GitLab MCP Server José M. Requena Plens

GitLab MCP Server

All of GitLab for your AI assistant. Up to 1,098 actions over GitLab's REST and GraphQL APIs, from Free to Ultimate and on GitLab.com, in one self-contained binary that works with Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and any other MCP client. You ask in plain language; it does the GitLab work.

11,168 tokens of startup context by default, the same on every GitLab tier (1,840 with GITLAB_MCP_CAPABILITY_SURFACE=minimal). Two tools reach the whole catalog, where listing every tool as its own costs from 560,384 to 713,287 tokens. Measured with the cl100k_base tokenizer and checked in CI. How it is measured

> "Review merge request !15: is it safe to merge?" · "Why did the last pipeline fail?" · "List open issues assigned to me" · "Generate release notes from v1.0 to v2.0"

Why this server

Every tier and every instance. Free/CE, Premium and Ultimate, self-managed or GitLab.com with its Orbit knowledge graph. The tier is detected and the catalog follows it.
The token you already have. A personal, project or group access token with api, or read_api for the actions GitLab accepts from it; a fine-grained token, judged action by action from its grant; OAuth in HTTP mode. Each action's tool reference entry says which scope and which fine-grained permissions it needs.
Guard rails. Read-only mode, safe mode (a preview of each write instead of the write), tools excluded by name, and a confirmation before anything destructive.
Three surfaces, two transports. Two discovery tools by default, one tool per domain or one per action; stdio for a desktop client, or HTTP for a shared deployment that keeps each credential apart. 45 resources and 37 prompts besides.
Releases you can verify. Signed checksums, an SBOM per binary and build provenance for every artifact.

Install

The buttons register the Docker image, so they need Docker; the Claude Desktop row downloads a native extension instead. Create a personal access token with the api scope (or read_api for the actions GitLab accepts from it; add GITLAB_MCP_READ_ONLY=true when nothing may be written).

Client
One-click button
Token step


<b>VS Code</b>
<a href="https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect/mcp/install?name=gitlab&amp;config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22docker%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22run%22%2C%22-i%22%2C%22--rm%22%2C%22-e%22%2C%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%2C%22ghcr.io%2Fjmrplens%2Fgitlab-mcp-server%3Alatest%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Agitlab_token%7D%22%7D%2C%22inputs%22%3A%5B%7B%22id%22%3A%22gitlab_token%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22promptString%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22GitLab%20Personal%20Access%20Token%20%28api%20scope%29%22%2C%22password%22%3Atrue%7D%5D%7D"><img alt="Install in VS Code" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Install_in-VS_Code-0098FF?style=flat-square&amp;logo=visualstudiocode&amp;logoColor=white" /></a> <a href="https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect/mcp/install?name=gitlab&amp;config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22docker%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22run%22%2C%22-i%22%2C%22--rm%22%2C%22-e%22%2C%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%2C%22ghcr.io%2Fjmrplens%2Fgitlab-mcp-server%3Alatest%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Agitlab_token%7D%22%7D%2C%22inputs%22%3A%5B%7B%22id%22%3A%22gitlab_token%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22promptString%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22GitLab%20Personal%20Access%20Token%20%28api%20scope%29%22%2C%22password%22%3Atrue%7D%5D%7D&amp;quality=insiders"><img alt="Install in VS Code Insiders" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Install_in-VS_Code_Insiders-24bfa5?style=flat-square&amp;logo=visualstudiocode&amp;logoColor=white" /></a>
prompts you (masked)


<b>Cursor</b>
<a href="https://cursor.com/install-mcp?name=gitlab&amp;config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoiZG9ja2VyIiwiYXJncyI6WyJydW4iLCItaSIsIi0tcm0iLCItZSIsIkdJVExBQl9UT0tFTiIsImdoY3IuaW8vam1ycGxlbnMvZ2l0bGFiLW1jcC1zZXJ2ZXI6bGF0ZXN0Il0sImVudiI6eyJHSVRMQUJfVE9LRU4iOiJZT1VSX0dJVExBQl9UT0tFTiJ9fQ%3D%3D"><img alt="Install in Cursor" src="https://cursor.com/deeplink/mcp-install-dark.svg" height="28" /></a>
edit YOUR_GITLAB_TOKEN


