GitLab and the glab CLI

GitLab is a Git host with built-in CI/CD, container registry and issue tracking, available as a SaaS (gitlab.com) or self-hosted. glab is its official CLI. For plain Git see Git, for GitHub see GitHub and the gh CLI, and for a lighter self-hosted option see Gitea (and Forgejo).

Documentation: GitLab Docs, glab

glab CLI #

Install: brew install glab (Homebrew), choco install glab (Chocolatey) or a release package.

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`glab auth login`	Log in (use `--hostname` for self-hosted)
`glab repo clone GROUP/PROJECT`	Clone
`glab repo create NAME --private`	Create a project
`glab mr create --fill`	Open a merge request
`glab mr list`	List merge requests
`glab mr checkout 12`	Check out an MR
`glab mr merge 12 --squash --remove-source-branch`	Merge
`glab issue create --title "T"`	Create an issue
`glab ci status`	Pipeline status for the branch
`glab ci view`	Interactive pipeline view
`glab ci run`	Trigger a pipeline
`glab ci lint`	Validate `.gitlab-ci.yml`
`glab api projects/:id`	Call the REST API
`glab variable set NAME value`	Set a CI/CD variable

.gitlab-ci.yml Basics #

yaml
stages: [test, build, deploy]

default:
  image: alpine:3

test:
  stage: test
  script:
    - echo "run tests"
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

build:
  stage: build
  image: docker:27
  services: [docker:27-dind]
  script:
    - docker login -u "$CI_REGISTRY_USER" -p "$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD" "$CI_REGISTRY"
    - docker build -t "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA" .
    - docker push "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA"

Common predefined variables: CI_COMMIT_SHA, CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME, CI_PROJECT_DIR, CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE, CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH. Mask secrets in Settings > CI/CD > Variables. Image tags above are examples; pin the versions you use. See Docker.

Self-Host with Docker #

yaml
services:
  gitlab:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
    container_name: gitlab
    restart: unless-stopped
    hostname: gitlab.example.com
    shm_size: 256m
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "2222:22"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab
      - ./logs:/var/log/gitlab
      - ./data:/var/opt/gitlab
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'https://gitlab.example.com'
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2222

GitLab needs several GB of RAM and a few minutes to start. Get the first root password with docker exec gitlab cat /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password (the file is removed after about 24 hours). See Docker-Compose.

Runner #

bash
docker run -d --name gitlab-runner --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /srv/gitlab-runner/config:/etc/gitlab-runner \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  gitlab/gitlab-runner:latest
docker exec -it gitlab-runner gitlab-runner register

Registration asks for the instance URL, a token created in the UI, and an executor (usually docker). Mounting docker.sock gives jobs control of the host.

Backup (Omnibus) #

bash

docker exec gitlab gitlab-backup create

Also back up /etc/gitlab (it holds gitlab-secrets.json, which is not in the backup archive).

Not Verified #

Written from knowledge and not run here. Check the GitLab docs for the current version, runner token flow and Docker image tags.