GitLab Operations

Manage GitLab repositories efficiently using the glab CLI for merge requests, issues, and CI/CD pipelines.

Overview

This skill provides structured guidance for common GitLab operations:

•Merge Requests: Create, review, merge, checkout MRs
•Issues: Create, list, close, comment on issues
•CI/CD: Monitor pipelines, view logs, retry jobs
•Search: Find issues, MRs across repositories

Prerequisites

Required:

•glab CLI installed (glab --version)
•Authenticated with GitLab (glab auth status)

Verify Setup:

bash

glab auth status

If not authenticated:

bash

glab auth login

Working with GitLab URLs

When given a GitLab HTTPS URL, always convert it to the glab CLI format using -R owner/repo rather than using the URL directly.

URL Pattern Reference

URL Type	URL Pattern	Command Format
Repository	`https://gitlab.com/{owner}/{repo}`	`-R owner/repo`
Merge Request	`https://gitlab.com/{owner}/{repo}/-/merge_requests/{N}`	`glab mr view N -R owner/repo`
Issue	`https://gitlab.com/{owner}/{repo}/-/issues/{N}`	`glab issue view N -R owner/repo`
Pipeline	`https://gitlab.com/{owner}/{repo}/-/pipelines/{id}`	`glab ci view -R owner/repo`
Job	`https://gitlab.com/{owner}/{repo}/-/jobs/{id}`	`glab ci trace {id} -R owner/repo`

URL Conversion Examples

Merge Request URL:

bash

# Given: https://gitlab.com/mygroup/myproject/-/merge_requests/42
# Extract: owner=mygroup, repo=myproject, number=42

glab mr view 42 -R mygroup/myproject
glab mr checkout 42 -R mygroup/myproject
glab mr merge 42 -R mygroup/myproject --squash

Issue URL:

bash

# Given: https://gitlab.com/org/project/-/issues/15
# Extract: owner=org, repo=project, number=15

glab issue view 15 -R org/project
glab issue note 15 -R org/project -m "Looking into this"

Pipeline URL:

bash

# Given: https://gitlab.com/org/repo/-/pipelines/123456789
# Extract: owner=org, repo=repo

glab ci view -R org/repo
glab ci view -R org/repo --web

Why Prefer `-R` Over URLs

•Consistency: All glab commands use the same -R owner/repo format
•Flexibility: Easy to modify owner/repo without URL encoding issues
•Composability: Can chain commands using the same repo reference
•Clarity: Command intent is immediately visible

Claude Attribution

When posting comments or reviews on behalf of the user, always include the Claude signature at the end of the message body to indicate it was AI-generated.

Signature Format

code

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)

Usage Examples

MR Review with signature:

bash

glab mr approve 42
glab mr note 42 -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
LGTM! The implementation looks solid.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

Issue comment with signature:

bash

glab issue note 15 -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
I've identified the root cause - the timeout occurs because...

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

MR comment with signature:

bash

glab mr note 7 -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
This approach could cause a race condition. Consider using a mutex here.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

When to Include

Operation	Include Signature
MR reviews (approve/note)	Yes
MR comments	Yes
Issue comments	Yes
Issue creation (body)	Yes
MR creation (body)	Yes
Closing with comment	Yes
Merge commit messages	No (use git commit signature instead)

Instructions

Step 1: Determine Operation Type

Identify which GitLab operation is needed:

•MR operations: creation, review, merge, checkout
•Issue operations: creation, management, comments
•CI/CD: pipeline monitoring, job management
•Search: finding issues/MRs across repos

Step 2: Execute Operation

Merge Request Operations

Create MR (from current branch, include Claude signature in body):

bash

glab mr create --title "Feature: Add login" --description "$(cat <<'EOF'
Implements user authentication.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

Create MR with template (auto-fill from commits):

bash

glab mr create --fill

Create MR for an issue:

bash

glab mr for 34  # Creates MR linked to issue #34
glab mr for 34 --wip  # Creates as Work in Progress

List open MRs:

bash

glab mr list --state opened
glab mr list --assignee=@me  # Your MRs only
glab mr list --reviewer=@me  # MRs you need to review

View MR details:

bash

glab mr view [number]
glab mr view [number] --web  # Open in browser
glab mr view [number] --comments  # Include comments

Checkout MR locally:

bash

glab mr checkout [number]

Merge MR:

bash

glab mr merge [number] --squash  # Squash merge
glab mr merge [number]           # Regular merge
glab mr merge [number] --rebase  # Rebase merge
glab mr merge [number] --remove-source-branch  # Delete branch after merge

Review MR (include Claude signature):

bash

# Approve MR
glab mr approve [number]

# Add comment with review
glab mr note [number] -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
LGTM!

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

See {baseDir}/references/glab-mr-workflows.md for advanced patterns.

