Tools Reference

Complete catalog of every tool the GitLab MCP server exposes.

Setup first — if you haven't connected your Personal Access Token or OAuth credentials yet, follow one of the client setup guides or read Getting Started. Tools listed below will be unavailable until the server is authenticated.

Feature toggles

Toolsets are split into a default set (exposed automatically) and an opt-in set (must be explicitly enabled). The lists below are derived directly from TOOLSET_DEFINITIONS in tools/registry.ts.

Status	Groups
Default — always exposed	Projects & Namespaces, Projects & Files, Branches & Commits, Groups, Merge Requests, Issues, Labels, CI Lint, Users & Events
Opt-in — must be enabled	Work Items, Pipelines, Jobs & Deployments (also USE_PIPELINE=true), Milestones (also USE_MILESTONE=true), Wiki (also USE_GITLAB_WIKI=true), Releases, Tags, Variables, Webhooks, Search, Dependency Proxy, Meta & GraphQL

How to enable opt-in groups (any one is sufficient):

• GITLAB_TOOLSETS=<group,…> — comma-separated toolset IDs.
• GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all — enables every group.
• GITLAB_TOOLS=<tool,…> — enables individual tools regardless of group.
• USE_PIPELINE=true / USE_MILESTONE=true / USE_GITLAB_WIKI=true — legacy single-group flags (Pipelines, Milestones, Wiki only).
• Call the discover_tools MCP tool at runtime to activate categories for the current session.

Read-only mode (GITLAB_READ_ONLY_MODE=true) hides every write tool regardless of toggles. See Environment Variables and CLI Arguments for the full list.

Legend

Marker	Meaning
📖	Read-only — fetches data, does not modify GitLab state. Safe to invoke freely.
✏️	Writes — creates, updates, or deletes data on GitLab. Confirm intent before running.

Browse by group

Each group has its own page with full parameter tables — click any tool name to jump to its details, or click the group title for the per-group view.

Projects & Namespaces

Project/namespace listing, member queries, group iterations, and server health. (9 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
get_project	Get details of a specific project	📖
list_projects	List projects accessible by the current user	📖
list_project_members	List members of a GitLab project	📖
list_namespaces	List all namespaces (users and groups) available to the current user. Filter by kind='group' for groups only.	📖
get_namespace	Get details of a namespace (user or group) by ID or path. Groups are namespaces with kind='group'.	📖
verify_namespace	Verify if a namespace path exists	📖
list_group_projects	List projects in a group	📖
list_group_iterations	List group iterations with filtering options	📖
health_check	Verify server status and authentication	📖

Projects & Files

Project search/creation/fork plus the Files API for reading and writing repository content without shelling out to git. (7 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
search_repositories	Search for GitLab projects	📖
create_repository	Create a new GitLab project	✏️
get_file_contents	Get contents of a file or directory from a GitLab project	📖
push_files	Push multiple files in a single commit	✏️
create_or_update_file	Create or update a file in a GitLab project	✏️
fork_repository	Fork a project to your account or specified namespace	✏️
get_repository_tree	List files and directories in a repository	📖

Branches & Commits

Branch management, commit listing/inspection, file blame, and CI commit-status manipulation. (10 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
create_branch	Create a new branch	✏️
get_branch	Get branch details (commit, protection status)	📖
list_branches	List branches in project with search filter	📖
delete_branch	Delete branch from project	✏️
list_commits	List repository commits with filtering options	📖
get_commit	Get details of a specific commit	📖
get_commit_diff	Get changes/diffs of a specific commit	📖
get_file_blame	Get git blame for a file at a given ref. Each entry maps a contiguous range of source lines to the commit that last changed them (id, author, authored_date, message). Use range_start/range_end to limit blame to specific lines.	📖
list_commit_statuses	List statuses for a commit	📖
create_commit_status	Create or update the status of a commit	✏️

Groups

Create new groups and subgroups. (1 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
create_group	Create new group or subgroup	✏️

