Gitlab CLI for AI Agents

Use Composio Universal CLI with Gitlab. Create new gitlab group for qa team, open bug issue in frontend project, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Gitlab

Oauth2

Gitlab is a web-based DevOps platform for managing source code, issues, and CI/CD pipelines. It streamlines software development with integrated collaboration and automation tools.

123 Tools

Managed auth

Connect Gitlab without auth hassles

We manage OAuth, API keys, token refresh, and scopes — you just build.

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Introduction

CLIs are eating MCPs. The industry is converging on the very same idea. MCPs for all their merit can be token hungry, slow, and unreliable for complex tool chaining. However, coding agents have become incredibly good at working with CLIs, and in fact they are far more comfortable working with CLI tools than MCP.

With Composio's Universal CLI, your coding agents can talk to over 1500+ SaaS applications. With Gitlab, agents can create new gitlab group for qa team, open bug issue in frontend project, create branch from latest main commit, and more — all without worrying about authentication.

This guide walks you through Composio Universal CLI and explains how you can connect it with coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc, for end-to-end Gitlab automation.

What is Universal CLI and why use it?

The idea behind building the universal CLI is to give agents a single command interface to interact with all your external applications. Here's what you'll get with it:

Agent-friendly: Coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode can use CLI tools natively — no MCP setup required.
Authentication handled: Connect once via OAuth or API Key, and all CLI commands work with your credentials automatically.
Tool discovery: Search, inspect, and execute 20,000+ tools across 1500+ apps from one interface.
Trigger support: Use triggers to listen for events across your apps, powered by real-time webhooks or polling under the hood.
Type generation: Generate typed schemas for autocomplete and type safety in your projects.

Prerequisites

Install the Composio CLI, authenticate, and initialize your project:

bash

# Install the Composio CLI
curl -fsSL https://composio.dev/install | bash

# Authenticate with Composio
composio login

During login you'll be redirected to sign in page, finish the complete flow and you're all set.

Connecting Gitlab to Coding Agents via Universal CLI

Once it is installed, it's essentially done. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, or any other agent will be able to access the CLI. A few steps to give agents access to your apps.

Launch your Coding Agent — Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, anything you prefer.
Prompt it to "Authenticate with Gitlab"
Complete the authentication and authorization flow and your Gitlab integration is all set.
Start asking anything you want.

Universal CLI Commands for Gitlab

You can also manually execute CLI commands to interact with your Gitlab.

Connect your Gitlab account

Link your Gitlab account and verify the connection:

bash

# Connect your Gitlab account (opens OAuth flow)
composio connected-accounts link gitlab

# Verify the connection
composio connected-accounts list --toolkits gitlab

Discover Gitlab tools

Search and inspect available Gitlab tools:

bash

# List all available Gitlab tools
composio tools list --toolkit gitlab

# Search for Gitlab tools by action
composio tools search "gitlab"

# Inspect a tool's input schema
composio tools info GITLAB_ARCHIVE_PROJECT

Common Gitlab Actions

Archive Project — Tool to archive a project

bash

composio tools execute GITLAB_ARCHIVE_PROJECT \
  --id "5"

Create GitLab Group — Tool to create a new group in gitlab

bash

composio tools execute GITLAB_CREATE_GROUP \
  --name "My New Group" \
  --path "my-new-group"

Create Project — Tool to create a new project in gitlab

bash

composio tools execute GITLAB_CREATE_PROJECT \
  --name "My New Project" \
  --path "my-new-project"

Create Project Issue — Tool to create a new issue in a gitlab project

bash

composio tools execute GITLAB_CREATE_PROJECT_ISSUE \
  --id "my-group/my-project" \
  --title "Issue with authentication"

Generate Type Definitions

Generate typed schemas for Gitlab tools to get autocomplete and type safety in your project:

bash

# Auto-detect language
composio generate --toolkits gitlab

# TypeScript
composio ts generate --toolkits gitlab

# Python
composio py generate --toolkits gitlab

Tips & Tricks

Always inspect a tool's input schema before executing: composio tools info <TOOL_NAME>
Pipe output with jq for better readability: composio tools execute TOOL_NAME -d '{}' | jq
Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY as an environment variable for CI/CD pipelines
Use composio dev logs tools to inspect execution logs and debug issues

Next Steps

Try asking your coding agent to perform various Gitlab operations
Explore cross-app workflows by connecting more toolkits
Set up triggers for real-time automation
Use composio generate for typed schemas in your projects

TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Gitlab action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Add Spent Time

Adds spent time to a GitLab issue for time tracking purposes.

