Repository files API

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

Use this API to manage repository files. You can also configure rate limits for this API.

Available scopes for personal access tokens

Personal access tokens support these scopes:

Scope	Description
`api`	Allows read-write access to the repository files.
`read_api`	Allows read access to the repository files.
`read_repository`	Allows read-access to the repository files.

Retrieve a file from a repository

Retrieves information about a specified file in a repository. This includes information like the name, size, and the file contents. File content is Base64 encoded. You can access this endpoint without authentication, if the repository is publicly accessible.

For blobs larger than 10 MB, this endpoint has a rate limit of 5 requests per minute.

GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file, such as `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`ref`	string	Yes	Name of branch, tag, or commit. Use `HEAD` to automatically use the default branch.

If successful, returns 200 OK and the following response attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
`blob_id`	string	Blob SHA.
`commit_id`	string	Commit SHA for the file.
`content`	string	Base64 encoded file content.
`content_sha256`	string	SHA256 hash of the file content.
`encoding`	string	Encoding used for the file content.
`execute_filemode`	boolean	If `true`, the execute flag is set on the file.
`file_name`	string	Name of the file.
`file_path`	string	Full path to the file.
`last_commit_id`	string	SHA of the last commit that modified this file.
`ref`	string	Name of the branch, tag, or commit used.
`size`	integer	Size of the file in bytes.

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb?ref=main"

If you don’t know the branch name or want to use the default branch, you can use HEAD as the ref value. For example:

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: " \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb?ref=HEAD"

Example response:

{
  "file_name": "key.rb",
  "file_path": "app/models/key.rb",
  "size": 1476,
  "encoding": "base64",
  "content": "IyA9PSBTY2hlbWEgSW5mb3...",
  "content_sha256": "4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481",
  "ref": "main",
  "blob_id": "79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83",
  "commit_id": "d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50",
  "last_commit_id": "570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d",
  "execute_filemode": false
}

Get file metadata only

You can also use HEAD to fetch just file metadata.

HEAD /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path

curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb?ref=main"

Example response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
...
X-Gitlab-Blob-Id: 79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83
X-Gitlab-Commit-Id: d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50
X-Gitlab-Content-Sha256: 4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481
X-Gitlab-Encoding: base64
X-Gitlab-File-Name: key.rb
X-Gitlab-File-Path: app/models/key.rb
X-Gitlab-Last-Commit-Id: 570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d
X-Gitlab-Ref: main
X-Gitlab-Size: 1476
X-Gitlab-Execute-Filemode: false
...

Retrieve file blame history from a repository

Retrieves blame history for a specified file in a repository. Each blame range contains lines and their corresponding commit information.

GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path/blame

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file, such as `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`ref`	string	Yes	Name of branch, tag, or commit. Use `HEAD` to automatically use the default branch.
`range`	hash	No	Blame range.
`range[end]`	integer	No	Last line of the range to blame.
`range[start]`	integer	No	First line of the range to blame.

If successful, returns 200 OK and the following response attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
`commit`	object	Commit information for the blame range.
`lines`	array	Array of lines for this blame range.

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=main"

Example response:

[
  {
    "commit": {
      "id": "d42409d56517157c48bf3bd97d3f75974dde19fb",
      "message": "Add feature\n\nalso fix bug\n",
      "parent_ids": [
        "cc6e14f9328fa6d7b5a0d3c30dc2002a3f2a3822"
      ],
      "authored_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
      "author_name": "John Doe",
      "author_email": "john.doe@example.com",
      "committed_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
      "committer_name": "John Doe",
      "committer_email": "john.doe@example.com"
    },
    "lines": [
      "require 'fileutils'",
      "require 'open3'",
      ""
    ]
  }
]

Get file blame metadata only

Use the HEAD method to return just file blame metadata.

HEAD /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path/blame

curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=main"

Example response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
...
X-Gitlab-Blob-Id: 79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83
X-Gitlab-Commit-Id: d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50
X-Gitlab-Content-Sha256: 4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481
X-Gitlab-Encoding: base64
X-Gitlab-File-Name: file.rb
X-Gitlab-File-Path: path/to/file.rb
X-Gitlab-Last-Commit-Id: 570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d
X-Gitlab-Ref: main
X-Gitlab-Size: 1476
X-Gitlab-Execute-Filemode: false
...

