glab-auth

name	glab-auth
description	Manage GitLab CLI authentication including login/logout, check auth status, switch accounts, and configure Docker registry access. Use when setting up glab for first time, troubleshooting auth issues, switching GitLab instances/accounts, or configuring Docker to pull from GitLab registry. Triggers on auth, login, logout, authentication, credentials, token, Docker registry.

glab auth

Manage GitLab CLI authentication.

Quick start

# Interactive login
glab auth login

# Browser/OAuth login without the prompt
glab auth login --hostname gitlab.com --web

# Check current auth status
glab auth status

# Login to different instance
glab auth login --hostname gitlab.company.com

# Logout
glab auth logout

Workflows

First-time setup

1. Run glab auth login
2. Choose authentication method (token or browser)
3. Follow prompts for your GitLab instance
4. Verify with glab auth status

glab auth login supports a complete setup flow:

• --ssh-hostname to explicitly set a different SSH endpoint for self-hosted instances
• --web to skip the login-type prompt and go straight to browser/OAuth auth
• --container-registry-domains to preconfigure registry / dependency-proxy domains during login

Example: API hostname gitlab.company.com, SSH hostname ssh.company.com

Login flag examples

# Self-managed GitLab with separate API and SSH endpoints
glab auth login \
  --hostname gitlab.company.com \
  --ssh-hostname ssh.company.com

# Skip prompts and go straight to browser/OAuth auth
glab auth login --hostname gitlab.com --web

# Preconfigure multiple registry / dependency proxy domains during login
glab auth login \
  --hostname gitlab.com \
  --web \
  --container-registry-domains "registry.gitlab.com,gitlab.com"

CI auto-login: when enabled, token environment variables such as GITLAB_TOKEN, GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN, or OAUTH_TOKEN still take precedence over stored credentials and CI_JOB_TOKEN.

Agentic and multi-account setups

If you need different agents to show up as different GitLab users, use distinct GitLab bot/service accounts. Multiple PATs on one GitLab user are useful for rotation or scope separation, but they do not create distinct visible identities.

Use the Actor identity for actor-authored GitLab comments, replies, approvals, and other writes. Use an agent identity only when the GitLab action is explicitly that agent's own work product. Pick the intended visible actor before the first write.

A good operational pattern is one env file per actor:

# ~/.config/openclaw/env/gitlab-reviewer.env
GITLAB_TOKEN=glpat-...
GITLAB_HOST=gitlab.com

Keep these env files outside version control, restrict their permissions (for example chmod 600), be mindful of backup exposure, and prefer least-privilege bot/service-account tokens. In a reused shell, clear stale GitLab auth vars first or start a fresh shell.

If the file uses plain KEY=value lines, load it with exported vars before running glab:

unset GITLAB_TOKEN GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN OAUTH_TOKEN GITLAB_HOST
set -a
source ~/.config/openclaw/env/gitlab-<actor>.env
set +a

Why this matters:

• plain source does not necessarily export variables to child processes
• glab only sees env vars that are exported
• if glab cannot see the env token, it may silently fall back to shared stored auth in ~/.config/glab-cli/config.yml
• if another env file was sourced earlier in the same shell/session, identity can be sticky in ways that are unsafe for writes unless you deliberately switch and verify

That fallback/shared-auth behavior is convenient for humans, but in multi-agent automation it can cause the wrong GitLab account to post comments, create MRs, or approve work.

Required pre-flight before any GitLab write

Run this immediately before any GitLab write, including glab mr note, review submission or approval, thread replies, and any glab api POST/PATCH/PUT/DELETE call:

glab auth status --hostname "$GITLAB_HOST"
glab api --hostname "$GITLAB_HOST" user

This assumes the target actor env file set GITLAB_HOST for the exact GitLab instance you intend to modify. Do not write until both commands clearly show the intended visible actor on that host.

Wrong-identity remediation

If a comment or reply was posted under the wrong identity:

1. Stop posting.
2. Delete the mistaken comment or reply if cleanup is needed.
3. unset GITLAB_TOKEN GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN OAUTH_TOKEN GITLAB_HOST or start a fresh shell.
4. Source the correct env file with set -a; source ...; set +a.
5. Rerun glab auth status --hostname "$GITLAB_HOST" and glab api --hostname "$GITLAB_HOST" user.
6. Repost under the correct actor.
7. Verify the thread no longer shows the wrong visible author for the replacement message.

If the wrong-identity write changed state beyond a comment or reply, re-auth as above and then use the matching GitLab reversal for that write under the correct actor and host, such as unapproving an MR or issuing the compensating glab api --hostname "$GITLAB_HOST" mutation for the exact resource that was changed.

Switching accounts/instances

1. Logout from current:

   glab auth logout
   

2. Login to new instance:

   glab auth login --hostname gitlab.company.com
   

3. Verify:

   glab auth status --hostname gitlab.company.com
   

Docker registry access

1. Configure Docker helper:

   glab auth configure-docker
   

2. Verify Docker can authenticate:

   docker login registry.gitlab.com
   

3. Pull private images:

   docker pull registry.gitlab.com/group/project/image:tag
   

Troubleshooting

"401 Unauthorized" errors:

• Check status: glab auth status
• Verify token hasn't expired (check GitLab settings)
• Re-authenticate: glab auth login

Re-login still looks stuck after changing auth method:

• If you switched from browser/OAuth login to token-based login and glab still appears to use stale stored credentials, run glab auth login again instead of assuming the config must be edited manually.
• After re-login, verify with glab auth status before retrying the failing command.

Env-token auth failures:

• If GITLAB_TOKEN, GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN, or OAUTH_TOKEN is exported, it overrides stored credentials.
• If auth suddenly fails, check whether an env token is being picked up before assuming your saved login is broken.
• These failures can affect both read operations and writes, not just write pre-flight checks.
• Verify the active actor and token path with glab auth status and glab api user before any GitLab write.
• In multi-agent shells, deliberately re-source the intended env file with set -a; source ...; set +a before retrying.

Multiple instances:

• Use --hostname flag to specify instance
• Each instance maintains separate auth

Docker authentication fails:

• Re-run: glab auth configure-docker
• Check Docker config: cat ~/.docker/config.json
• Verify helper is set: "credHelpers": { "registry.gitlab.com": "glab-cli" }

Subcommands

See references/commands.md for detailed flag documentation:

• login - Authenticate with GitLab instance
• logout - Log out of GitLab instance
• status - View authentication status
• configure-docker - Configure Docker to use GitLab registry
• docker-helper - Docker credential helper
• dpop-gen - Generate DPoP token

Related Skills

Initial setup:

• After authentication, see glab-config to set CLI defaults
• See glab-ssh-key for SSH key management
• See glab-gpg-key for commit signing setup

Repository operations:

• See glab-repo for cloning repositories
• Authentication required before first clone/push