Approve Merge Request

Approves a merge request in a GitLab project.

Archive Project

Tool to archive a project.

Cancel Job

Cancel a GitLab CI/CD job within a specified project.

Cancel Pipeline

Tool to cancel a running pipeline in a GitLab project.

Create Commit

Creates a new commit with multiple file operations in a GitLab project.

Create Commit Comment

Posts a comment to a specific commit in a GitLab project repository.

Create Repository File

Creates a new file in a GitLab repository at the specified path with the given content.

Create GitLab Group

Tool to create a new group in GitLab.

Create Issue Note

Creates a new note (comment) on a project issue in GitLab.

Create Label

Creates a new label for a GitLab project with specified name, color, and optional attributes.

Create Merge Request

Creates a new merge request in a GitLab project to propose changes from a source branch into a target branch.

Create Merge Request Draft Note

Creates and saves an unpublished merge request draft note that is visible only to its author.

Create Milestone

Creates a new milestone in a GitLab project.

Create Pipeline

Tool to create a new pipeline for a specific branch or tag in a GitLab project.

Create Project

Tool to create a new project in GitLab.

Create Project Issue

Tool to create a new issue in a GitLab project.

Create Repository Branch

Tool to create a new branch in a project.

Create Project Webhook

Creates a new webhook (project hook) for a GitLab project to receive real-time event notifications.

Delete Group

Deletes a GitLab group by its ID or URL-encoded path.

Delete Issue Note

Deletes a note (comment) from an issue in a GitLab project.

Delete Label

Deletes a label from a GitLab project by its ID or title.

Delete Merge Request

Tool to permanently delete a merge request from a GitLab project.

Delete Milestone

Deletes a project milestone by its ID.

Delete Pipeline

Tool to delete a CI/CD pipeline by its ID within a specified project.

Delete Project

Tool to delete a GitLab project by its ID.

Delete Repository Branch

Tool to delete a branch from a GitLab project repository.

Delete Repository File

Deletes a file from a GitLab repository by creating a new commit.

Delete Webhook

Deletes a project webhook/hook permanently from a GitLab project, removing the integration and stopping all event notifications.

Download Project Avatar

Tool to download a project's avatar image.

Erase Job

Tool to erase the content of a specified job within a project.

Fork Project

Forks a GitLab project to a specified namespace or the current user's namespace.

Get Commit References

Tool to get all references (branches or tags) a commit is pushed to.

Get Commit Sequence

Tool to get the sequence number of a commit in a project by following parent links from the given commit.

Get Current User

Retrieves information about the currently authenticated user.

Get Repository File

Retrieves a single file from a GitLab repository at a specific ref (branch, tag, or commit).

Get Group Details

Tool to retrieve information about a specific group by its ID.

Get Group Member

Tool to retrieve details for a specific group member.

Get Groups

Get Issue

Retrieves a single issue from a GitLab project by its internal ID (iid).

Get Issue Note

Retrieves a single comment (note) from a GitLab issue by its ID.

Get Job Details

Tool to retrieve details of a single job by its ID within a specified project.

Get Job Trace

Retrieves the trace (log output) for a specific CI/CD job within a project.

Get Project Label

Retrieves a single project label by its ID or title.

Get Merge Request Approvals

Retrieves aggregate approval status for a GitLab merge request on any GitLab tier.

Get Merge Request Approval State

Retrieves rule-level approval satisfaction for a GitLab merge request.

Get Merge Request Notes

Tool to fetch comments on a merge request.

Get Milestone

Retrieves a single milestone by its ID for a specific project.

Get Project

Tool to get a single project by ID or URL-encoded path.

Get Project Languages

Tool to list programming languages used in a project with percentages.

Get Project Member

Tool to retrieve details for a specific project member.

Get Project Member All

Tool to retrieve details for a specific project member (including inherited and invited members).

Get Project Merge Request

Tool to fetch full details for a single merge request when the MR IID is known.

Get Merge Request Commits

Tool to get commits of a merge request.

Get Project Merge Requests

Tool to retrieve a list of merge requests for a specific project.

Get Projects

Tool to list all projects accessible to the authenticated user.

List Merge Request Diff Versions

Tool to list all diff versions of a merge request.

Get Raw File

Retrieves the raw contents of a file from a GitLab repository without Base64 encoding.

Get Repository Branch

Tool to retrieve information about a specific branch in a project.