Request a blame range

To request a blame range, specify range[start] and range[end] parameters with the starting and ending line numbers of the file.

curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=main&range[start]=1&range[end]=2"

Example response:

[
  {
    "commit": {
      "id": "d42409d56517157c48bf3bd97d3f75974dde19fb",
      "message": "Add feature\n\nalso fix bug\n",
      "parent_ids": [
        "cc6e14f9328fa6d7b5a0d3c30dc2002a3f2a3822"
      ],
      "authored_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
      "author_name": "John Doe",
      "author_email": "john.doe@example.com",
      "committed_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
      "committer_name": "John Doe",
      "committer_email": "john.doe@example.com"
    },
    "lines": [
      "require 'fileutils'",
      "require 'open3'"
    ]
  }
]

Retrieve a raw file from a repository

Retrieves the raw file contents on a specified file in a repository.

GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path/raw

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file, such as `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`lfs`	boolean	No	If `true`, determines if the response should be Git LFS file contents, rather than the pointer. Ignored if the file is not tracked by Git LFS. Defaults to `false`.
`ref`	string	No	Name of branch, tag, or commit. Default is the `HEAD` of the project.

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb/raw?ref=main"

Like Retrieve a file from a repository, you can use HEAD to get just file metadata.

Create a file in a repository

Creates a file in a specified repository. To create multiple files with a single request, see the commits API.

POST /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path

This endpoint is subject to request size and rate limits. Requests larger than a default 300 MB limit are rejected. Requests greater than 20 MB are rate limited to 3 requests every 30 seconds.

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`branch`	string	Yes	Name of the branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
`commit_message`	string	Yes	Commit message.
`content`	string	Yes	The file’s content.
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file. For example: `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`author_email`	string	No	Commit author’s email address.
`author_name`	string	No	Commit author’s name.
`encoding`	string	No	Change encoding to `base64`. Default is `text`.
`execute_filemode`	boolean	No	If `true`, enables the `execute` flag on the file. If `false`, disables the `execute` flag on the file.
`start_branch`	string	No	Name of the base branch to create the branch from.

If successful, returns 201 Created and the following response attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
`branch`	string	Name of the branch the file was created in.
`file_path`	string	Path to the created file.

curl --request POST \
  --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"branch": "main", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
            "content": "some content", "commit_message": "create a new file"}' \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"

Example response:

{
  "file_path": "app/project.rb",
  "branch": "main"
}

Update a file in a repository

Updates a specified file in a repository. To update multiple files with a single request, see the commits API.

PUT /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path

This endpoint is subject to request size and rate limits. Requests larger than a default 300 MB limit are rejected. Requests greater than 20 MB are rate limited to 3 requests every 30 seconds.

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`branch`	string	Yes	Name of the branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
`commit_message`	string	Yes	Commit message.
`content`	string	Yes	File’s content.
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file. For example: `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project
`author_email`	string	No	Commit author’s email address.
`author_name`	string	No	Commit author’s name.
`encoding`	string	No	Change encoding to `base64`. Default is `text`.
`execute_filemode`	boolean	No	If `true`, enables the `execute` flag on the file. If `false`, disables the `execute` flag on the file.
`last_commit_id`	string	No	Last known file commit ID.
`start_branch`	string	No	Name of the base branch to create the branch from.

If successful, returns 200 OK and the following response attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
`branch`	string	Name of the branch the file was updated in.
`file_path`	string	Path to the updated file.

curl --request PUT \
  --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"branch": "main", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
       "content": "some content", "commit_message": "update file"}' \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"

Example response:

{
  "file_path": "app/project.rb",
  "branch": "main"
}

If the commit fails for any reason, the API returns a 400 Bad Request error with a non-specific error message. Possible causes for a failed commit include:

The file_path contained /../ (attempted directory traversal).
The commit was empty: new file contents were identical to the current file contents.
Someone updated the branch with git push while the file edit was in progress.

GitLab Shell has a Boolean return code, preventing GitLab from specifying the error.

Delete a file in a repository

Deletes a specified file in a repository. To delete multiple files with a single request, see the commits API.

DELETE /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`branch`	string	Yes	Name of the branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
`commit_message`	string	Yes	Commit message.
`file_path`	string	Yes	URL-encoded full path to the file. For example: `lib%2Fclass%2Erb`.
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`author_email`	string	No	Commit author’s email address.
`author_name`	string	No	Commit author’s name.
`last_commit_id`	string	No	Last known file commit ID.
`start_branch`	string	No	Name of the base branch to create the branch from.

If successful, returns 200 OK.

curl --request DELETE \
  --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"branch": "main", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
       "commit_message": "delete file"}' \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"