Roles and permissions

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

When you add a user to a project or group, you assign them a role. The role determines which actions they can take in GitLab.

If you add a user to both a project’s group and the project itself, the higher role is used.

GitLab administrators have all permissions.

Roles

History

You can assign users a default role or a custom role.

The available default roles are:

  • Guest (This role applies to private and internal projects only.)
  • Planner
  • Reporter
  • Developer
  • Maintainer
  • Owner
  • Minimal Access (available for the top-level group only)

A user assigned the Guest role has the least permissions, and the Owner has the most.

By default, all users can create top-level groups and change their usernames. A GitLab administrator can change this behavior for the GitLab instance.

Project members permissions

A user’s role determines what permissions they have on a project. The Owner role provides all permissions but is available only:

  • For group and project Owners.
  • For Administrators.

Personal namespace owners:

  • Are displayed as having the Maintainer role on projects in the namespace, but have the same permissions as a user with the Owner role.
  • For new projects in the namespace, are displayed as having the Owner role.

For more information about how to manage project members, see members of a project.

The following tables list the project permissions available for each role.

Analytics

Project permissions for analytics features including value streams, usage trends, product analytics, and insights.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View issue analytics
View value stream analytics
View CI/CD analytics
View code review analytics
View DORA metrics
View merge request analytics
View repository analytics
View Value Streams Dashboard & AI impact analytics

Application security

Project permissions for application security features including dependency management, security analyzers, security policies, and vulnerability management.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View dependency list
View licenses in dependency list
View security dashboard
View vulnerability report
Create vulnerability manually
Create issue from vulnerability finding
Create on-demand DAST scans
Run on-demand DAST scans
Create individual security policies
Change individual security policies
Delete individual security policies
Create CVE ID request
Change vulnerability statusThe admin_vulnerability permission was removed from the Developer role in GitLab 17.0.
Create or assign security policy project
Manage security configurations

CI/CD

GitLab CI/CD permissions for some roles can be modified by these settings:

  • Public pipelines: When set to public, gives access to certain CI/CD features to Guest project members.
  • Pipeline visibility: When set to Everyone with Access, gives access to certain CI/CD “view” features to non-project members.

Project Owners can perform any listed action, and can delete pipelines:

ActionNon-memberGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerNotes
View existing artifactsNon-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View list of jobsNon-members: Only if the project is public and Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
View artifactsNon-members: Only if the project is public, Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD, and artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD and artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
Reporters: Only if artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
Download artifactsNon-members: Only if the project is public, Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD, and artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD and artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
Reporters: Only if artifacts:public: false is not set on the job.
View environmentsNon-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View job logs and job details pageNon-members: Only if the project is public and Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
View pipelines and pipeline details pagesNon-members: Only if the project is public and Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
View pipelines tab in MRNon-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View vulnerabilities in a pipelineGuests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
Run deployment job for a protected environmentReporters: Only if the user is part of a group with access to the protected environment.
Developers and maintainers: Only if the user is allowed to deploy to the protected branch.
View agents for Kubernetes
View project Secure Files
Download project Secure Files
View a job with debug logging
Create environments
Delete environments
Stop environments
Run CI/CD pipeline
Run CI/CD pipeline for a protected branchDevelopers and maintainers: Only if the user is allowed to merge or push to the protected branch.
Run CI/CD job
Delete job logs or job artifactsDevelopers: Only if the job was triggered by the user and runs for a non-protected branch.
Enable review apps
Cancel jobsCancellation permissions can be restricted in the pipeline settings.
Retry jobs
Read Terraform state
Run interactive web terminals
Use pipeline editor
Manage agents for Kubernetes
Manage CI/CD settings
Manage job triggers
Manage project CI/CD variables
Manage project protected environments
Manage project Secure Files
Manage Terraform state
Add project runners to project
Clear runner caches manually
Enable instance runners in project

This table shows granted privileges for jobs triggered by specific roles.

Project Owners can do any listed action, but no users can push source and LFS together. Guest users and members with the Reporter role cannot do any of these actions.

