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GitLab

GitLab CI/CD

Built-in CI/CD for GitLab: pipelines defined in .gitlab-ci.yml, runners on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and Auto DevOps for opinionated deploys. GitLab Duo brings AI code suggestions, vulnerability explanations, root cause analysis on failed jobs, and chat-based incident triage. The single-application platform sell remains its differentiator vs GitHub plus add-ons.

Last reviewedMay 15, 2026
How we review

Overview

GitLab CI/CD is the pipeline engine integrated into the GitLab platform, configured via a .gitlab-ci.yml file stored in the repository. Pipelines are tightly coupled to the GitLab merge request lifecycle: they run against MR branches, post results as MR annotations, and enforce pass/fail requirements on merge.

Runners execute jobs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, and custom executor environments. Runners register outbound to the GitLab instance and accept jobs without inbound firewall rules; the self-managed runner model gives operators full control over compute, network, and credential handling.

Auto DevOps detects the application runtime and generates a working pipeline configuration without a manually authored .gitlab-ci.yml, covering build, test, and Kubernetes deployment. Built-in security scanning templates (SAST, DAST, dependency scanning, container scanning, secret detection) run as native pipeline jobs. GitLab Duo AI explains failed job logs and suggests fixes, running on the GitLab-hosted AI backend. Pricing: Free, Premium ($29/user/month), Ultimate ($99/user/month); self-managed available on all tiers.

Key Features

  • .gitlab-ci.yml pipeline config tightly integrated with the GitLab merge request lifecycle — pipelines run against MR branches and block merge on failure without separate webhook configuration
  • Auto DevOps: zero-configuration pipeline detection for common language stacks — detects the runtime, builds a container image, runs tests, and deploys to Kubernetes without a manually authored .gitlab-ci.yml
  • Self-managed runner support on any infrastructure: Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, and custom executors — runners register with the GitLab instance and accept jobs without inbound firewall rules
  • Built-in security scanning templates: SAST, DAST, dependency scanning, container scanning, and secret detection are GitLab-native pipeline jobs that produce merge request annotations and a security dashboard
  • Pipeline DAG visualizer: graphical view of job dependencies and execution order — surfaces which jobs are blocking which and where parallelism can be increased in a complex pipeline
  • GitLab Duo AI pipeline assistance: explains CI failure logs in plain language, suggests root cause, and proposes YAML fixes — runs on the GitLab-hosted AI backend without sending code to third-party LLMs

Integrations

10 total
scm
GitLab
ci / cd
TerraformOpenTofuAnsibleHelm
cloud
AWSGCPAzure
orchestration
Kubernetes
messaging
Slack

Pricing

No pricing data on file.

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Compliance

5 / 6 attested
SOC 2
HIPAA
GDPR
FedRAMP
PCI DSS
ISO 27001

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