- List repository tree
- Get a blob from repository
- Raw blob content
- Get file archive
- Compare branches, tags or commits
- Contributors
- Merge Base
- Add changelog data to a changelog file
- Generate changelog data
- Related topics
Repositories API
List repository tree
Iterating pages of results with a number (?page=2
) deprecated in GitLab 14.3.
Get a list of repository files and directories in a project. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible.
This command provides essentially the same features as the git ls-tree
command. For more information, refer to the section
Tree Objects
in the Git internals documentation.
?page=2
) is unsupported.GET /projects/:id/repository/tree
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
page_token | string | no | The tree record ID at which to fetch the next page. Used only with keyset pagination. |
pagination | string | no | If keyset , use the keyset-based pagination method. |
path | string | no | The path inside the repository. Used to get content of subdirectories. |
per_page | integer | no | Number of results to show per page. If not specified, defaults to 20 . For more information, see Pagination. |
recursive | boolean | no | Boolean value used to get a recursive tree. Default is false . |
ref | string | no | The name of a repository branch or tag or, if not given, the default branch. |
[
{
"id": "a1e8f8d745cc87e3a9248358d9352bb7f9a0aeba",
"name": "html",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/html",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "4535904260b1082e14f867f7a24fd8c21495bde3",
"name": "images",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/images",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "31405c5ddef582c5a9b7a85230413ff90e2fe720",
"name": "js",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/js",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "cc71111cfad871212dc99572599a568bfe1e7e00",
"name": "lfs",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/lfs",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "fd581c619bf59cfdfa9c8282377bb09c2f897520",
"name": "markdown",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/markdown",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "23ea4d11a4bdd960ee5320c5cb65b5b3fdbc60db",
"name": "ruby",
"type": "tree",
"path": "files/ruby",
"mode": "040000"
},
{
"id": "7d70e02340bac451f281cecf0a980907974bd8be",
"name": "whitespace",
"type": "blob",
"path": "files/whitespace",
"mode": "100644"
}
]
Get a blob from repository
Allows you to receive information, such as size and content, about blobs in a repository. Blob content is Base64 encoded. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication, if the repository is publicly accessible.
GET /projects/:id/repository/blobs/:sha
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
sha | string | yes | The blob SHA. |
Raw blob content
Get the raw file contents for a blob, by blob SHA. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible.
GET /projects/:id/repository/blobs/:sha/raw
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
sha | string | yes | The blob SHA. |
Get file archive
- Support for including Git LFS blobs was introduced in GitLab 13.5.
- Support for downloading a subfolder was introduced in GitLab 14.4.
Get an archive of the repository. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible.
For GitLab.com users, this endpoint has a rate limit threshold of 5 requests per minute.
GET /projects/:id/repository/archive[.format]
format
is an optional suffix for the archive format, and defaults to
tar.gz
. For example, specifying archive.zip
sends an archive in ZIP format.
Available options are:
bz2
tar
tar.bz2
tar.gz
tb2
tbz
tbz2
zip
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
path | string | no | The subpath of the repository to download. If an empty string, defaults to the whole repository. |
sha | string | no | The commit SHA to download. A tag, branch reference, or SHA can be used. If not specified, defaults to the tip of the default branch. |
Example request:
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
"https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/<project_id>/repository/archive?sha=<commit_sha>&path=<path>"
Compare branches, tags or commits
This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible. Diffs can have an empty diff string if diff limits are reached.
