Use when designing or validating GitLab CI/CD and automatic release lifecycles, inspecting pipeline and job state read-only, composing non-interactive merge-request commands, or setting up protected refs and release credentials. Also covers reusable components and inputs, GitLab Functions, gitlab-ci-local, glab command composition, and GitLab Flavored Markdown. For pipeline execution or retry requests, provide inspection and command drafting while leaving execution to the operator.