Tools Overview

GitLab MCP Server exposes GitLab operations as MCP tools that AI assistants can invoke directly. The server offers three operating modes to balance capability with token efficiency.

All modes cover the same GitLab API surface. They differ in packaging: individual mode exposes one MCP tool per operation, meta-tool mode groups actions by domain, and dynamic mode searches and executes canonical domain.action IDs from the same action catalog.

Operating modes

Individual mode

In individual mode, the server registers one tool per GitLab operation: 863 tools for CE, 1006 tools for self-managed Enterprise/Premium, or 1011 tools on GitLab.com Enterprise/Premium when Orbit is available. This provides maximum granularity but consumes significant LLM context tokens for tool discovery.

Meta-tool mode (default)

In meta-tool mode (META_TOOLS=true), related operations are consolidated into domain-level meta-tools. Each meta-tool accepts an action parameter that routes to the appropriate handler. This reduces the tool count to 32 base meta-tools, 47 on self-managed Enterprise/Premium, or 48 on GitLab.com Enterprise/Premium when Orbit is available, dramatically improving LLM token efficiency while preserving full functionality.

{
  "tool": "gitlab_issue",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "create",
    "project": "my-group/my-project",
    "title": "Fix login redirect",
    "description": "Users are redirected to 404 after login",
    "labels": "bug,priority::high"
  }
}

Dynamic toolset

Dynamic mode (TOOL_SURFACE=dynamic or TOOL_SURFACE=dynamic-3) is the low-token alternative. It exposes only three public tools: gitlab_search_tools, gitlab_describe_tools, and gitlab_execute_tool (the singular gitlab_execute_tool name is intentional). The same GitLab actions remain available in the canonical action catalog. The assistant searches for an action, describes the exact schema, then executes the canonical domain.action ID.

flowchart LR
    A[Search tools] --> B[Describe action]
    B --> C[Execute domain.action]
    C --> D[Existing GitLab handler]

Because meta-tools and dynamic mode share the canonical action catalog, safety behavior stays consistent across both modes. Safety behavior includes read-only filtering, safe-mode previews, token-scope filtering, destructive confirmations, schemas, and result formatting.

Tool naming convention

All tools follow a consistent naming pattern:

Individual tools: gitlab_{action}_{resource} (e.g., gitlab_create_issue, gitlab_list_projects)
Meta-tools: gitlab_{domain} (e.g., gitlab_issue, gitlab_project)
Dynamic actions: canonical domain.action IDs executed through gitlab_execute_tool (e.g., issue.create, merge_request.list)

Base meta-tools (32)

Project management

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_project`	Project CRUD, configuration, hooks, labels, milestones, members, badges, access tokens, todo, upload, and more	list, get, create, update, delete, fork, star, archive, label_, milestone_, members, badge_*, upload
`gitlab_issue`	Issue lifecycle, notes, discussions, links, work items, time tracking, award emoji, and resource events	list, get, create, update, delete, note_, link_, discussion_, work_item_, time_*
`gitlab_group`	Group CRUD, subgroups, members, badges, hooks, labels, milestones, transfer, and descendant projects	list, get, create, update, delete, label_, milestone_, member_, badge_, hook_*
`gitlab_user`	User information, status, SSH keys, GPG keys, emails, activity, and preferences	get, current, list, ssh_key_, gpg_key_, email_, status_
`gitlab_wiki`	Wiki page management and attachments	list, get, create, update, delete, upload_attachment

Code & repository

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_branch`	Branch management and protection rules (including branch rule queries via GraphQL)	list, get, create, delete, protect, unprotect, branch_rule_*
`gitlab_tag`	Tag management and protection rules with GPG signature verification	list, get, create, delete, protect, unprotect
`gitlab_release`	Release management and release asset links	list, get, create, update, delete, link_*
`gitlab_repository`	Repository tree, files, commits, diffs, blame, compare, cherry-pick, revert, contributors, archives, changelogs, markdown	tree, file_, commit_, compare, blame, archive, changelog, submodule_, discussion_
`gitlab_merge_request`	MR lifecycle, approvals, approval rules, time tracking, subscriptions, context commits, award emoji, and resource events	list, get, create, update, merge, rebase, approve, approval_, time_, event_*

Code review

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_mr_review`	MR notes, threaded discussions, code diffs, draft notes, and diff versions	note_, discussion_, diff_, draft_, version_*

CI/CD

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_pipeline`	Pipeline management, resource groups, test reports, trigger tokens, pipeline bridges, and pipeline schedules	list, get, create, cancel, retry, delete, wait, schedule_, trigger_
`gitlab_job`	CI job management, artifacts, logs, and Kubernetes agents	list, get, play, cancel, retry, erase, trace, artifacts, wait, k8s_*
`gitlab_runner`	CI/CD runner management, runner controllers, controller scopes, and controller tokens	list, get, update, remove, jobs, controller_*, register, verify
`gitlab_ci_variable`	CI/CD variables at instance, group, and project scope	list, get, create, update, delete (at each scope level)
`gitlab_environment`	Environment management, protected environments, deployment freeze periods, and deployment records	list, get, create, update, delete, stop, deployment_, freeze_

Search & analysis

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_search`	Cross-resource search across projects, groups, and global scope	code, issues, merge_requests, commits, milestones, notes, projects, snippets, users, wiki
`gitlab_analyze`	AI-powered sampling analysis (11 operations via LLM sampling)	analyze_mr_changes, summarize_issue, pipeline_failure, …

Access & credentials

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_access`	Deploy keys, deploy tokens, project access tokens, group access tokens, and access requests	deploy_key_, deploy_token_, project_token_, group_token_
`gitlab_admin`	Instance administration: Sidekiq, settings, license, broadcast messages, hooks, PATs, and more	sidekiq_, setting_, license_, broadcast_, hook_, pat_

Packages & content

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_package`	Package registry management and generic package file upload/download	list, get, delete, upload, download, protection_rule_*
`gitlab_snippet`	Project and personal snippets with discussions, notes, and award emoji	list, get, create, update, delete, discussion_, note_
`gitlab_template`	Project templates (gitignores, CI YAML, Dockerfiles, licenses) and CI linting	gitignore_, ci_, dockerfile_, license_, lint

Discovery & utilities

Meta-tool	Description	Key Actions
`gitlab_feature_flags`	Feature flag and feature flag user list management	list, get, create, update, delete, user_list_*
`gitlab_model_registry`	ML model package file download from GitLab Model Registry	download
`gitlab_ci_catalog`	CI/CD Catalog resource discovery (reusable components, templates)	list, get
`gitlab_custom_emoji`	Group-level custom emoji management via GraphQL	list, get, create, delete
`gitlab_resolve_project`	Resolve Git remote URLs to GitLab project IDs	resolve

Enterprise-only tools

When the Enterprise/Premium catalog is enabled, the server registers 15 additional self-managed meta-tools for GitLab Premium and Ultimate features:

gitlab_merge_train, gitlab_audit_event, gitlab_dora_metrics, gitlab_dependency, gitlab_external_status_check, gitlab_group_scim, gitlab_member_role, gitlab_enterprise_user, gitlab_attestation, gitlab_compliance_policy, gitlab_project_alias, gitlab_geo, gitlab_storage_move, gitlab_vulnerability, gitlab_security_finding

On GitLab.com Enterprise/Premium, the catalog also registers gitlab_orbit with five read-only Knowledge Graph actions: status, schema, tools, query, and graph_status.