ActionDeveloperMaintainerNotes
Clone source and LFS from current project
Clone source and LFS from public projects
Clone source and LFS from internal projectsDevelopers and Maintainers: Only if the triggering user is not an external user.
Clone source and LFS from private projectsOnly if the triggering user is a member of the project. See also Usage of private Docker images with if-not-present pull policy.
Pull container images from current project
Pull container images from public projects
Pull container images from internal projectsDevelopers and Maintainers: Only if the triggering user is not an external user.
Pull container images from private projectsOnly if the triggering user is a member of the project. See also Usage of private Docker images with if-not-present pull policy.
Push container images to current projectYou cannot push container images to other projects.

Compliance

Project permissions for compliance features including compliance center, audit events, compliance frameworks, and licenses.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View allowed and denied licenses in MROn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be have at least the Reporter role, even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are able to perform this action only on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
View audit eventsUsers can only view events based on their individual actions. For more details, see the prerequisites.
View licenses in dependency list
Manage audit streams

Machine learning model registry and experiment

Project permissions for model registry and model experiments.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View models and versionsNon-members can only view models and versions in public projects with the Everyone with access visibility level. Non-members can’t view internal projects, even if they’re logged in.
View model experimentsNon-members can only view model experiments in public projects with the Everyone with access visibility level. Non-members can’t view internal projects, even if they’re logged in.
Create models, versions, and artifactsYou can also upload and download artifacts with the package registry API, which uses it’s own set of permissions.
Edit & delete models, versions, and artifacts
Create experiments and candidates
Edit & delete experiments and candidates

Monitoring

Project permissions for monitoring including error tracking and incident management:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View an incident
Assign an incident management alert
Participate in on-call rotation for Incident Management
View alerts
View error tracking list
View escalation policies
View on-call schedules
Create incident
Change alert status
Change incident severity
Change incident escalation status
Change incident escalation policy
Manage error tracking
Manage escalation policies
Manage on-call schedules

Project planning

Project permissions for issues:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View issues
Create issues
View confidential issues
Edit issues, including metadata, item locking, and resolving threadsMetadata includes labels, assignees, milestones, epics, weight, confidentiality, time tracking, and more.

Guest users can only set metadata when creating an issue. They cannot change the metadata on existing issues.
Add internal note
Close and reopen issuesGuest users can close and reopen issues that they authored or are assigned to.
Manage design management files
Manage issue boards
Manage milestones
Archive or reopen requirementsGuest users can archive and reopen issues that they authored or are assigned to.
Create or edit requirementsGuest users can modify the title and description that they authored or are assigned to.
Import or export requirements
Archive test cases
Create test cases
Move test cases
Reopen test cases
Import issues from a CSV file
Export issues to a CSV file
Delete issues
Manage Feature flags

Project permissions for tasks:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View tasks
Create tasksGuest users can create tasks for issues they authored.
Edit tasks, including metadata, item locking, and resolving threadsGuest users can modify the title and description that they authored or are assigned to.
Add a linked item
Convert to another item type
Remove from issue
Edit tasks
Add internal note
Delete tasksUsers who don’t have the Planner or Owner role can delete the tasks they authored.

Project permissions for OKRs:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View OKRs
Create OKRs
Edit OKRs, including metadata, item locking, and resolving threads
Add a child OKR
Add a linked item
Convert to another item type
Edit OKRs
Change confidentiality in OKR
Add internal note

Project permissions for wikis:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View wiki
Create wiki pages
Edit wiki pages
Delete wiki pages

Packages and registry

Project permissions for container registry:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Pull an image from the container registryThe ability to view the container registry and pull images is controlled by the container registry’s visibility permissions.
Push an image to the container registry
Delete a container registry image
Manage cleanup policies

Project permissions for package registry:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Pull a packageOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
Publish a package
Delete a package
Delete a file associated with a package