Merge Requests

MR lifecycle — create, update, merge, approve, plus diff/conflict inspection and the full discussion/note/draft API. (43 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
merge_merge_request	Merge a merge request	✏️
approve_merge_request	Approve a merge request	✏️
unapprove_merge_request	Unapprove a merge request	✏️
get_merge_request_approval_state	Get merge request approval details including approvers	📖
get_branch	Get branch details (commit, protection status)	📖
list_branches	List branches in project with search filter	📖
get_merge_request_conflicts	Get the conflicts of a merge request	📖
list_merge_request_pipelines	List pipelines for a merge request with pagination	📖
get_merge_request	Get details of a merge request (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	📖
get_merge_request_diffs	Get the changes/diffs of a merge request (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	📖
list_merge_request_changed_files	List changed file paths in a merge request without diff content (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	📖
list_merge_request_diffs	List merge request diffs with pagination (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	📖
get_merge_request_file_diff	Get diffs for specific files from a merge request (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	📖
list_merge_request_versions	List all versions of a merge request	📖
get_merge_request_version	Get a specific version of a merge request	📖
update_merge_request	Update a merge request (mergeRequestIid or branchName required)	✏️
create_merge_request	Create a new merge request	✏️
list_merge_requests	List merge requests (without project_id: user's MRs; with project_id: project MRs)	📖
get_branch_diffs	Get diffs between two branches or commits	📖
mr_discussions	List discussion items for a merge request	📖
create_merge_request_note	Add a new note to a merge request	✏️
update_merge_request_note	Modify an existing merge request note	✏️
delete_merge_request_note	Delete an existing merge request note	✏️
get_merge_request_note	Get a specific note for a merge request	📖
get_merge_request_notes	List notes for a merge request	📖
delete_merge_request_discussion_note	Delete a discussion note on a merge request	✏️
update_merge_request_discussion_note	Update a discussion note on a merge request	✏️
create_merge_request_discussion_note	Add a new discussion note to an existing merge request thread	✏️
get_draft_note	Get a single draft note from a merge request	📖
list_draft_notes	List draft notes for a merge request	📖
create_draft_note	Create a draft note for a merge request	✏️
update_draft_note	Update an existing draft note	✏️
delete_draft_note	Delete a draft note	✏️
publish_draft_note	Publish a single draft note	✏️
bulk_publish_draft_notes	Publish all draft notes for a merge request	✏️
create_merge_request_thread	Create a new thread on a merge request	✏️
resolve_merge_request_thread	Resolve a thread on a merge request	✏️
list_merge_request_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on a merge request	📖
list_merge_request_note_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on a merge request note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	📖
create_merge_request_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to a merge request (e.g. thumbsup, rocket, eyes)	✏️
delete_merge_request_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from a merge request	✏️
create_merge_request_note_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to a merge request note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	✏️
delete_merge_request_note_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from a merge request note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	✏️

Issues

Issue CRUD, links, discussions and notes, todos, and emoji reactions. (24 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
create_issue	Create a new issue	✏️
list_issues	List issues (default: created by current user; use scope='all' for all)	📖
my_issues	List issues assigned to the authenticated user	📖
get_issue	Get details of a specific issue	📖
update_issue	Update an issue	✏️
update_issue_description_patch	Apply a patch (search/replace or unified diff) to an issue description. Reduces token usage by allowing small changes without sending the full description. Supports dry_run to preview changes and create_note to summarize updates.	✏️
delete_issue	Delete an issue	✏️
list_todos	List GitLab to-do items for the current user	📖
mark_todo_done	Mark a GitLab to-do item as done	✏️
mark_all_todos_done	Mark all pending GitLab to-do items as done for the current user	✏️
create_issue_note	Add a note to an issue, optionally replying to a discussion thread	✏️
update_issue_note	Modify an existing issue thread note	✏️
list_issue_links	List all issue links for a specific issue	📖
list_issue_discussions	List discussions for an issue	📖
get_issue_link	Get a specific issue link	📖
create_issue_link	Create an issue link between two issues	✏️
delete_issue_link	Delete an issue link	✏️
create_note	Create a new note (comment) to an issue or merge request	✏️
list_issue_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on an issue	📖
list_issue_note_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on an issue note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	📖
create_issue_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to an issue (e.g. thumbsup, rocket, eyes)	✏️
delete_issue_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from an issue	✏️
create_issue_note_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to an issue note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	✏️
delete_issue_note_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from an issue note. Pass discussion_id for discussion thread replies.	✏️

Labels

Project label CRUD. (5 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_labels	List labels for a project	📖
get_label	Get a single label from a project	📖
create_label	Create a new label in a project	✏️
update_label	Update an existing label in a project	✏️
delete_label	Delete a label from a project	✏️

