GitLab Docs

Overview GitLab is a complete DevOps platform delivered as a single application. It combines version control, CI/CD, security scanning, and monitoring into one toolchain. Teams use GitLab to plan, build, test, secure, deploy, and monitor software from a unified interface. The platform supports both cloud-hosted and self-managed deployments. It serves developers, DevOps engineers, security teams, and enterprise organizations that need end-to-end software delivery without juggling multiple point solutions. Key Benefits Single application covers the entire software development lifecycle from planning to monitoring. CI/CD pipelines let you build, test, and deploy code automatically on every commit. Built-in security testing resolves vulnerabilities before code reaches production. AI-native features through GitLab Duo assist developers throughout their workflow. Self-managed installation options include Linux packages, Kubernetes Helm charts, Docker images, and cloud provider marketplace deployments. Reference architectures support from 1,000 up to 50,000 concurrent users. How It Works You create a project in GitLab and push your code using standard Git commands. GitLab automatically triggers CI/CD pipelines that run tests, scan for security vulnerabilities, and deploy your application. You monitor performance and incidents from the same dashboard where you plan work and review merge requests. Use Cases DevOps engineers set up automated CI/CD pipelines that build, test, and deploy applications across multiple environments. Security teams configure vulnerability scanning rules and review findings directly inside merge requests before code is merged. Platform engineers deploy GitLab on Kubernetes using the Helm chart or Operator for cloud-native infrastructure management. Enterprise architects follow reference architecture guides to scale GitLab installations for 1,000 to 50,000 concurrent users. Open-source contributors work through GitLab's contribution guide to submit patches and participate in product development. Why Choose This Product GitLab fits teams that want a single integrated platform instead of stitching together separate tools for source control, CI/CD, security scanning, and monitoring. Self-managed organizations can pick from multiple installation methods including Linux packages, Kubernetes, Docker, or self-compilation. The platform explicitly requires technical effort for self-managed setups and enforces a Cloudflare security check on its cloud-hosted sign-in page.