| name | glab-label |
| description | Manage GitLab labels including create, list, update, and delete operations at project and group level. Use when organizing issues/MRs with labels, creating label taxonomies, or managing label colors/descriptions. Triggers on label, tag, issue label, create label, manage labels. |
glab label
Manage labels at project and group level.
Quick start
glab label create --name bug --color "#FF0000"
glab label create --group my-group --name priority::high --color "#FF6B00"
glab label list
glab label edit bug --color "#CC0000" --description "Software defects"
glab label delete bug
Decision: Project vs Group Labels?
Where should this label live?
āā Used across multiple projects in a group
ā āā Group-level: glab label create --group <group> --name <label>
āā Specific to one project
āā Project-level: glab label create --name <label>
Use group-level labels when:
- You want consistent labeling across all projects in a group
- Managing organization-wide workflows
- Examples:
priority::high, type::bug, status::blocked
- Reduces duplication and ensures consistency
Use project-level labels when:
- Label is specific to project workflow
- Team wants control over their own labels
- Examples:
needs-ux-review, deploy-to-staging, legacy-code
Common workflows
Creating a label taxonomy
Set up priority labels (group-level):
glab label create --group engineering --name "priority::critical" --color "#FF0000"
glab label create --group engineering --name "priority::high" --color "#FF6B00"
glab label create --group engineering --name "priority::medium" --color "#FFA500"
glab label create --group engineering --name "priority::low" --color "#FFFF00"
Set up type labels (group-level):
glab label create --group engineering --name "type::bug" --color "#FF0000"
glab label create --group engineering --name "type::feature" --color "#00FF00"
glab label create --group engineering --name "type::maintenance" --color "#0000FF"
Managing project-specific labels
Create workflow labels:
glab label create --name "needs-review" --color "#428BCA"
glab label create --name "ready-to-merge" --color "#5CB85C"
glab label create --name "blocked" --color "#D9534F"
Bulk operations
List all labels to review:
glab label list --per-page 100 > labels.txt
Delete deprecated labels:
glab label delete old-label-1
glab label delete old-label-2
Related Skills
Using labels:
- See
glab-issue for applying labels to issues
- See
glab-mr for applying labels to merge requests
- Script:
scripts/batch-label-issues.sh for bulk labeling
Structured output
glab label get supports --output json / -F json for structured output, which is useful for agent automation.
glab label get <label-id> --output json
glab label get <label-id> -F json
Command reference
For complete command documentation and all flags, see references/commands.md.
Available commands:
create - Create label (project or group)
list - List labels
edit - Update label properties
delete - Delete label
get - View single label details