Work Items

Modern unified API for issues, tasks, incidents, and other typed work items — including notes, emoji reactions, and incident timeline events. (18 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=workitems (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
get_work_item	Get a work item with full details including status, hierarchy, type, and widgets	📖
list_work_items	List work items with filters (type, state, search, assignees, labels)	📖
create_work_item	Create a work item (issue, task, incident, epic, etc.) with full field support	✏️
update_work_item	Update a work item (title, description, labels, assignees, state, parent, custom fields, etc.)	✏️
convert_work_item_type	Convert a work item to a different type	✏️
list_work_item_statuses	List available statuses for a work item type (Premium/Ultimate)	📖
list_custom_field_definitions	List custom field definitions for a work item type	📖
move_work_item	Move a work item to a different project	✏️
list_work_item_notes	List notes and discussions on a work item	📖
create_work_item_note	Add a note to a work item (supports Markdown, internal notes, threads)	✏️
list_work_item_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on a work item	📖
list_work_item_note_emoji_reactions	List all emoji reactions on a work item note (comment, thread, or thread reply)	📖
create_work_item_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to a work item (e.g. thumbsup, rocket, eyes)	✏️
delete_work_item_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from a work item	✏️
create_work_item_note_emoji_reaction	Add an emoji reaction to a work item note (comment, thread, or thread reply)	✏️
delete_work_item_note_emoji_reaction	Remove an emoji reaction from a work item note (comment, thread, or thread reply)	✏️
get_timeline_events	List timeline events for an incident	📖
create_timeline_event	Create a timeline event on an incident	✏️

CI Lint

Validate .gitlab-ci.yml snippets and project pipeline configs. (2 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
validate_ci_lint	Validate provided GitLab CI/CD YAML content for a project	📖
validate_project_ci_lint	Validate an existing .gitlab-ci.yml configuration for a project	📖

Pipelines, Jobs & Deployments

Pipeline + job control (trigger, retry, cancel, play manual jobs, fetch logs/artifacts), and the deployments/environments view. (19 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=pipelines (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), or use the legacy USE_PIPELINE=true flag for backward compatibility.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_pipelines	List pipelines with filtering options	📖
get_pipeline	Get details of a specific pipeline	📖
list_deployments	List deployments with filtering options	📖
get_deployment	Get details of a specific deployment	📖
list_environments	List environments in a project	📖
get_environment	Get details of a specific environment	📖
list_pipeline_jobs	List all jobs in a specific pipeline	📖
list_pipeline_trigger_jobs	List trigger jobs (bridges) in a pipeline	📖
get_pipeline_job	Get details of a GitLab pipeline job number	📖
get_pipeline_job_output	Get the output/trace of a pipeline job with optional pagination	📖
create_pipeline	Create a new pipeline for a branch or tag	✏️
retry_pipeline	Retry a failed or canceled pipeline	✏️
cancel_pipeline	Cancel a running pipeline	✏️
play_pipeline_job	Run a manual pipeline job	✏️
retry_pipeline_job	Retry a failed or canceled pipeline job	✏️
cancel_pipeline_job	Cancel a running pipeline job	✏️
list_job_artifacts	List artifact files in a job's archive	📖
download_job_artifacts	Download job artifact archive (zip) and save to a local path	📖
get_job_artifact_file	Get content of a single file from a job's artifacts	📖

Milestones

Project milestone CRUD plus associated issues/MRs and burndown events. (9 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=milestones (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), or use the legacy USE_MILESTONE=true flag for backward compatibility.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_milestones	List milestones with filtering options	📖
get_milestone	Get details of a specific milestone	📖
create_milestone	Create a new milestone	✏️
edit_milestone	Edit an existing milestone	✏️
delete_milestone	Delete a milestone	✏️
get_milestone_issue	Get issues associated with a specific milestone	📖
get_milestone_merge_requests	Get merge requests associated with a specific milestone	📖
promote_milestone	Promote a milestone to the next stage	✏️
get_milestone_burndown_events	Get burndown events for a specific milestone	📖

Wiki

Project and group wiki page CRUD. Attachment uploads where supported. (10 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=wiki (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), or use the legacy USE_GITLAB_WIKI=true flag for backward compatibility.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_wiki_pages	List wiki pages in a project	📖
get_wiki_page	Get details of a specific wiki page	📖
create_wiki_page	Create a wiki page in a project	✏️
update_wiki_page	Update a wiki page in a project	✏️
delete_wiki_page	Delete a wiki page from a project	✏️
list_group_wiki_pages	List wiki pages in a group	📖
get_group_wiki_page	Get details of a specific group wiki page	📖
create_group_wiki_page	Create a wiki page in a group	✏️
update_group_wiki_page	Update a wiki page in a group	✏️
delete_group_wiki_page	Delete a wiki page from a group	✏️

