gitlab-cli

glab - GitLab CLI

Work seamlessly with GitLab from the command line.

glab is a CLI tool for GitLab, written in Go. It follows the same interface patterns as the GitHub CLI (gh), providing a familiar experience for managing merge requests, issues, pipelines, repositories, and more.

Documentation: philipkram.github.io/Gitlab-CLI

Installation

Homebrew (macOS & Linux)

brew tap PhilipKram/tap https://github.com/PhilipKram/Gitlab-CLI
brew install PhilipKram/tap/glab

Binary releases

Download pre-built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows (amd64/arm64) from the releases page.

Go install

go install github.com/PhilipKram/gitlab-cli@latest

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/PhilipKram/Gitlab-CLI.git
cd Gitlab-CLI
make build
# Binary available at ./bin/glab

Authentication

Interactive login (recommended)

Just run glab auth login and follow the prompts — the same experience as gh auth login:

$ glab auth login
? What GitLab instance do you want to log into?
  [1] gitlab.com
  [2] GitLab Self-managed
  Choice: 1
? What is your preferred protocol for Git operations on this host?
  [1] HTTPS
  [2] SSH
  Choice: 1
? How would you like to authenticate glab?
  [1] Login with a web browser
  [2] Paste a token
  Choice: 1
? OAuth Application ID: <your-app-id>

! Opening gitlab.com in your browser...
- Waiting for authentication...
- glab config set -h gitlab.com git_protocol https
✓ Logged in to gitlab.com as username

OAuth (browser-based login)

Authenticate via OAuth in the browser. You first need to create an OAuth application in your GitLab instance under Settings > Applications with:

• Redirect URI: http://localhost:7171/auth/redirect
• Scopes: api, read_user, write_repository, openid, profile

# Interactive OAuth login
glab auth login --web --client-id <your-app-id>

# OAuth with a self-hosted instance
glab auth login --web --client-id <your-app-id> --hostname gitlab.example.com

The CLI starts a local server on port 7171, opens your browser for authorization, and automatically exchanges the code for a token using PKCE.

Token-based login

# Login with a personal access token
glab auth login --token glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# Login to a self-hosted GitLab instance
glab auth login --hostname gitlab.example.com --token glpat-xxxx

# Pipe a token from a file or secret manager
glab auth login --stdin < token.txt

# Check authentication status
glab auth status

# Environment variable authentication
export GITLAB_TOKEN="glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Required token scopes: api, read_user, write_repository

Auth login flags

Per-host configuration

Store OAuth settings per host so you don't need to pass them every time:

# Store OAuth client ID for a self-hosted instance
glab config set client_id <app-id> --host gitlab.example.com

# Store custom redirect URI (default: http://localhost:7171/auth/redirect)
glab config set redirect_uri http://localhost:8080/callback --host gitlab.example.com

# Store custom OAuth scopes
glab config set oauth_scopes "api read_user write_repository" --host gitlab.example.com

Global Flags

The --repo flag lets you target any project without being in its git repository:

glab issue list -R gitlab.example.com/owner/repo
glab mr list --state opened -R gitlab.example.com/group/project

When no --repo is specified, glab resolves the host from the git remote. If the remote isn't a GitLab host, it falls back to the default host, then to the first authenticated host.

Commands

Core Commands

CI/CD Commands

Additional Commands

Utility Commands

Usage Examples

Merge Requests

glab mr create --title "Add feature" --description "Details" --draft
glab mr list --state opened
glab mr view 123
glab mr merge 123 --squash
glab mr approve 123
glab mr checkout 123
glab mr diff 123
glab mr comment 123 --body "Looks good!"
glab mr comment 123 --body "Consider refactoring this" --file "cmd/mr.go" --line 42
glab mr comment 123 --body "Good removal" --file "cmd/mr.go" --old-line 10

Issues

glab issue create --title "Bug report" --label bug --assignee @user1
glab issue list --state opened --author johndoe
glab issue view 42
glab issue close 42
glab issue comment 42 --body "Fixed in !123"

Pipelines

glab pipeline list
glab pipeline run --ref main
glab pipeline view 12345
glab pipeline jobs 12345
glab pipeline cancel 12345

Repositories

glab repo clone owner/repo
glab repo create my-project --public --init
glab repo fork owner/repo --clone
glab repo view
glab repo list --owner my-group

Configuration

glab config set protocol ssh
glab config set editor vim
glab config list

# Per-host config
glab config set client_id <app-id> --host gitlab.example.com
glab config get client_id --host gitlab.example.com

Direct API Access

glab api projects
glab api users --method GET
glab api projects/:id/issues --method POST --body '{"title":"Bug"}'

# Target a specific host
glab api '/projects?membership=true' --hostname gitlab.example.com

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/glab/. Override with GLAB_CONFIG_DIR.

Global keys

Per-host keys (use with --host)

Environment Variables

Releasing

Releases are automated via GoReleaser and GitHub Actions.

To create a release:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

This will:

1. Run tests
2. Build cross-platform binaries (linux/darwin/windows, amd64/arm64)
3. Create a GitHub Release with archives and checksums
4. Update the Homebrew formula in the HomebrewFormula directory
5. Publish deb/rpm packages

Shell Completions

# Bash
source <(glab completion bash)

# Zsh
glab completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_glab"

# Fish
glab completion fish | source

License

MIT