nvim-gitlab

Interactive GitLab CI/CD workflows for Neovim powered by `glab` and GitLab APIs.

Browse pipelines, inspect jobs, view logs, download artifacts, and trigger CI actions directly from Neovim.

Focus

nvim-gitlab is intentionally focused on GitLab CI/CD workflows.

Current features include:

• Pipeline browsing
• Pipeline details
• Job browsing
• Job details
• Job logs
• Job retry
• Pipeline re-run
• Artifact downloads

Merge Requests, Issues, and project management features are currently out of scope.

Requirements

• Neovim 0.12+
• git
• glab (required)
• yq with YAML-to-JSON single- and multi-document support (required for CI discovery)
• MunifTanjim/nui.nvim (required)
• nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim (optional; used when picker = "telescope")

GITLAB_TOKEN is optional when glab is already authenticated. It is required only when using :GitlabAuth. CI discovery probes the installed yq for its generic YAML-to-JSON single- and multi-document transcoding capabilities.

Installation

lazy.nvim

{
    "mm4cN/nvim-gitlab",
    dependencies = { "MunifTanjim/nui.nvim" },
    config = function()
        require("gitlab").setup()
    end,
}

packer.nvim

use({
    "mm4cN/nvim-gitlab",
    requires = { "MunifTanjim/nui.nvim" },
    config = function()
        require("gitlab").setup()
    end,
})

mini.deps

MiniDeps.add({
    source = "mm4cN/nvim-gitlab",
    depends = { "MunifTanjim/nui.nvim" },
})

require("gitlab").setup()

vim.pack (Neovim 0.12+)

vim.pack.add({
    { src = "https://github.com/MunifTanjim/nui.nvim" },
    { src = "https://github.com/mm4cN/nvim-gitlab" },
})

require("gitlab").setup()

Setup

require("gitlab").setup({
    glab_binary = "glab",
    ci_file = ".gitlab-ci.yml",

    picker = "vim_ui",      -- default picker backend

    scratch_height = 15,    -- scratch buffer height

    gitlab_token_env = "GITLAB_TOKEN",

    artifacts_dir = "gitlab-artifacts",
    extract_artifacts = true,

    notification = {
        -- Optional; defaults to vim.notify.
        handler = function(message, level, opts)
            vim.notify(message, level, opts)
        end,
    },
})

The notification handler is backend-agnostic, so it can delegate to Noice, Snacks, nvim-notify, or another implementation without adding a plugin dependency to nvim-gitlab.

Telescope Support

To enable Telescope integration:

require("gitlab").setup({
    picker = "telescope",
})

If Telescope is not installed, gitlab.nvim automatically falls back to vim.ui.select().

With Telescope enabled, pickers provide additional features:

• Preview pane showing available actions and selected item details
• Custom keybindings for quick actions (e.g., <C-r> to re-run a pipeline directly from the picker)

Features

Pickers

• Picker backend abstraction
• Telescope picker backend
• vim.ui fallback picker backend

CI Pipelines

• Run GitLab pipelines
• List project pipelines
• Show latest pipeline status
• Open pipeline details
• Re-run pipelines
• Cross-project pipeline runner with project/ref pickers, CI inputs, and pipeline variables
• Browse and operate on pipelines from any accessible project

CI Jobs

• List jobs for the latest pipeline
• Open job details
• View job logs
• Retry jobs
• Play manual jobs
• Download job artifacts

Interactive Navigation

• Pipeline → Job drilldown
• Reusable scratch window
• View history navigation (b)
• Context-aware actions

Statusline API

• Lightweight API for exposing pipeline status to statuslines
• Current-branch pipeline status with caching
• Native statusline and lualine integration examples

Health Checks

• Required and optional dependency diagnostics
• glab authentication and GitLab API validation
• CI configuration validation

Commands

Health

:checkhealth gitlab
:GitlabHealth
:GitlabAuth

CI Validation

:GitlabCiValidate

Pipelines

:GitlabPipelineRun
:GitlabPipelineStatus
:GitlabPipelineList

Jobs

:GitlabJobList

The pipeline runner uses a compatible yq only to transcode YAML documents to JSON. Lua discovers spec:inputs from the root .gitlab-ci.yml and legacy described variables from GitLab's include-expanded merged CI YAML. Discovery reports single- and multi-document capability failures separately. Successful strategy probing is cached for the current Neovim session.

Pipeline fields with configured options use selection menus (j/k or arrow keys). Tab and Shift-Tab continue across editable and selection fields. Option labels are normalized for display, while selected values are submitted without destructive sanitization.

The runner uses a fixed-height, scrollable form beside a non-focusable keybinding legend. Tab and Shift-Tab move between fields and automatically scroll the destination into view. The scrollbar indicates the current position when the form contains more fields than fit in the viewport.

Runner-wide actions are available from Project, Ref, input, variable, and option fields:

• <C-p> select a project
• <C-r> select a ref for the current project
• <C-s> run the pipeline
• a add a variable and d remove a user-added variable (normal mode)
• q or <Esc> close the runner

Enter remains field-local: it commits Project/Ref edits and retains the native interaction of the focused field; it is not the Run shortcut. Selecting another project resolves its canonical GitLab path, switches Ref to its default branch, and refreshes CI discovery while preserving manually added variables.

In :GitlabPipelineList, press <C-p> to select another accessible project. The active project is shown in the picker prompt, and pipeline/job details, logs, artifacts, refreshes, and reruns retain that selected project context.

Interactive Views

Refreshable pipeline and job views support:

• r Refresh current view
• <CR> Open details
• L Open logs
• A Download artifacts
• R Retry job / Re-run pipeline (auto-refreshes view)
• P Play manual job (auto-refreshes view)
• b Navigate back
• q Close view

Public Lua API

The supported Lua API is:

• require("gitlab").setup(opts) — configure and initialize the plugin.
• require("gitlab.statusline").get() — return cached statusline data without blocking.
• require("gitlab.statusline").clear_cache() — clear statusline context and pipeline caches.

Other gitlab.* modules are internal implementation details and may change.

Statusline Integration

The plugin provides a lightweight API for displaying current-branch pipeline status in your statusline.

Usage

require("gitlab.statusline").get()

Returns a table with pipeline status information:

• status — Raw pipeline status string (success, failed, running, pending, etc.)
• icon — Single Unicode character representing the status
• text — Ready-to-use Nerd Font string, such as : ✓ success
• pipeline_id — Numeric pipeline ID
• watch_count — Number of active pipeline watches, omitted when zero
• watch_text — Formatted watch indicator, such as Watching: 2, omitted when zero

When watches are active, text appends | Watching: N. The leading GitLab glyph requires a Nerd Font. The watch indicator is available even when the current-branch pipeline status is unavailable. Otherwise, an empty table {} is returned when no pipeline is found or on error.

Native Statusline Example

vim.o.statusline = "%{%v:lua.require('gitlab.statusline').get().text or ''%}"

Lualine Example

require("lualine").setup({
  sections = {
    lualine_x = {
      function()
        return require("gitlab.statusline").get().text or ""
      end,
    },
  },
})

Results are cached for 60 seconds per project+branch pair.

Development

Running Tests

make test

Tests run headlessly via Neovim and require no GitLab credentials or network access.

Planned Features

CI/CD

• Artifact browser
• Pipeline filtering
• Pipeline search