jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server repository overview

⁠GitLab MCP Server

Connect your AI assistant to GitLab so it can review merge requests, triage pipelines, manage issues, and draft releases, in plain language. One self-contained binary (or this container), ~868 GitLab tools on Free/CE, up to ~1094 on GitLab.com Ultimate⁠ over the full REST + GraphQL API, working with Claude, Cursor, VS Code, and any MCP client.

You talk to your AI assistant; it does the GitLab work. No project IDs, API endpoints, or JSON to remember.

⁠Run with Docker

Stdio transport (for desktop MCP clients such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "GITLAB_URL", "-e", "GITLAB_TOKEN", "jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server:latest"],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_URL": "https://gitlab.com",
        "GITLAB_TOKEN": "glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP transport (remote/shared use). The image's default command is --transport auto --http-addr 0.0.0.0:8080, which picks the transport from stdin: started with -i, as above, the container is handed a pipe and serves stdio; started without -i, its stdin is /dev/null and it listens for HTTP on :8080. Name the GitLab instance this deployment serves, or it refuses to start rather than making requests to whatever host a caller names. A GITLAB_URL variable names it and keeps the default command:

docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -e GITLAB_URL=https://gitlab.com jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server:latest

Any argument after the image name replaces the default command, so naming the instance as a flag means naming the transport again with --http (the --http-addr below is the image's own; the default :8080 listens on the same port):

docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server:latest \
  --http --http-addr=0.0.0.0:8080 --gitlab-url=https://gitlab.com

Images are multi-arch (linux/amd64, linux/arm64), published for every release with provenance and SBOM attestations, and signed with Cosign. The same image is also available as ghcr.io/jmrplens/gitlab-mcp-server.

⁠Why this server

• 🗣️ Plain-language GitLab. The AI translates "is MR !15 safe to merge?" into the right API calls. You don't touch endpoints, IDs, or JSON.
• 🧰 The whole platform: ~868 tools on Free/CE, up to ~1094 on GitLab.com Ultimate. Broad GitLab REST v4 + GraphQL coverage: projects, branches, tags, releases, merge requests, issues, pipelines, jobs, groups, users, wikis, environments, deployments, packages, container registry, runners, feature flags, CI/CD variables, security, admin, tokens, and more.
• 🪶 Low-token by default. The default dynamic surface exposes just 2 tools (find + execute) while reaching the full catalog — so it fits any client's context window.
• 🔒 Safe by design. Read-only mode, safe mode (dry-run preview of every mutation), TLS options for self-hosted GitLab, and continuous SonarCloud quality/security gates.
• 🖥️ Runs anywhere. One self-contained binary or container; Windows, Linux & macOS; amd64 & arm64; stdio (desktop) and HTTP (remote).

⁠Try it without installing anything

A public instance runs at https://mcp.jmrp.io/gitlab — nothing to install, no account beyond your own GitLab token (Authorization: Bearer <token>, sent per request and never stored; it runs in OAuth mode, so a client that speaks the OAuth flow needs no header at all). It is stateless streamable HTTP: POST is the transport, a GET answers 405 by design. For private self-managed instances, run the container locally so your credentials never leave your machine.

⁠Documentation

• Documentation⁠
• Source repository⁠
• Releases and signed binaries⁠

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