	Project planning and management features.
Create	Source code and data creation and management features.
Verify	Testing, code quality, and continuous integration features.
Package	Docker container registry.
Release	Application release and delivery features.
Configure	Application and infrastructure configuration tools.
Monitor	Application monitoring and metrics features.
Secure	Security capability features.

Manage

GitLab provides statistics and insight into ways you can maximize the value of GitLab in your organization.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Manage stage:

Manage Topics	Description
Authentication and Authorization [CORE ONLY]	Supported authentication and authorization providers.
GitLab Cycle Analytics	Measure the time it takes to go from an idea to production for each project you have.
Instance Statistics	Discover statistics on how many GitLab features you use and user activity.

Plan

Whether you use Waterfall, Agile, or Conversational Development, GitLab streamlines your collaborative workflows.

Visualize, prioritize, coordinate, and track your progress your way with GitLab’s flexible project management tools.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Plan stage:

Plan Topics	Description
Burndown Charts [STARTER]	Watch your project's progress throughout a specific milestone.
Discussions	Threads, comments, and resolvable discussions in issues, commits, and merge requests.
Due Dates	Keep track of issue deadlines.
Epics [ULTIMATE]	Tracking groups of issues that share a theme.
Issues, including confidential issues, issue and merge request templates, and moving issues	Project issues, restricting access to issues, create templates for submitting new issues and merge requests, and moving issues between projects.
Labels	Categorize issues or merge requests with descriptive labels.
Milestones	Set milestones for delivery of issues and merge requests, with optional due date.
Project Issue Board	Display issues on a Scrum or Kanban board.
Quick Actions	Shortcuts for common actions on issues or merge requests, replacing the need to click buttons or use dropdowns in GitLab's UI.
Related Issues [STARTER]	Create a relationship between issues.
Roadmap [ULTIMATE]	Visualize epic timelines.
Service Desk [PREMIUM]	A simple way to allow people to create issues in your GitLab instance without needing their own user account.
Time Tracking	Track time spent on issues and merge requests.
Todos	Keep track of work requiring attention with a chronological list displayed on a simple dashboard.

Create

Consolidate source code into a single distributed version control system that’s easily managed and controlled without disrupting your workflow.

GitLab’s Git repositories come complete with branching tools and access controls, providing a scalable, single source of truth for collaborating on projects and code.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Create stage:

Projects and Groups

Create Topics - Projects and Groups	Description
Advanced global search [STARTER]	Leverage Elasticsearch for faster, more advanced code search across your entire GitLab instance.
Advanced syntax search [STARTER]	Use advanced queries for more targeted search results.
Contribution analytics [STARTER]	See detailed statistics of group contributors.
Create and fork projects, and import and export projects between instances	Create, duplicate, and move projects.
File locking [PREMIUM]	Lock files to avoid merge conflicts.
GitLab Pages	Build, test, and deploy your static website with GitLab Pages.
Groups and Subgroups	Organize your projects in groups.
Issues Analytics [PREMIUM]	Check how many issues were created per month.
Projects, including project access and settings	Host source code, and control your project's visibility and set configuration.
Search through GitLab	Search for issues, merge requests, projects, groups, and todos.
Snippets	Snippets allow you to create little bits of code.
Web IDE	Edit files within GitLab's user interface.
Wikis	Enhance your repository documentation with built-in wikis.

Repositories

Create Topics - Repositories	Description
Branches and the default branch	How to use branches in GitLab.
Commits and signing commits	Work with commits, and use GPG to sign your commits.
Create branches, create and upload files, and create directories	Create branches, create and upload files, and create directories within GitLab.
Delete merged branches	Bulk delete branches after their changes are merged.
File templates	File templates for common files.
Files	Files management.
Jupyter Notebook files	GitLab's support for .ipynb files.
Protected branches	Use protected branches.
Push rules [STARTER]	Additional control over pushes to your projects.
Repositories	Manage source code repositories in GitLab's user interface.
Repository mirroring [STARTER]	Push to or pull from repositories outside of GitLab
Start a merge request	Start merge request when committing via GitLab's user interface.

Merge Requests

Create Topics - Merge Requests	Description
Checking out merge requests locally	Tips for working with merge requests locally.
Cherry-picking	Use GitLab for cherry-picking changes.
Merge request discussion resolution	Resolve discussions, move discussions in a merge request to an issue, and only allow merge requests to be merged if all discussions are resolved.
Merge requests	Merge request management.
Work In Progress "WIP" merge requests	Prevent merges of work-in-progress merge requests.

