GitLab CLI Power Utilities

Skill-local scripts (scripts/glab_ops.py) are stdlib-only and run base-directory-relative with python3 (py -3 on Windows).

Intelligent wrappers and patterns for GitLab CLI operations.

When to Use

• Debugging failed GitLab CI/CD pipelines
• Managing merge requests across projects
• Automating releases
• Bulk operations on issues/MRs
• Project health checks

Prerequisites

# macOS
brew install glab

# Or download from https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli

# Authenticate
glab auth login

Core Capabilities

1. Pipeline Debugging

Get actionable errors from failed pipelines.

# Diagnose most recent failure
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose

# Specific project
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose --project group/project

# With suggested fixes
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py diagnose --suggest-fixes

Output: Job failures, error excerpts, timing info.

2. MR Operations

Merge request management at scale.

# List MRs needing review
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-review-queue

# MRs ready to merge (approved + passing)
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-merge-ready --dry-run

# MR health check
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py mr-status 123

3. Release Automation

Create releases with changelogs.

# Preview release
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --dry-run

# Create minor release
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --bump minor

# With custom notes
python3 scripts/glab_ops.py release --notes "Breaking: API v2"

Quick Patterns

# Watch pipeline
glab ci view --live

# Retry failed jobs
glab ci retry

# View job logs
glab ci trace <job-id>

# Create MR from current branch
glab mr create --fill

# Checkout MR locally
glab mr checkout 123

# View MR changes
glab mr diff 123

# Approve MR
glab mr approve 123

# Merge MR
glab mr merge 123 --squash --remove-source-branch

glab vs gh Quick Reference

Task	GitHub (gh)	GitLab (glab)
Create PR/MR	gh pr create	glab mr create
List CI runs	gh run list	glab ci list
View CI logs	gh run view --log	glab ci trace
Watch CI	gh run watch	glab ci view --live
Retry CI	gh run rerun --failed	glab ci retry
Checkout PR/MR	gh pr checkout 123	glab mr checkout 123

Integration

Works with:

• wicked-garden-search: Find code, create issues via glab
• Native tasks: Track MR status alongside tasks via TaskUpdate description appends

References

• refs/glab-ops.md - Full script documentation
• refs/patterns.md - Common workflow patterns
• refs/ci-debugging.md - Pipeline troubleshooting