Get Repository Branches

Retrieves a list of repository branches for a project.

Get Single Commit

Tool to get a specific commit identified by the commit hash or name of a branch or tag.

Get Single Pipeline

Tool to retrieve details of a single pipeline by its ID within a specified project.

Get Issue Time Stats

Retrieves time tracking statistics for a specific issue in a project.

Get User

Tool to retrieve information about a specific user by their ID.

Get User Preferences

Tool to get the current user's preferences.

Get Users

Tool to retrieve a list of users from GitLab.

Get Any User's Status by ID

Tool to get a user's status by ID.

Get User Status

Tool to get the current user's status.

Get User Support PIN

Tool to get details of the current user's Support PIN.

Get Webhook

Retrieves detailed information about a specific project webhook by its ID.

Import project members

Tool to import members from one project to another.

List All Group Members

Tool to list all members of a group including direct, inherited, and invited members.

List All Project Members

Tool to list all members of a project (direct, inherited, invited).

List Billable Group Members

Tool to list billable members of a top-level group (including its subgroups and projects).

List Commit Comments

Retrieves all comments associated with a specific commit in a GitLab project.

List Group Members

Tool to list direct members of a group.

List Group Projects

Tool to list projects within a GitLab group by group ID or full path.

List Issue Notes

Retrieves all notes (comments and activity) for a specific project issue in GitLab.

List Labels

Lists all labels for a project with optional filtering by name, archived status, and ancestor inclusion.

List Merge Request Diffs

List the files changed by a GitLab merge request, including patch content.

List Merge Request Discussions

Lists grouped discussion threads and their notes for a merge request.

List Merge Requests

Retrieves a list of merge requests from across all accessible projects based on scope and filters.

List Project Milestones

Lists all milestones for a specific project with optional filtering by state, title, or search terms.

List Pending Group Members

Tool to list pending members of a group and its subgroups and projects.

List Pipeline Jobs

Tool to retrieve a list of jobs for a specified pipeline within a project.

List Project Groups

Tool to list ancestor groups of a project.

List Project Invited Groups

Tool to list groups invited to a project.

List Project Issues

Tool to list issues for a project with filtering options (state, labels, search, assignee, author, etc.

List Project Pipelines

Tool to retrieve a list of pipelines for a specified project.

List Project Shareable Groups

Tool to list groups that can be shared with a project.

List Project Repository Tags

Tool to retrieve a list of repository tags for a specified project.

List Project Transfer Locations

Tool to list namespaces available for project transfer.

List project users

Tool to list users of a project.

List Repository Commits

Tool to get a list of repository commits in a project.

List Repository Tree

List files and directories in a GitLab project's repository tree.

List User Projects

Tool to list projects owned by a specific user.

List Webhooks

Tool to list all webhooks configured for a GitLab project.

Merge Merge Request

Merge a GitLab merge request immediately or enable auto-merge when checks pass.

Move Issue

Moves an issue from one project to another in GitLab.

Play Job

Triggers execution of a manual job in a GitLab project.

Create Support PIN

Tool to create a support PIN for your authenticated user.

Protect Branch

Protects a repository branch in a GitLab project by setting access controls for push, merge, and unprotect operations.

Update User Preferences

Tool to update the current user's preferences.

Reset Spent Time

Resets the total spent time for a specified GitLab issue to 0 seconds.

Reset Time Estimate

Resets the estimated time for a specified issue to 0 seconds.

Retry Pipeline

Retries failed or canceled jobs in a pipeline.

Set Time Estimate

Sets the estimated time to complete an issue in a GitLab project.

Set User Status

Tool to set the current user's status.

Share Project With Group

Tool to share a project with a group.

Star Project

Stars a project in GitLab, marking it as a favorite for the authenticated user.

Start Housekeeping Task

Tool to start the housekeeping task for a project.

Unapprove Merge Request

Removes the approval from the currently authenticated user for a specified merge request.

Unprotect Branch

Tool to remove protection from a branch in a GitLab project.

Unstar Project

Unstar a previously starred GitLab project to remove it from your favorites list.

Update GitLab Group

Updates an existing GitLab group's settings and properties.

Update Issue Note

Updates an existing note (comment) on a GitLab issue.

Update Label

Updates an existing label in a GitLab project by modifying its name, color, description, priority, or archived status.

Update Merge Request

Updates an existing merge request in a GitLab project (title, description, assignees, reviewers, labels, state, etc.

Update Milestone

Updates an existing milestone in a GitLab project, allowing you to modify the title, description, dates, or state.