GET /projects/:id/repository/compare
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
from | string | yes | The commit SHA or branch name. |
to | string | yes | The commit SHA or branch name. |
from_project_id | integer | no | The ID to compare from. |
straight | boolean | no | Comparison method: true for direct comparison between from and to (from ..to ), false to compare using merge base (from …to )’. Default is false . |
unidiff | boolean | No | Present diffs in the unified diff format. Default is false. Introduced in GitLab 16.5. |
GET /projects/:id/repository/compare?from=main&to=feature
Example response:
{
"commit": {
"id": "12d65c8dd2b2676fa3ac47d955accc085a37a9c1",
"short_id": "12d65c8dd2b",
"title": "JS fix",
"author_name": "Example User",
"author_email": "user@example.com",
"created_at": "2014-02-27T10:27:00+02:00"
},
"commits": [{
"id": "12d65c8dd2b2676fa3ac47d955accc085a37a9c1",
"short_id": "12d65c8dd2b",
"title": "JS fix",
"author_name": "Example User",
"author_email": "user@example.com",
"created_at": "2014-02-27T10:27:00+02:00"
}],
"diffs": [{
"old_path": "files/js/application.js",
"new_path": "files/js/application.js",
"a_mode": null,
"b_mode": "100644",
"diff": "@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@\n //= require g.raphael-min\n //= require g.bar-min\n //= require branch-graph\n-//= require highlightjs.min\n-//= require ace/ace\n //= require_tree .\n //= require d3\n //= require underscore\n+\n+function fix() { \n+ alert(\"Fixed\")\n+}",
"new_file": false,
"renamed_file": false,
"deleted_file": false
}],
"compare_timeout": false,
"compare_same_ref": false,
"web_url": "https://gitlab.example.com/janedoe/gitlab-foss/-/compare/ae73cb07c9eeaf35924a10f713b364d32b2dd34f...0b4bc9a49b562e85de7cc9e834518ea6828729b9"
}
Contributors
- Attributes
additions
anddeletions
deprecated in GitLab 13.4, because they always returned0
. - Attributes
additions
anddeletions
removed in GitLab 14.0.
Get repository contributors list. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible.
GET /projects/:id/repository/contributors
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
order_by | string | no | Return contributors ordered by name , email , or commits (orders by commit date) fields. Default is commits . |
sort | string | no | Return contributors sorted in asc or desc order. Default is asc . |
Example response:
[{
"name": "Example User",
"email": "example@example.com",
"commits": 117,
"additions": 0,
"deletions": 0
}, {
"name": "Sample User",
"email": "sample@example.com",
"commits": 33,
"additions": 0,
"deletions": 0
}]
Merge Base
Get the common ancestor for 2 or more refs, such as commit SHAs, branch names, or tags.
GET /projects/:id/repository/merge_base
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id | integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project. |
refs | array | yes | The refs to find the common ancestor of. Accepts multiple refs. |
Example request, with the refs truncated for readability:
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/5/repository/merge_base?refs[]=304d257d&refs[]=0031876f"
Example response:
{
"id": "1a0b36b3cdad1d2ee32457c102a8c0b7056fa863",
"short_id": "1a0b36b3",
"title": "Initial commit",
"created_at": "2014-02-27T08:03:18.000Z",
"parent_ids": [],
"message": "Initial commit\n",
"author_name": "Example User",
"author_email": "user@example.com",
"authored_date": "2014-02-27T08:03:18.000Z",
"committer_name": "Example User",
"committer_email": "user@example.com",
"committed_date": "2014-02-27T08:03:18.000Z"
}
Add changelog data to a changelog file
- Introduced in GitLab 13.9.
- Commit range limits introduced in GitLab 15.1 with a flag named
changelog_commits_limitation
. Enabled by default.
Generate changelog data based on commits in a repository.
Given a semantic version and a range of commits, GitLab generates a changelog for all commits that use a particular Git trailer. GitLab adds a new Markdown-formatted section to a changelog file in the Git repository of the project. The output format can be customized.
For user-facing documentation, see Changelogs.
