Custom Git clients in the Code dropdown list

  • Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
  • Offering: GitLab Self-Managed
  • Status: Beta

The availability of this feature is controlled by a feature flag. For more information, see the history.

Add custom clients to the Open with section of the Code dropdown list on project pages. Users can then clone a repository directly into a Git client that GitLab doesn’t list by default.

Configure custom clients

Prerequisites:

  • You must be an administrator.
  • The custom_code_dropdown_clients feature flag must be enabled.

To configure entries:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Admin.
  2. Select Settings > Repository.
  3. Expand General.
  4. Select Add client.
  5. Complete the fields. Enter at least one URL template.
    • Display name: The label shown to users in the dropdown list. Not translated.
    • SSH URL template: The URL opened when a user selects SSH.
    • HTTPS URL template: The URL opened when a user selects HTTPS.
  6. Select Add.

To edit an entry, next to it select Edit client ( pencil ), update the fields, then select Save.

To delete an entry, next to it select Delete client ( remove ), then in the confirmation dialog select Delete client.

You can configure up to 20 entries.

URL templates

Each URL template must contain the placeholder {url} exactly once. When the Code dropdown list is rendered, GitLab replaces the placeholder server-side with the project’s percent-encoded clone URL.

Allowed URL schemes

Enter the scheme expected by the client you’re integrating. Any URL scheme is accepted, except the following, which a browser can use to run scripts or read local files:

  • javascript
  • data
  • vbscript
  • file
  • blob
  • filesystem
  • about

Selecting an entry passes the URL to whichever application the user’s operating system has registered for that scheme.

GitLab cannot verify what that application does with the URL. Add only clients you trust.

If no application is registered for the scheme on the user’s operating system, the browser cannot open the link.

Examples

The following entries have been verified against vendor documentation.

Always confirm the current URI scheme against the official documentation of the client you’re integrating, before publishing the entry to your users.

Display nameSSH URL templateHTTPS URL templateSource
VSCodiumvscodium://vscode.git/clone?url={url}vscodium://vscode.git/clone?url={url}VSCodium prepare_vscode.sh registers urlProtocol as vscodium, reusing the upstream VS Code vscode.git/clone handler.
Towergittower://openRepo/{url}gittower://openRepo/{url}Tower documentation (macOS), Tower documentation (Windows)
Sourcetree, Forksourcetree://cloneRepo?cloneUrl={url}sourcetree://cloneRepo?cloneUrl={url}Fork intercepts the same scheme.

Some clients are not compatible with the single {url} placeholder model. For example, GitKraken and GitHub Desktop need extra per-repository parameters. Other clients (such as Zed and Working Copy) appear in third-party documentation but lack an official vendor URI scheme reference. Verify with the vendor before adding such entries.