gitlab-cli

name	gitlab-cli
description	Operate GitLab from terminal with `glab` for repositories, merge requests, issues, pipelines, releases, and API calls. Use for any GitLab task. For template-compliant MR creation, load reference workflow under references/.

GitLab CLI

Execution Policy

For GitLab tasks, use glab as the primary interface.

Rules:

• Always try glab first.
• Use glab api instead of raw curl for GitLab API calls.
• Do not hardcode tokens in commands.
• Confirm destructive actions (merge/close/delete/cancel).

Preflight

1. Verify CLI:

   glab --version
   

2. Detect GitLab hostname from remote:

   host="$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null | sed -E 's#^https?://([^/]+)/.*#\1#; s#^[^@]+@([^:]+):.*#\1#')"
   

3. Verify auth for host:

   glab auth status --hostname "$host"
   

4. Resolve repository context:
   • inside repo: auto-detected
   • outside repo: use -R group/project

Conditional Reference

For MR creation with .gitlab/merge_request_templates/*, read:

• references/create-mr.md

Keep this file focused on general glab operations and routing.

High-Value Commands

# Repository
glab repo view
glab repo clone owner/repo
glab repo create my-repo --description "My new repo"
glab repo fork owner/repo
glab repo list --group my-group
glab browse

# Merge requests
glab mr list
glab mr list --state all
glab mr view 42
glab mr view 42 --output json
glab mr checkout 42
glab mr approve 42
glab mr merge 42 --squash
glab mr merge 42 --squash --remove-source-branch
glab mr close 42
glab mr reopen 42
glab mr note 42 --message "Looks good to me"

# Issues
glab issue list
glab issue view 123
glab issue view 123 --output json
glab issue close 123
glab issue reopen 123
glab issue note 123 --message "I can reproduce this"

# Pipelines
glab ci status
glab ci list
glab ci run
glab ci run --variables KEY=value
glab ci view <pipeline-id>
glab ci retry <pipeline-id>
glab ci cancel <pipeline-id>
glab ci trace <job-id>

# Releases
glab release list
glab release view v1.2.3
glab release create v1.2.3 --name "Release v1.2.3" --notes "Changelog..."
glab release create v1.2.3 --ref main
glab release upload v1.2.3 ./dist/app.zip
glab release delete v1.2.3

Common Workflows

Review and merge MR

1. Check out the MR locally:

   glab mr checkout <number>
   

2. Review the code, run tests.
3. Approve and merge:

   glab mr approve <number>
   glab mr merge <number> --squash --remove-source-branch
   

Investigate issue

1. View the issue details:

   glab issue view <number>
   

2. Check related MRs:

   glab mr list --search "<keyword>"
   

Monitor pipeline

1. View current pipeline status:

   glab ci view
   

2. Watch pipeline in real-time:

   glab ci view --live
   

3. If a job failed, view its logs:

   glab ci trace <job-id>
   

4. Retry if needed:

   glab ci retry <pipeline-id>
   

Troubleshooting

• glab: command not found -> install glab.
• not logged in -> glab auth login --hostname <host>.
• wrong repo context -> use -R group/project.
• insufficient permissions -> refresh PAT scopes (api, repository scopes).