Releases

Release lifecycle, release evidence, and asset download. (7 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=releases (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_releases	List all releases for a project	📖
get_release	Get a release by tag name	📖
create_release	Create a new release	✏️
update_release	Update an existing release	✏️
delete_release	Delete a release (does not delete the tag)	✏️
create_release_evidence	Create release evidence (Premium/Ultimate)	✏️
download_release_asset	Download a release asset file by direct asset path	📖

Tags

Tag listing, creation, deletion, and signature inspection. (5 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=tags (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_tags	List repository tags for a project	📖
get_tag	Get a repository tag by name	📖
create_tag	Create a new repository tag	✏️
delete_tag	Delete a repository tag	✏️
get_tag_signature	Get the X.509 signature of a signed tag (404 if unsigned)	📖

Users & Events

User lookup, the authenticated user (whoami), event streams, and markdown attachment upload/download. (7 tools)

Tool	What it does	R/W
get_users	Get GitLab user details by usernames	📖
get_user	Get user details by ID	📖
whoami	Get current authenticated user details	📖
list_events	List events for the authenticated user (before/after: YYYY-MM-DD)	📖
get_project_events	List events for a project (before/after: YYYY-MM-DD)	📖
upload_markdown	Upload a file for use in markdown content	✏️
download_attachment	Download an uploaded file from a project (images returned as base64; use local_path to save to disk)	📖

Variables

Project and group CI/CD variable CRUD. (10 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=variables (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_project_variables	List CI/CD variables for a project	📖
get_project_variable	Get a single CI/CD variable from a project	📖
create_project_variable	Create a CI/CD variable for a project	✏️
update_project_variable	Update an existing CI/CD variable in a project	✏️
delete_project_variable	Delete a CI/CD variable from a project	✏️
list_group_variables	List CI/CD variables for a group	📖
get_group_variable	Get a single CI/CD variable from a group	📖
create_group_variable	Create a CI/CD variable for a group	✏️
update_group_variable	Update an existing CI/CD variable in a group	✏️
delete_group_variable	Delete a CI/CD variable from a group	✏️

Webhooks

List webhooks configured on projects or groups, and inspect recent webhook events. (3 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=webhooks (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
list_webhooks	List webhooks for a project or group	📖
list_webhook_events	List recent webhook events (past 7 days)	📖
get_webhook_event	Get full details of a specific webhook event	📖

Search

Code search across all visible projects, a specific project, or a specific group. (3 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=search (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
search_code	Search for code across all projects (requires advanced search or Zoekt)	📖
search_project_code	Search for code within a specific project (requires advanced search or Zoekt)	📖
search_group_code	Search for code within a specific group (requires advanced search or Zoekt)	📖

Dependency Proxy

Inspect and manage the GitLab dependency proxy cache settings, blob storage, and purge operations. (4 tools)

Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=dependency_proxy (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tool	What it does	R/W
get_dependency_proxy_settings	Get dependency proxy settings for a group	📖
update_dependency_proxy_settings	Update dependency proxy settings for a group (enable/disable, credentials for authenticated Docker Hub pulls)	✏️
list_dependency_proxy_blobs	List cached dependency proxy blobs for a group	📖
purge_dependency_proxy_cache	Schedule purge of all cached dependency proxy blobs for a group	✏️

Meta & GraphQL

Server diagnostics, tool discovery, and the GraphQL escape hatch. (2 tools)

Mixed availability. discover_tools is always exposed (the server re-adds it after every toolset filter). execute_graphql is not part of any toolset — enable it explicitly with GITLAB_TOOLS=execute_graphql.

Tool	What it does	R/W
execute_graphql	Execute a GitLab GraphQL query	📖
discover_tools	Discover and activate additional tool categories for this session. Available categories: merge_requests, issues, repositories, branches, projects, labels, ci, groups, pipelines, milestones, wiki, releases, tags, users, workitems, webhooks, search, variables, dependency_proxy. Already-active categories are listed in the response.	📖

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Argument schemas

Each group page includes a parameter table per tool, generated from the authoritative Zod schemas in schemas.ts. For runtime schema inspection from a connected MCP client, call the discover_tools tool.