glab-cli

name	glab-cli
description	GitLab CLI (glab) utilities - pipeline debugging, MR management, release automation. Use when working with GitLab via CLI for anything beyond basic git commands.

GitLab CLI Power Utilities

Intelligent wrappers and patterns for GitLab CLI operations.

When to Use

• Debugging failed GitLab CI/CD pipelines
• Managing merge requests across projects
• Automating releases
• Bulk operations on issues/MRs
• Project health checks

Prerequisites

# macOS
brew install glab

# Or download from https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli

# Authenticate
glab auth login

Core Capabilities

1. Pipeline Debugging

Get actionable errors from failed pipelines.

# Diagnose most recent failure
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose

# Specific project
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose --project group/project

# With suggested fixes
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose --suggest-fixes

Output: Job failures, error excerpts, timing info.

2. MR Operations

Merge request management at scale.

# List MRs needing review
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-review-queue

# MRs ready to merge (approved + passing)
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-merge-ready --dry-run

# MR health check
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-status 123

3. Release Automation

Create releases with changelogs.

# Preview release
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --dry-run

# Create minor release
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --bump minor

# With custom notes
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --notes "Breaking: API v2"

Quick Patterns

# Watch pipeline
glab ci view --live

# Retry failed jobs
glab ci retry

# View job logs
glab ci trace <job-id>

# Create MR from current branch
glab mr create --fill

# Checkout MR locally
glab mr checkout 123

# View MR changes
glab mr diff 123

# Approve MR
glab mr approve 123

# Merge MR
glab mr merge 123 --squash --remove-source-branch

glab vs gh Quick Reference

Task	GitHub (gh)	GitLab (glab)
Create PR/MR	gh pr create	glab mr create
List CI runs	gh run list	glab ci list
View CI logs	gh run view --log	glab ci trace
Watch CI	gh run watch	glab ci view --live
Retry CI	gh run rerun --failed	glab ci retry
Checkout PR/MR	gh pr checkout 123	glab mr checkout 123

Integration

Works with:

• wicked-search: Find code, create issues via glab
• wicked-kanban: Track MR status alongside tasks

References

• refs/glab-ops.md - Full script documentation
• refs/patterns.md - Common workflow patterns
• refs/ci-debugging.md - Pipeline troubleshooting