Gitlab Provider

The GitLab Provider enables Terraform to manage GitLab resources, such as projects, groups, users, and access permissions. This provider is essential for automating DevOps workflows, ensuring consistent configuration across your GitLab repositories and infrastructure.

Key Features:

  • Automate the creation and management of projects, groups, and repositories.
  • Configure access controls for users and groups.
  • Manage GitLab CI/CD pipelines, including variable definitions.
  • Integrate GitLab runners and other resources into your workflows.

Example Use Case: Creating a GitLab Project
Here’s how to create a GitLab project with Terraform:

provider "gitlab" {
  token = var.gitlab_token
}

resource "gitlab_project" "example" {
  name             = "example-project"
  description      = "My example GitLab project"
  visibility_level = "public"

  tags = ["terraform", "example", "gitlab"]
}

What’s Happening Here?

  • The provider block authenticates Terraform with GitLab using a personal access token (var.gitlab_token).
  • The gitlab_project resource creates a public GitLab project named example-project.
  • Tags are added for better organization and searchability within GitLab.

Advanced Tip:
Add project variables for CI/CD pipelines:

resource "gitlab_project_variable" "example_variable" {
  project   = gitlab_project.example.id
  key       = "ENVIRONMENT"
  value     = "development"
  protected = false
  masked    = false
}

This configuration adds a project variable ENVIRONMENT with the value development, which can be accessed in your GitLab CI/CD pipelines.

Glossary