glab-skill_skill

Overview

This skill provides expert guidance for using the GitLab CLI (glab) to manage issues, merge requests, CI/CD pipelines, repositories, and other GitLab operations from the terminal. It focuses on practical commands, authentication, repository context, and automation patterns to speed common GitLab workflows. Use it to run, script, and troubleshoot GitLab tasks without leaving the command line.

How this skill works

The skill explains what to check before running commands (installation, auth status, repo context) and shows concrete glab commands for creating and reviewing merge requests, managing issues, monitoring pipelines, and cloning repositories. It also covers advanced patterns: using glab api for direct API calls, pagination and JSON output for scripting, replying to MR discussion threads, and handling self-hosted GitLab instances. Examples include one-line commands, multi-step flows, and snippets for automation and troubleshooting.

When to use it

• Create, review, or merge merge requests from the terminal
• Create, list, or manage GitLab issues and link them to MRs
• Monitor, retry, or view logs for CI/CD pipelines
• Clone, view, or fork repositories and work outside repo context
• Automate workflows or parse glab JSON output in scripts

Best practices

• Verify authentication before actions: glab auth status
• Run glab <command> --help to discover flags and behavior
• Lint .gitlab-ci.yml locally with glab ci lint before pushing
• Link MRs to issues using 'Closes #<issue-number>' in descriptions
• Use --output=json or glab api --paginate for reliable automation

Example use cases

• Push a feature branch and create a merge request with reviewers and labels
• List MRs awaiting your review, checkout one locally, test, and approve it
• Create a new issue, then open a linked MR that closes the issue on merge
• Watch a pipeline in real time, view failing job logs, and retry the pipeline
• Run glab api to fetch unresolved MR discussion threads and reply in-thread