Glab

glab - GitLab CLI

Command-line interface for GitLab. Binary name: glab.

Repository Context

glab auto-detects the GitLab project from the git remote in the current directory. Override with --repo (-R):

glab mr list                              # auto-detected from git remote
glab mr list -R group/project             # explicit project
glab mr list -R group/namespace/project

Identifying MRs

MR commands accept an MR IID number, a branch name, or nothing (current branch):

glab mr view 123           # by MR IID
glab mr view feature-x     # by branch name
glab mr view               # current branch's MR

Temp Files

When writing content to temp files (MR descriptions, job logs, etc.), use filenames unique to the MR or job — include the MR number, branch name, or job name as a slug (e.g., /tmp/mr-desc-123.md, /tmp/mr-desc-feature-auth.md, /tmp/glab-job-build-123.log).

Reuse the same file for the same MR/entity across multiple edits — the Write tool shows diffs, so the user can see exactly what changed between revisions.

Never use generic fixed filenames like /tmp/mr-description.md — they collide across different MRs.

Creating a Merge Request

glab mr create --fill --fill-commit-body --yes -b main --draft -a user1 --reviewer user2 -l bug

Viewing Current MR

glab mr view --comments -F json

Updating MR Title and Description

glab mr update 123 --title "New title" --description "New description" --ready -l bug --reviewer +user2

Assignee/reviewer prefix modifiers: + to add, ! or - to remove. No prefix replaces all.

MR Discussions and Notes

glab mr note can add comments, but listing discussions and replying to threads requires the API.

Add a Comment

glab mr note 123 -m "Looks good!"

List MR Discussions (API)

Discussions are threaded conversations. Each discussion has an id and contains notes.

glab api projects/:id/merge_requests/123/discussions --paginate

Reply to a Discussion Thread (API)

glab api -X POST projects/:id/merge_requests/123/discussions/<discussion_id>/notes \
  -f body="Reply text"

Create a New Discussion Thread (API)

glab api -X POST projects/:id/merge_requests/123/discussions \
  -f body="Starting a new thread"

Resolve / Unresolve a Discussion (API)

glab api -X PUT projects/:id/merge_requests/123/discussions/<discussion_id> \
  -F resolved=true

MR Pipeline and Job Logs

View Pipeline Status

glab ci status --compact
glab ci get --with-job-details -F json

View Job Logs

Always redirect job logs to a temp file — the output can be thousands of lines and will waste context tokens.

glab ci trace <job-name> > /tmp/glab-job-<job-name>-$(date +%s).log 2>&1

DO NOT run glab ci trace without redirecting to a file.

Retry / Trigger Jobs

glab ci retry <job-name>           # retry a failed job
glab ci trigger <job-name>         # trigger a manual job

API (Raw HTTP Requests)

Direct GitLab API access for anything not covered by dedicated commands.

glab api projects/:id/members                                    # GET (default)
glab api projects/:id/labels -f name=bug -f color=#FF0000        # POST (default when params present)
glab api -X PUT projects/:id -f name="new-name"                  # explicit method

Pagination

--paginate fetches all pages sequentially. Without it, you only get the first page.

glab api projects/:id/issues --paginate --output ndjson | jq 'select(.state == "opened")'

Output formats:

• json (default) — pretty-printed, arrays merged into a single JSON array
• ndjson — one JSON object per line, memory-efficient, works with jq

Endpoint Placeholders

Auto-resolved from the git remote: :id, :fullpath, :group, :namespace, :repo, :branch, :user, :username

Parameter Flags

Other Commands

Discover flags with --help:

glab <command> --help
glab <command> <subcommand> --help

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