gitlab

The GitLab MCP Server exposes a set of toolsets that let you automate and interact with GitLab APIs through the Model Context Protocol. By default, it enables a broad range of GitLab capabilities (projects, issues, merge requests, security data, users, and search) that you can selectively enable via the GITLAB_TOOLSETS environment variable or the --toolsets flag when running the binary. Use this server to automate workflows, fetch project and group data, manage issues and MRs, and incorporate GitLab information into AI-assisted tasks. When running in Docker or VS Code agent mode, you wire up credentials (token and host) and choose which toolsets are exposed to the AI tool you’re using, tailoring access to your security and productivity needs.

Prerequisites:

• Docker installed and running (recommended for quick setup).
• A GitLab Access Token with the required scopes (api, read_repository, write_repository, etc.).

Installation steps:

1. Prerequisites check

   • Ensure Docker is installed: https://www.docker.com/get-started
   • Generate a GitLab token with appropriate scopes for your use case.

2. Run via Docker (recommended):

   • Replace the image path with your published image when available:

     docker run -i --rm
     -e GITLAB_TOKEN=<YOUR_TOKEN>
     -e GITLAB_HOST=<YOUR_GITLAB_HOST_OR_EMPTY>
     -e GITLAB_TOOLSETS=<comma-separated-toolsets-or-all>
     your-docker-registry/gitlab-mcp-server:latest

   • If you want to set toolsets, you can do so via the environment variable GITLAB_TOOLSETS (e.g., "issues,merge_requests,projects"), or omit it to use the default (all toolsets).

3. Build from source (Go):

   • Clone the repository

   • Navigate to the repository root

   • Build the server: go build -o gitlab-mcp-server ./cmd/gitlab-mcp-server

   • Run the binary with environment variables:

     /path/to/gitlab-mcp-server stdio
     -e GITLAB_TOKEN=<YOUR_TOKEN>
     -e GITLAB_HOST=<YOUR_GITLAB_URL_OR_EMPTY>
     -e GITLAB_TOOLSETS="issues,merge_requests,projects"

   • If you built the binary, you can configure your MCP client (VS Code, Claude) to point to this executable using the provided examples in the README.

Notes and tips:

• Toolsets: The server exposes groups of capabilities (projects, issues, merge_requests, security, users, search). Use GITLAB_TOOLSETS or the stdio flag to enable only what you need, reducing context size and improving tool selection.
• Dynamic tool discovery (if implemented): You may enable dynamic toolsets to expose tools progressively. Use the dynamic-toolsets flag or environment variable as described in the README when supported.
• Docker usage: Ensure the image path is updated to your published image. Use --rm for cleaner container lifecycle and map environment variables securely.
• Host value: If you are connecting to a self-hosted GitLab instance, provide the full host URL in GITLAB_HOST; leave empty for gitlab.com defaults.
• Security: Never hard-code tokens in your config. Use environment variables or secret management in your orchestration layer.
• If you plan to run in Claude Desktop or similar clients, follow the examples in the README to pass tokens and host values either via env or inline as shown.