Update Project Issue

Tool to update an existing issue in a GitLab project (title, description, labels, assignees, state, etc.

Update Repository File

Updates an existing file in a GitLab repository.

Update Webhook

Updates an existing project webhook configuration including URL, event triggers, SSL verification, and authentication token.

Validate Credential

Validates the authentication credentials by retrieving the currently authenticated user's information.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Gitlab MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Code

Use Gitlab MCP with Claude Code

Cursor

Use Gitlab MCP with Cursor

ChatGPT

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Claude Cowork

Use Gitlab MCP with Claude Cowork

Antigravity

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OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Gitlab MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Use Gitlab MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Grok Bot

Use Gitlab MCP with Grok Bot

Codex

Use Gitlab MCP with Codex

Kimi Code

Use Gitlab MCP with Kimi Code

Grok Build

Use Gitlab MCP with Grok Build

VS Code

Use Gitlab MCP with VS Code

OpenCode

Use Gitlab MCP with OpenCode

OpenClaw

Use Gitlab MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes

Use Gitlab MCP with Hermes

Atomic Agent

Use Gitlab MCP with Atomic Agent

Pi

Use Gitlab MCP with Pi

DeepSeek Harness

Use Gitlab MCP with DeepSeek Harness

Google ADK

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LangChain

Use Gitlab MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK

Use Gitlab MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

Use Gitlab MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

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CrewAI

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Pydantic AI

Use Gitlab MCP with Pydantic AI

AutoGen

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MORE TOOLKITS

Explore Other Toolkits

Toolkit marketplace

Supabase

Oauth2Api Key

Supabase is an open-source backend platform offering scalable Postgres databases, authentication, storage, and real-time APIs. It lets developers build modern apps without managing infrastructure.

Codeinterpreter

No Auth

Codeinterpreter is a Python-based coding environment with built-in data analysis and visualization. It lets you instantly run scripts, plot results, and prototype solutions inside supported platforms.

GitHub

Oauth2

GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaborative software development. It streamlines project management, code review, and team workflows in one place.

1password

Api Key

1Password is a password manager and digital vault for storing logins, secrets, notes, and secure documents. It helps individuals and teams protect credentials, share access safely, and reduce password risk.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

The Composio Universal CLI is a single command-line interface that lets coding agents and developers interact with 1500+ SaaS applications. It handles authentication, tool discovery, action execution, and trigger setup — all from the terminal, without needing to configure MCP servers.

Any coding agent that can run shell commands works with the Composio CLI — including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, and others. Once the CLI is installed, agents automatically discover and use the composio commands to interact with Gitlab and other connected apps.

MCP servers require configuration and can be token-heavy for complex workflows. The CLI gives agents a direct, lightweight interface — no server setup needed. Agents simply call composio commands like any other shell tool. It's faster to set up, more reliable for multi-step tool chaining, and works natively with how coding agents already operate.

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Gitlab data and credentials are handled as safely as possible. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials for full control.

Start with Gitlab.It takes 30 seconds.

Managed auth, hosted MCP servers, and every Gitlab tool your agent needs.Free to start.

Start building

Gitlab CLI for AI Agents

Connect Gitlab without auth hassles

Introduction

Also integrate Gitlab with

What is Universal CLI and why use it?

Prerequisites

Connecting Gitlab to Coding Agents via Universal CLI

Universal CLI Commands for Gitlab

Connect your Gitlab account

Discover Gitlab tools

Common Gitlab Actions

Archive Project — Tool to archive a project

Create GitLab Group — Tool to create a new group in gitlab

Create Project — Tool to create a new project in gitlab

Create Project Issue — Tool to create a new issue in a gitlab project

Generate Type Definitions

Tips & Tricks

Next Steps

Supported Tools

How to build Gitlab MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Code

Cursor

ChatGPT

Claude Cowork

Antigravity

OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Grok Bot

Codex

Kimi Code

Grok Build

VS Code

OpenCode

OpenClaw

Hermes

Atomic Agent

Pi

DeepSeek Harness

Google ADK

LangChain

Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

CrewAI

Pydantic AI

AutoGen

Explore Other Toolkits

Supabase

Codeinterpreter

GitHub

1password

Frequently asked questions

What is the Composio Universal CLI?+

Which coding agents work with the Composio CLI?+

How is the CLI different from using an MCP server for Gitlab?+

How safe is my Gitlab data when using the Composio CLI?+

Start with Gitlab.It takes 30 seconds.