Badge Skill

Project badge management for GitLab using glab api raw endpoint calls.

Quick Reference

Operation	Command Pattern	Risk
List badges	glab api projects/:id/badges	-
Get badge	glab api projects/:id/badges/:badge_id	-
Create badge	glab api projects/:id/badges -X POST -f ...	⚠️
Update badge	glab api projects/:id/badges/:badge_id -X PUT -f ...	⚠️
Delete badge	glab api projects/:id/badges/:badge_id -X DELETE	⚠️
Preview badge	glab api projects/:id/badges/render?...	-
List group badges	glab api groups/:id/badges	-

Risk Legend: - Safe | ⚠️ Caution | ⚠️⚠️ Warning | ⚠️⚠️⚠️ Danger

When to Use This Skill

ALWAYS use when:

• User mentions "badge", "status badge", "coverage badge"
• User wants to add badges to README
• User wants pipeline or build status indicators
• User mentions badge links or badge images

NEVER use when:

• User wants labels on issues/MRs (use gitlab-label)
• User wants status of pipelines (use gitlab-ci)
• User wants project settings (use gitlab-repo)

API Prerequisites

Required Token Scopes: api

Permissions:

• Read badges: Reporter+
• Manage badges: Maintainer+

Badge Placeholders

GitLab supports placeholders in badge URLs:

Placeholder	Description
%{project_path}	Full project path (e.g., group/project)
%{project_id}	Numeric project ID
%{project_name}	Project name
%{project_namespace}	Project namespace
%{default_branch}	Default branch name
%{commit_sha}	Current commit SHA

Available Commands

List Project Badges

# List all project badges
glab api projects/123/badges --method GET

# Using project path
glab api "projects/$(echo 'mygroup/myproject' | jq -Rr @uri)/badges"

List Group Badges

# List group badges (inherited by projects)
glab api groups/456/badges --method GET

Get Badge Details

# Get specific badge
glab api projects/123/badges/1 --method GET

Create Badge

# Create pipeline status badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/pipelines" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg"

# Create coverage badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/jobs" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/coverage.svg"

# Create custom badge (e.g., shields.io)
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT" \
  -f image_url="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg"

# Create named badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Build Status" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/pipelines" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg"

# Create release badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/releases" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/badges/release.svg"

Update Badge

# Update badge URLs
glab api projects/123/badges/1 --method PUT \
  -f link_url="https://new-link.com" \
  -f image_url="https://new-image.com/badge.svg"

# Update badge name
glab api projects/123/badges/1 --method PUT \
  -f name="New Badge Name"

Delete Badge

# Delete badge
glab api projects/123/badges/1 --method DELETE

Preview Badge Rendering

# Preview how a badge would render
glab api "projects/123/badges/render?link_url=https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}&image_url=https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg" --method GET

Common Badge Templates

Pipeline Status Badge

# Link and image URLs
link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/pipelines"
image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg"

glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="$link_url" \
  -f image_url="$image_url"

Markdown: [![pipeline status](https://gitlab.com/group/project/badges/main/pipeline.svg)](https://gitlab.com/group/project/-/pipelines)

Coverage Badge

link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/jobs"
image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/coverage.svg"

glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="$link_url" \
  -f image_url="$image_url"

Release Badge

link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/releases"
image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/badges/release.svg"

glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f link_url="$link_url" \
  -f image_url="$image_url"

Custom Shields.io Badges

# License badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f name="License" \
  -f link_url="https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT" \
  -f image_url="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-blue.svg"

# Version badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Version" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/releases" \
  -f image_url="https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.0.0-green.svg"

# Maintenance badge
glab api projects/123/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Maintained" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}" \
  -f image_url="https://img.shields.io/badge/Maintained%3F-yes-green.svg"

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Set Up Standard Badges

project_id=123

# Pipeline status
glab api projects/$project_id/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Pipeline" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/pipelines" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg"

# Coverage
glab api projects/$project_id/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Coverage" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/jobs" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/coverage.svg"

# Latest release
glab api projects/$project_id/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Release" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/releases" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/badges/release.svg"

Workflow 2: Generate README Badge Markdown

# Get all badges and generate markdown
glab api projects/123/badges | \
  jq -r '.[] | "[![\(.name // "badge")](\(.rendered_image_url))](\(.rendered_link_url))"'

Workflow 3: Copy Badges to Another Project

source_project=123
target_project=456

# Get badges from source
badges=$(glab api projects/$source_project/badges)

# Create in target (using placeholders, so they'll work for the new project)
echo "$badges" | jq -c '.[]' | while read badge; do
  link_url=$(echo "$badge" | jq -r '.link_url')
  image_url=$(echo "$badge" | jq -r '.image_url')
  name=$(echo "$badge" | jq -r '.name // empty')

  glab api projects/$target_project/badges --method POST \
    -f link_url="$link_url" \
    -f image_url="$image_url" \
    ${name:+-f name="$name"}
done

Workflow 4: Audit Badge Configuration

# List all badges with rendered URLs
glab api projects/123/badges | \
  jq -r '.[] | "ID: \(.id)\n  Name: \(.name // "unnamed")\n  Image: \(.rendered_image_url)\n  Link: \(.rendered_link_url)\n"'

Workflow 5: Replace All Badges

project_id=123

# Delete existing badges
glab api projects/$project_id/badges | jq -r '.[].id' | while read badge_id; do
  glab api projects/$project_id/badges/$badge_id --method DELETE
done

# Create new badges
glab api projects/$project_id/badges --method POST \
  -f name="Build" \
  -f link_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/pipelines" \
  -f image_url="https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg"

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
Badge not showing	URL incorrect	Check rendered URLs in API response
403 Forbidden	Not maintainer	Need Maintainer+ role
Placeholder not replaced	Wrong syntax	Use %{placeholder} format
Coverage badge shows "unknown"	No coverage report	Configure CI to output coverage
Pipeline badge shows old status	Cache	Badge images may be cached

Badge Best Practices

1. Use placeholders: Make badges portable between projects
2. Name your badges: Helps identify them in the list
3. Link to relevant pages: Badge clicks should go somewhere useful
4. Keep badges updated: Remove stale badges
5. Use consistent styling: Mix of GitLab and shields.io can look inconsistent

Related Documentation

• API Helpers
• Safeguards
• Quick Reference
• GitLab Badges API