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GitLab MCP Server

GitLab MCP Server is an MCP server that adds developer tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. GitLab MCP server for projects, merge requests, issues, pipelines, wiki, releases, and more. It has 2,065 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y @zereight/mcp-gitlab.

github.com/zereight/gitlab-mcp (opens in a new tab)

Data as of from the GitHub API and the official MCP registry; description from the project's repository. Report an error

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Install GitLab MCP Server

Generated from the server's MCP registry entry. Replace your-value with your own values.

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@zereight/mcp-gitlab"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-value --env GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE=your-value --env GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN=your-value --env GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH=your-value --env GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT=your-value --transport stdio gitlab-mcp-server -- npx -y @zereight/mcp-gitlab

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@zereight/mcp-gitlab"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH": "your-value",
        "GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "gitlab_personal_access_token",
      "description": "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "gitlab_personal_access_token_file",
      "description": "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "gitlab_job_token",
      "description": "GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "gitlab_auth_cookie_path",
      "description": "GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "gitlab_oauth_token_script",
      "description": "GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "gitlab-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@zereight/mcp-gitlab"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${input:gitlab_personal_access_token}",
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE": "${input:gitlab_personal_access_token_file}",
        "GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN": "${input:gitlab_job_token}",
        "GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH": "${input:gitlab_auth_cookie_path}",
        "GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT": "${input:gitlab_oauth_token_script}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config formats checked against the official docs on Oct 7, 2026: modelcontextprotocol.io (opens in a new tab), code.claude.com (opens in a new tab), cursor.com (opens in a new tab), code.visualstudio.com (opens in a new tab).

Environment variables

Variables the server reads at startup.

NameRequiredDescription
GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKENsecretNoGitLab personal access token for local stdio use. A non-empty value overrides GITLABPERSONALACCESSTOKENFILE. One of this token, GITLABPERSONALACCESSTOKENFILE…
GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILEsecretNoPath to a file that contains the personal access token. Read once at startup and trimmed. Ignored when GITLABPERSONALACCESS_TOKEN or --token is non-empty. A…
GITLAB_JOB_TOKENsecretNoOptional GitLab CI job token to use instead of a personal access token when running inside GitLab CI.
GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATHsecretNoOptional path to a GitLab authentication cookie file for cookie-based authentication.
GITLAB_USE_OAUTHNoSet to true to start with GitLab OAuth instead of a personal access token, job token, or cookie file.
GITLAB_OAUTH_CLIENT_IDNoGitLab OAuth application ID. When GITLABUSEOAUTH=true, set this or GITLABOAUTHTOKEN_SCRIPT.
GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPTsecretNoCommand that prints an OAuth access token. When GITLABUSEOAUTH=true, set this or GITLABOAUTHCLIENT_ID.
GITLAB_API_URLNoGitLab API base URL. Use https://gitlab.com/api/v4 for GitLab.com or your self-managed GitLab API URL.
GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDSNoOptional comma-separated list of GitLab project IDs that this server is allowed to access.
GITLAB_PERMISSION_MODENoTool exposure. Allowed values are readonly, modify, and full. Unset uses full. readonly keeps read-only tools. modify blocks delete and teardown tools.
GITLAB_TOOLSETSNoOptional comma-separated list of toolsets to enable, such as projects, issues, merge_requests, pipelines, releases, users, groups, wiki, or search.
GITLAB_TOOLSNoOptional comma-separated list of individual tool names to add on top of enabled toolsets.
GITLAB_DENIED_TOOLS_REGEXNoOptional regular expression used to hide matching tools from the server.
GITLAB_TOOL_POLICY_APPROVENoOptional comma-separated list of tool names that require explicit approval before execution.
GITLAB_TOOL_POLICY_HIDDENNoOptional comma-separated list of tool names to hide from tools/list.
NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZEDNoSet to 0 only when you intentionally need to connect to a GitLab instance with invalid or self-signed TLS certificates.
GITLAB_CA_CERT_PATHNoOptional path to a custom CA certificate file for self-managed GitLab instances.
GITLAB_MASKING_ENABLEDNoSet to true to mask text tool results and returned errors using built-in or configured rules.
GITLAB_MASKING_CONFIGNoOptional path to a response-masking JSON configuration file.
GITLAB_MASKING_POLICY_FILENoOptional protected server-owned JSON file containing managed masking policies.

About GitLab MCP Server

Default: 40 tools (38 core + discovertools + help). 278 tools exist in total (275 in toolsets + executegraphql + discovertools + help). Start lean; call discovertools to activate more for this session.

  • ai
  • claude
  • cursor
  • devtools
  • gitlab
  • gitlab-api
  • llm
  • mcp
  • mcp-server
  • model-context-protocol

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FAQ

GitLab MCP Server FAQ

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

How do I install the GitLab MCP Server MCP server?

Add the command npx -y @zereight/mcp-gitlab to your MCP client: put it in claude_desktop_config.json for Claude Desktop, run claude mcp add for Claude Code, or add it to .cursor/mcp.json (Cursor) or .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code). The snippets on this page are ready to paste.

Is GitLab MCP Server free?

The server is open source under the MIT license, so running it is free. It needs credentials (GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE, GITLAB_JOB_TOKEN, GITLAB_AUTH_COOKIE_PATH and GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT) for the service it connects to, which may require a paid account.

Is GitLab MCP Server actively maintained?

The most recent commit was on Oct 26, 2026. The latest release is v2.3.11, published Oct 25, 2026. appsgit only lists MCP servers with a commit in the last six months.