Connect your app to GitLab API
Connect your Lovable app to GitLab using an access token to view or update issues, merge requests, and pipelines. This shared connection runs through a secure gateway so your credentials remain hidden from code and users.
Makers who want to build internal tools like issue triage boards, review queues, or release dashboards powered by GitLab data.
Do this, in order
- 1
Create a personal, group, or project access token in GitLab with the 'read_api' scope for reading data or 'api' scope for creating and updating data.
Lovable needs an authorized key to interact with your GitLab projects securely.
- 2
Go to Connectors in Lovable, choose GitLab API, and click Connect.
This opens the connection configuration screen.
- 3
Paste your access token, set your HTTPS root instance URL if using self-managed GitLab, and choose whether to share the connection with workspace members.
Lovable verifies your credentials and stores them securely without exposing them in your app code.
- 4
Click Connect, then prompt Lovable in your project chat to build the GitLab integration you want.
Lovable automatically links the verified connection to your project and builds your interface.
Paste this into your project
Use our shared GitLab connection to build an issue triage dashboard for the team's projects. Show open issues by label and assignee, and let users create a new issue.
Words decoded
- Access token
- A secure, generated password string that allows an application to access your GitLab data with specific permissions.
- Scope
- The specific permission level assigned to a token, determining whether it can only read data or also make changes.
- REST API
- A standard method for software applications to request and send data to an external service like GitLab.
Where people get stuck
- Never paste your access token directly into the chat prompt or project code; only paste it into the connector form.
- This connector does not backup or sync your Lovable project code to GitLab; use GitLab Git sync for code management instead.
- If using a self-managed GitLab instance, do not add '/api/v4' or subpaths to the Instance URL field.
- Access tokens do not rotate automatically, so API requests will fail once your GitLab token reaches its expiration date.
The short version, steps, decoder and prompt on this page are written automatically from Lovable's own documentation and can lag or misread it. The official page is always the authority.