| name | migrate-to-gitlab |
| description | Migrate an existing local git repository to a GitLab instance by creating a new remote repo and updating the origin. Use when a user wants to publish or move a project to GitLab (e.g., gitlab.example.com), create a new GitLab repo from an existing local repo, or update the git remote origin to point to GitLab instead of GitHub or another host. |
Migrate Repo to GitLab
Prerequisites
glab CLI installed and authenticated to the target GitLab host- Existing local git repo with commits
Check Auth
glab auth status
Look for ✓ Logged in to <hostname> as <username>. If the token is expired:
glab auth login --hostname <gitlab-host>
Create the Remote Repo
Use the <namespace>/<repo-name> path syntax with GITLAB_HOST env var. The --skipGitInit flag is required — without it, glab interactively prompts whether to create a local folder, blocking the command from completing.
GITLAB_HOST=<gitlab-host> glab repo create <namespace>/<repo-name> --internal --skipGitInit
Example:
GITLAB_HOST=gitlab.example.com glab repo create your-username/your-repo --internal --skipGitInit
Visibility flags: --private or --internal.
Update Remote Origin
Switch origin from the old remote to the new GitLab SSH URL:
git remote set-url origin git@<gitlab-host>:<namespace>/<repo-name>.git
Example:
git remote set-url origin git@gitlab.example.com:your-username/your-repo.git
Verify:
git remote -v
Push
git push -u origin main
Notes
--hostname flag does NOT exist on glab repo create — use GITLAB_HOST=<host> env var instead--namespace flag does NOT exist — use <namespace>/<repo-name> as the path argument--no-clone flag does NOT exist — use --skipGitInit to avoid reinitializing git- If the repo has branch protection on
main and you need to replace an initial commit, see the branch rename workaround in the gitlab-pages power