POST /projects/:id/repository/changelog
Supported attributes
Changelogs support these attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
version | string | yes | The version to generate the changelog for. The format must follow semantic versioning. |
branch | string | no | The branch to commit the changelog changes to. Defaults to the project’s default branch. |
config_file | string | no | Path to the changelog configuration file in the project’s Git repository. Defaults to .gitlab/changelog_config.yml . |
date | datetime | no | The date and time of the release. Defaults to the current time. |
file | string | no | The file to commit the changes to. Defaults to CHANGELOG.md . |
from | string | no | The SHA of the commit that marks the beginning of the range of commits to include in the changelog. This commit isn’t included in the changelog. |
message | string | no | The commit message to use when committing the changes. Defaults to Add changelog for version X , where X is the value of the version argument. |
to | string | no | The SHA of the commit that marks the end of the range of commits to include in the changelog. This commit is included in the changelog. Defaults to the branch specified in the branch attribute. Limited to 15000 commits unless the feature flag changelog_commits_limitation is disabled. |
trailer | string | no | The Git trailer to use for including commits. Defaults to Changelog . Case-sensitive: Example does not match example or eXaMpLE . |
Requirements for from
attribute
If the from
attribute is unspecified, GitLab uses the Git tag of the last
stable version that came before the version specified in the version
attribute. For GitLab to extract version numbers from tag names, Git tag names
must follow a specific format. By default, GitLab considers tags using these formats:
vX.Y.Z
X.Y.Z
Where X.Y.Z
is a version that follows semantic versioning.
For example, consider a project with the following tags:
- v1.0.0-pre1
- v1.0.0
- v1.1.0
- v2.0.0
If the version
attribute is 2.1.0
, GitLab uses tag v2.0.0
. And when the
version is 1.1.1
, or 1.2.0
, GitLab uses tag v1.1.0. The tag v1.0.0-pre1
is
never used, because pre-release tags are ignored.
If from
is unspecified and no tag to use is found, the API produces an error.
To solve such an error, you must explicitly specify a value for the from
attribute.
Examples
These examples use cURL to perform HTTP requests. The example commands use these values:
- Project ID: 42
- Location: hosted on GitLab.com
-
Example API token:
token
This command generates a changelog for version 1.0.0
.
The commit range:
- Starts with the tag of the last release.
- Ends with the last commit on the target branch. The default target branch is the project’s default branch.
If the last tag is v0.9.0
and the default branch is main
, the range of commits
included in this example is v0.9.0..main
:
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: token" \
--data "version=1.0.0" "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/42/repository/changelog"
To generate the data on a different branch, specify the branch
parameter. This
command generates data from the foo
branch:
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: token" \
--data "version=1.0.0&branch=foo" "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/42/repository/changelog"
To use a different trailer, use the trailer
parameter:
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: token" \
--data "version=1.0.0&trailer=Type" "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/42/repository/changelog"
To store the results in a different file, use the file
parameter:
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: token" \
--data "version=1.0.0&file=NEWS" "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/42/repository/changelog"
Generate changelog data
Introduced in GitLab 14.6.
Generate changelog data based on commits in a repository, without committing them to a changelog file.
Works exactly like POST /projects/:id/repository/changelog
, except the changelog
data isn’t committed to any changelog file.
GET /projects/:id/repository/changelog
Supported attributes:
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
version | string | yes | The version to generate the changelog for. The format must follow semantic versioning. |
config_file | string | no | The path of changelog configuration file in the project’s Git repository. Defaults to .gitlab/changelog_config.yml . |
date | datetime | no | The date and time of the release. Uses ISO 8601 format. Example: 2016-03-11T03:45:40Z . Defaults to the current time. |
from | string | no | The start of the range of commits (as a SHA) to use for generating the changelog. This commit itself isn’t included in the list. |
to | string | no | The end of the range of commits (as a SHA) to use for the changelog. This commit is included in the list. Defaults to the HEAD of the default project branch. |
trailer | string | no | The Git trailer to use for including commits. Defaults to Changelog . |
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: token" \
"https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/42/repository/changelog?version=1.0.0"
Example response, with line breaks added for readability:
{
"notes": "## 1.0.0 (2021-11-17)\n\n### feature (2 changes)\n\n-
[Title 2](namespace13/project13@ad608eb642124f5b3944ac0ac772fecaf570a6bf)
([merge request](namespace13/project13!2))\n-
[Title 1](namespace13/project13@3c6b80ff7034fa0d585314e1571cc780596ce3c8)
([merge request](namespace13/project13!1))\n"
}
Related topics
- User documentation for changelogs
- Developer documentation for changelog entries in GitLab