Issue Operations

Create issue (include Claude signature in body):

bash

glab issue create --title "Bug: Login fails" --description "$(cat <<'EOF'
Steps to reproduce...

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"
glab issue create --label bug --assignee @me --title "Bug title" --description "$(cat <<'EOF'
Description here.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

List issues:

bash

glab issue list --state opened
glab issue list --label bug --state opened
glab issue list --assignee=@me

View issue:

bash

glab issue view [number]
glab issue view [number] --web
glab issue view [number] --comments

Comment on issue (include Claude signature):

bash

glab issue note [number] -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
Working on this now.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
EOF
)"

Close issue:

bash

glab issue close [number]

Subscribe to issue:

bash

glab issue subscribe [number]

See {baseDir}/references/glab-issue-workflows.md for advanced patterns.

CI/CD Pipeline Operations

View current pipeline:

bash

glab ci view  # Current branch
glab ci view main  # Specific branch
glab ci view --web  # Open in browser

Get pipeline status:

bash

glab ci get
glab ci get --output json  # JSON output

List pipelines:

bash

glab ci list

Trace job logs:

bash

glab ci trace  # Interactive selection
glab ci trace [job-id]  # Specific job
glab ci trace [job-name]  # By job name (e.g., "lint")

Retry failed job:

bash

glab ci retry [job-id]

Trigger manual job:

bash

glab ci trigger [job-id]

Download artifacts:

bash

glab ci artifact [ref] [job-name]

Delete old pipelines:

bash

glab ci delete [pipeline-id]
glab ci delete --status=failed  # All failed pipelines
glab ci delete --older-than 24h  # Older than 24 hours

Lint CI config:

bash

glab ci lint
glab ci lint --dry-run  # Simulate without running

See {baseDir}/references/glab-ci-workflows.md for advanced patterns.

Step 3: Verify Result

After each operation:

•Check command output for success/error messages
•For MRs/issues, note the URL returned
•For CI/CD, verify pipeline/job status

Output

•MR/Issue URLs: Links to created/modified items
•Status messages: Success/failure confirmations
•Pipeline status: Run state and results

Error Handling

•
Error: glab: command not found Cause: glab CLI not installed Solution: Install via brew install glab or see https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli
•
Error: glab auth: No GitLab hosts configured Cause: Not authenticated Solution: Run glab auth login and follow prompts
•
Error: 404 Project Not Found Cause: Not in a git repo or repo not on GitLab Solution: Ensure you're in a git repo with GitLab remote, or use -R owner/repo
•
Error: 403 Forbidden Cause: Insufficient permissions Solution: Check project access or request permissions
•
Error: merge request create failed: The merge request has no commits Cause: No changes to merge Solution: Ensure branch has commits ahead of target

Examples

Example 1: Create and Merge MR

User Request: "Create an MR for my feature branch"

Commands:

bash

# Create MR with auto-fill from commits
glab mr create --fill

# After review, merge with squash
glab mr merge --squash --remove-source-branch

Example 2: Triage Issues

User Request: "Show me open bugs assigned to me"

Command:

bash

glab issue list --label bug --assignee=@me --state opened

Output:

code

Showing 2 of 2 issues

#42  Login timeout on slow networks    bug, priority::high   about 2 hours ago
#38  Session expires unexpectedly      bug                   about 1 day ago

Example 3: Debug Failed Pipeline

User Request: "The CI failed, show me what went wrong"

Commands:

bash

# View pipeline status
glab ci view

# Trace failed job logs
glab ci trace

# Or get specific job logs
glab ci trace lint

Resources

•MR workflows: {baseDir}/references/glab-mr-workflows.md
•Issue workflows: {baseDir}/references/glab-issue-workflows.md
•CI/CD workflows: {baseDir}/references/glab-ci-workflows.md
•Official docs: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli/-/tree/main/docs

GitLab Operations

Overview

Prerequisites

Working with GitLab URLs

URL Pattern Reference

URL Conversion Examples

Why Prefer -R Over URLs

Claude Attribution

Signature Format

Usage Examples

When to Include

Instructions

Step 1: Determine Operation Type

Step 2: Execute Operation

Merge Request Operations

Issue Operations

CI/CD Pipeline Operations

Step 3: Verify Result

Output

Error Handling

Examples

Example 1: Create and Merge MR

Example 2: Triage Issues

Example 3: Debug Failed Pipeline

Resources

Why Prefer `-R` Over URLs