Integration and Automation

Create Topics - Integration and Automation	Description
GitLab API	Integrate GitLab via a simple and powerful API.
GitLab Integration	Integrate with multiple third-party services with GitLab to allow external issue trackers and external authentication.
GitLab Webhooks	Let GitLab notify you when new code has been pushed to your project.
JIRA Development Panel [PREMIUM]	See GitLab information in the JIRA Development Panel.
Project Services	Integrate a project with external services, such as CI and chat.
Trello Power-Up	Integrate with GitLab's Trello Power-Up.

Verify

Spot errors sooner, improve security and shorten feedback cycles with built-in static code analysis, code testing, code quality, dependency checking, and Review Apps. Customize your approval workflow controls, automatically test the quality of your code, and spin up a staging environment for every code change.

GitLab Continuous Integration is the most popular next generation testing system that scales to run your tests faster.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Verify stage:

Verify Topics	Description
Code Quality reports [STARTER]	Analyze source code quality.
GitLab CI/CD	Explore the features and capabilities of Continuous Integration with GitLab.
JUnit test reports	Display JUnit test reports on merge requests.
Multi-project pipelines [PREMIUM]	Visualize entire pipelines that span multiple projects, including all cross-project inter-dependencies.
Pipeline Graphs	Visualize builds.
Review Apps	Preview changes to your application right from a merge request.

Package

GitLab Container Registry gives you the enhanced security and access controls of custom Docker images without 3rd party add-ons. Easily upload and download images from GitLab CI/CD with full Git repository management integration.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Package stage:

Package Topics	Description
GitLab Container Registry	Learn how to use GitLab's built-in Container Registry.
GitLab Packages [PREMIUM]	Use GitLab as an NPM registry or Maven repository.

Release

Spend less time configuring your tools, and more time creating. Whether you’re deploying to one server or thousands, build, test, and release your code confidently and securely with GitLab’s built-in Continuous Delivery and Deployment.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Release stage:

Release Topics	Description
Auto Deploy	Configure GitLab for the deployment of your application.
Canary Deployments [PREMIUM]	Employ a popular CI strategy where a small portion of the fleet is updated to the new version first.
Deploy Boards [PREMIUM]	View the current health and status of each CI environment running on Kubernetes, displaying the status of the pods in the deployment.
Environments and deployments	With environments, you can control the continuous deployment of your software within GitLab.
Environment-specific variables [PREMIUM]	Limit scope of variables to specific environments.
GitLab CI/CD	Explore the features and capabilities of Continuous Deployment and Delivery with GitLab.
GitLab Pages	Build, test, and deploy a static site directly from GitLab.
Protected Runners	Select Runners to only pick jobs for protected branches and tags.
Scheduled Pipelines	Execute pipelines on a schedule.

Configure

Automate your entire workflow from build to deploy and monitoring with GitLab Auto DevOps. Best practice templates get you started with minimal to zero configuration. Then customize everything from buildpacks to CI/CD.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Configure stage:

Configure Topics	Description
Auto DevOps	Automatically employ a complete DevOps lifecycle.
Easy creation of Kubernetes clusters on GKE	Use Google Kubernetes Engine and GitLab.
Executable Runbooks	Documented procedures that explain how to carry out particular processes.
GitLab ChatOps	Interact with CI/CD jobs through chat services.
Installing Applications	Deploy Helm, Ingress, and Prometheus on Kubernetes.
Mattermost slash commands	Enable and use slash commands from within Mattermost.
Multiple Kubernetes Clusters [PREMIUM]	Associate more than one Kubernetes clusters to your project.
Protected variables	Restrict variables to protected branches and tags.
Serverless	Run serverless workloads on Kubernetes.
Slack slash commands	Enable and use slash commands from within Slack.

Monitor

Ensure your applications are always responsive and available.

GitLab collects and displays performance metrics for deployed applications so you can know in an instant how code changes impact your production environment.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Monitor stage:

Monitor Topics	Description
GitLab Performance Monitoring [CORE ONLY]	Use InfluxDB and Grafana to monitor the performance of your GitLab instance (will be eventually replaced by Prometheus).
GitLab Prometheus [CORE ONLY]	Configure the bundled Prometheus to collect various metrics from your GitLab instance.
Health check	GitLab provides liveness and readiness probes to indicate service health and reachability to required services.
Prometheus project integration	Configure the Prometheus integration per project and monitor your CI/CD environments.
Prometheus metrics	Let Prometheus collect metrics from various services, like Kubernetes, NGINX, NGINX ingress controller, HAProxy, and Amazon Cloud Watch.

Secure

Check your application for security vulnerabilities that may lead to unauthorized access, data leaks, and denial of services. GitLab will perform static and dynamic tests on the code of your application, looking for known flaws and report them in the merge request so you can fix them before merging. Security teams can use dashboards to get a high-level view on projects and groups, and start remediation processes when needed.

