GitLab

Platform-specific commands for nursing merge requests on GitLab using glab.

Detect

The repository uses GitLab if git remote -v shows gitlab.com (or any self-managed GitLab) URLs.

Notes on glab

• glab api does not support --jq. Pipe to jq in the shell instead.
• Use :fullpath as the project identifier — glab auto-fills it from the current Git remote (e.g. glab api projects/:fullpath/...).
• glab mr subcommands resolve the current branch's MR when called with no argument.
• Aliases for the CI subcommand: glab ci ≡ glab pipe ≡ glab pipeline.

Identify the MR

glab mr view --output json

The MR JSON mirrors the GitLab REST merge request object. Useful fields: iid, title, source_branch, target_branch, web_url, detailed_merge_status, has_conflicts.

Check mergeable status

The detailed_merge_status field (preferred since GitLab 15.6) returns:

• mergeable — no conflicts, ready to merge
• conflict — merge conflicts exist (also exposed as has_conflicts: true)
• checking / unchecked / preparing — GitLab is still computing (retry after a few seconds)
• other states (ci_must_pass, discussions_not_resolved, draft_status, etc.) — see API docs

The legacy merge_status field uses can_be_merged / cannot_be_merged / checking / unchecked.

Get the latest pipeline for the MR's branch

glab ci status --branch <head-branch> --output json

JSON mode is incompatible with --live and --compact.

List jobs for a pipeline (with status)

glab api projects/:fullpath/pipelines/<pipeline-id>/jobs \
  | jq '[.[] | {id, name, stage, status}]'

To filter to only failing jobs:

glab api projects/:fullpath/pipelines/<pipeline-id>/jobs \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.status == "failed") | {id, name, stage}]'

Get failing job logs

glab has no --log-failed shorthand. Trace each failing job individually by id or name:

glab ci trace <job-id-or-name>