<b>LM Studio</b>
<a href="https://lmstudio.ai/install-mcp?name=gitlab&amp;config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoiZG9ja2VyIiwiYXJncyI6WyJydW4iLCItaSIsIi0tcm0iLCItZSIsIkdJVExBQl9UT0tFTiIsImdoY3IuaW8vam1ycGxlbnMvZ2l0bGFiLW1jcC1zZXJ2ZXI6bGF0ZXN0Il0sImVudiI6eyJHSVRMQUJfVE9LRU4iOiJZT1VSX0dJVExBQl9UT0tFTiJ9fQ%3D%3D"><img alt="Add to LM Studio" src="https://files.lmstudio.ai/deeplink/mcp-install-dark.svg" height="28" /></a>
edit YOUR_GITLAB_TOKEN


<b>Kiro</b>
<a href="https://kiro.dev/launch/mcp/add?name=gitlab&amp;config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22docker%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22run%22%2C%22-i%22%2C%22--rm%22%2C%22-e%22%2C%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%2C%22ghcr.io%2Fjmrplens%2Fgitlab-mcp-server%3Alatest%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22GITLAB_TOKEN%22%3A%22YOUR_GITLAB_TOKEN%22%7D%7D"><img alt="Add to Kiro" src="https://kiro.dev/images/add-to-kiro.svg" height="28" /></a>
edit YOUR_GITLAB_TOKEN


<b>Claude Desktop</b>
<a href="https://github.com/jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/gitlab-mcp-server.mcpb"><img alt="Download the .mcpb extension" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Download-.mcpb-d97757?style=flat-square&amp;logo=claude&amp;logoColor=white" /></a>
settings UI

Claude Code. The registration command never carries the token: -e GITLAB_TOKEN forwards it from the environment Claude Code hands docker.

export GITLAB_TOKEN=glpat-xxxx
claude mcp add gitlab --transport stdio \
  -- docker run -i --rm -e GITLAB_TOKEN ghcr.io/jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server:latest

Any other client runs one of these as the server's command, with GITLAB_TOKEN in the environment it passes:

npx -y @jmrp.io/gitlab-mcp-server                   # npm, nothing installed first
uvx jmrplens-gitlab-mcp-server                      # PyPI, nothing installed first
dnx gitlab-mcp-server                               # NuGet (.NET 10 SDK), nothing installed first
brew install jmrplens/tap/gitlab-mcp-server         # Homebrew, macOS and Linux
winget install --id jmrplens.gitlab-mcp-server -e   # winget, Windows
docker run -i --rm -e GITLAB_TOKEN ghcr.io/jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server:latest

For a self-managed instance, set GITLAB_URL=https://gitlab.example.com beside the token; with the Docker image, also forward it by adding -e GITLAB_URL to the docker arguments, since the container receives only the variables named there (Docker install). Every channel, per-client configuration and verification step is in the installation guide, and an assistant installing it for you will find the same in llms.txt.

To try it first, a public instance runs at https://mcp.jmrp.io/gitlab, and the browser inspector calls it read-only after an OAuth sign-in. Your token and every request pass through that machine, so run it yourself to keep using it; the hosted endpoint page says what it is and is not.

Documentation

Everything else is at jmrp.io/docs/gitlab-mcp-server, in English and Spanish: getting started, configuration, tool surfaces, HTTP server mode, security, privacy and troubleshooting.

Contributing, security and licence

Contributions are welcome here on GitHub; CONTRIBUTING.md describes the workflow, and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md applies. Report a vulnerability privately, as SECURITY.md describes. The server is MIT licensed (LICENSE).

Maintained by José M. Requena Plens · Project page · Hosted instance: mcp.jmrp.io/gitlab