The following documentation relates to the DevOps Secure stage:

Secure Topics	Description
Container Scanning [ULTIMATE]	Use Clair to scan docker images for known vulnerabilities.
Dependency Scanning [ULTIMATE]	Analyze your dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) [ULTIMATE]	Analyze running web applications for known vulnerabilities.
Group Security Dashboard [ULTIMATE]	View vulnerabilities in all the projects in a group and its subgroups.
License Management [ULTIMATE]	Search your project's dependencies for their licenses.
Project Security Dashboard [ULTIMATE]	View the latest security reports for your project.
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) [ULTIMATE]	Analyze source code for known vulnerabilities.

Subscribe to GitLab

There are two ways to use GitLab:

• GitLab self-managed: Install, administer, and maintain your own GitLab instance.
• GitLab.com: GitLab's SaaS offering. You don't need to install anything to use GitLab.com, you only need to sign up and start using GitLab straight away.

For more information on managing your subscription and Customers Portal account, please see Getting Started with Subscriptions.

The following sections outline tiers and features within GitLab self-managed and GitLab.com.

GitLab self-managed

With GitLab self-managed, you deploy your own GitLab instance on-premises or on a cloud of your choice. GitLab self-managed is available for free and with paid subscriptions in the following tiers:

Tier	Includes
Core	Core features.
Starter	Core and Starter features.
Premium	Core, Starter, and Premium features.
Ultimate	Core, Starter, Premium, and Ultimate features.

The following resources are available for more information on GitLab self-managed:

• Feature comparison, for information on what features are available at each tier.
• GitLab pricing page, for subscription information and a free trial.
• Our product marketing page, for additional information including:
  • How different tiers are licensed.
  • The different GitLab distributions.

GitLab.com

GitLab.com is hosted, managed, and administered by GitLab, Inc., with free and paid subscriptions for individuals and teams in the following tiers:

Tier	Includes same features available in
Free	Core self-managed tier.
Bronze	Starter self-managed tier.
Silver	Premium self-managed tier.
Gold	Ultimate self-managed tier.

GitLab.com subscriptions grant access to the same features available in GitLab self-managed, except administration tools and settings.

GitLab.com allows you to apply your subscription to a group or your personal user.

When applied to a group, the group, all subgroups, and all projects under the selected group on GitLab.com will have the features of the associated plan. It is recommended to go with a group plan when managing projects and users of an organization.

When associated with a personal userspace instead, all projects will have features with the subscription applied, but as it is not a group, group features will not be available.

TIP: Tip: To support the open source community and encourage the development of open source projects, GitLab grants access to Gold features for all GitLab.com public projects, regardless of the subscription.

The following resources are available for more information on GitLab.com:

• Feature comparison, for information on what features are available at each tier.
• GitLab pricing page, for subscription information and a free trial.
• Our product marketing page, for additional information including:
  • How different tiers are licensed.
  • The different GitLab distributions.

New to Git and GitLab?

Working with new systems can be daunting.

We have the following documentation to rapidly uplift your GitLab knowledge:

Topic	Description
GitLab basics guides	Start working on the command line and with GitLab.
GitLab Workflow and overview	Enhance your workflow with the best of GitLab Workflow.
Get started with GitLab CI/CD	Quickly implement GitLab CI/CD.
Auto DevOps	Learn more about GitLab's Auto DevOps.
GitLab Markdown	GitLab's advanced formatting system (GitLab Flavored Markdown)

User account

Learn more about GitLab account management:

Topic	Description
User account	Manage your account.
Authentication	Account security with two-factor authentication, set up your ssh keys, and deploy keys for secure access to your projects.
Profile settings	Manage your profile settings, two factor authentication, and more.
User permissions	Learn what each role in a project can do.

Git and GitLab

Learn more about using Git, and using Git with GitLab:

Topic	Description
Git	Getting started with Git, branching strategies, Git LFS, and advanced use.
Git cheatsheet	Download a PDF describing the most used Git operations.
GitLab Flow	Explore the best of Git with the GitLab Flow strategy.

Coming to GitLab from another platform

If you are coming to GitLab from another platform, you'll find the following information useful:

Topic	Description
Importing to GitLab	Import your projects from GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab.com, FogBugz, and SVN into GitLab.
Migrating from SVN	Convert a SVN repository to Git and GitLab.

Building an integration with GitLab

There are many ways to integrate with GitLab, including:

Topic	Description
GitLab API	Integrate GitLab via a simple and powerful API.
Integrations and automation	All GitLab integration and automation options.

Contributing to GitLab

GitLab Community Edition is open source and GitLab Enterprise Edition is open-core.

Learn how to contribute to GitLab with the following resources:

Topic	Description
Development	How to contribute to GitLab development.
Legal	Contributor license agreements.
Writing documentation	How to contribute to GitLab Docs.