A Model Context Protocol server that exposes the GitLab REST v4 and GraphQL APIs as tools for AI assistants. It runs as a local binary over stdio (default) or HTTP.

This package is a thin launcher. The actual server is a prebuilt Go binary that ships inside a per-platform package; npm installs only the one matching your operating system and CPU, so there is nothing to compile and nothing is downloaded at install time.

Run without installing

npx @jmrpio/gitlab-mcp-server

Most MCP clients are configured to launch the server this way. For example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@jmrpio/gitlab-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_URL": "https://gitlab.com",
        "GITLAB_TOKEN": "glpat-…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Install

npm install -g @jmrpio/gitlab-mcp-server
gitlab-mcp-server --help

Configuration

GITLAB_URL and GITLAB_TOKEN are the two required environment variables in stdio mode. Every flag and variable — HTTP mode, OAuth, read-only and safe modes, tool surfaces, tiers — is documented in the configuration reference.

Auto-update is off under npm

The server can update itself in place, but that is disabled here: npm owns the binary, and letting it replace itself would desynchronize what npm has recorded. Update with your package manager instead (npm update -g @jmrpio/gitlab-mcp-server). Setting AUTO_UPDATE explicitly still takes effect if you have a reason to override it.

Supported platforms

Linux, macOS and Windows, on x64 and arm64. On any other platform the launcher exits with a message pointing to the release binaries and the option to build from source.