Projects

Project permissions for project features:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Download projectOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
Leave comments
Reposition comments on images (posted by any user)Applies only to comments on Design Management designs.
View Insights
View Requirements
View time tracking reportsOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
View snippets
View project traffic statistics
Create snippets
View releasesGuest users can access GitLab Releases for downloading assets but are not allowed to download the source code nor see repository information like commits and release evidence.
Manage releasesIf the tag is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Configure webhooks
Manage project access tokensFor GitLab Self-Managed, project access tokens are available in all tiers. For GitLab.com, project access tokens are supported in the Premium and Ultimate tier (excluding trial licenses).
Export project
Rename project
Edit project badges
Edit project settings
Change project features visibility levelA Maintainer or Owner can’t change project features visibility level if project visibility is set to private.
Change custom settings for project integrations
Edit comments (posted by any user)
Add deploy keys
Manage Project Operations
View Usage Quotas page
Globally delete snippets
Globally edit snippets
Archive project
Change project visibility level
Delete project
Disable notification emails
Transfer project

Project permissions for GitLab Pages:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View GitLab Pages protected by access control
Manage GitLab Pages
Manage GitLab Pages domain and certificates
Remove GitLab Pages

Repository

Project permissions for repository features including source code, branches, push rules, and more:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View project codeOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available. In GitLab 15.9 and later, users with the Guest role and an Ultimate license can view private repository content if an administrator (on self-managed or GitLab Dedicated) or group owner (on GitLab.com) gives those users permission. The administrator or group owner can create a custom role through the API or UI and assign that role to the users.
Pull project codeOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
View commit status
Create commit statusIf the branch is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Update commit statusIf the branch is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Create Git tags
Delete Git tags
Create new branches
Delete non-protected branches
Force push to non-protected branches
Push to non-protected branches
Manage protected branches
Delete protected branches
Push to protected branchesIf the branch is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Manage protected tags
Manage push rules
Remove fork relationship
Force push to protected branchesNot allowed for Guest, Reporter, Developer, Maintainer, or Owner. See protected branches.

Project permissions for merge requests:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View a merge requestOn GitLab Self-Managed, users with the Guest role are able to perform this action only on public and internal projects (not on private projects). External users must be given explicit access (at least the Reporter role) even if the project is internal. Users with the Guest role on GitLab.com are only able to perform this action on public projects because internal visibility is not available.
Create snippets
Create merge requestIn projects that accept contributions from external members, users can create, edit, and close their own merge requests. For private projects, this excludes the Guest role as those users cannot clone private projects. For internal projects, includes users with read-only access to the project, as they can clone internal projects.
Update merge request including assign, review, Code Suggestions, approve, labels, lock and resolve threadsFor information on eligible approvers for merge requests, see Eligible approvers.
Manage merge request settings
Manage merge request approval rules
Add internal note
Delete merge request

User management

Project permissions for user management.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Manage team membersMaintainers cannot create, demote, or remove Owners, and they cannot promote users to the Owner role. They also cannot approve Owner role access requests.
Share (invite) projects with groupsWhen Share Group Lock is enabled the project can’t be shared with other groups. It does not affect group with group sharing.
View 2FA status of members

GitLab Duo

Project permissions for GitLab Duo:

ActionNon-memberGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Use Duo featuresCode Suggestions requires a user being assigned a seat to gain access to a Duo add-on.
Configure Duo feature availability

Group members permissions

Any user can remove themselves from a group, unless they are the only Owner of the group.

The following table lists group permissions available for each role:

Analytics group permissions

Group permission for analytics features including value streams, product analytics, and insights:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View Insights
View Insights charts
View Issue analytics
View Contribution analytics
View value stream analytics
View Productivity analytics
View Group DevOps Adoption
View metrics dashboard annotations
Create/edit/delete metrics dashboard annotations

Application security group permissions

Group permissions for Application Security features including dependency management, security analyzers, security policies, and vulnerability management.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View dependency list
View vulnerability report
View security dashboard
Create security policy project
Assign security policy project

CI/CD group permissions

Group permissions for CI/CD features including runners, variables, and protected environments:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View group runners
Manage group-level Kubernetes cluster
Manage group runners
Manage group level CI/CD variables
Manage group protected environments

Compliance group permissions

Group permissions for compliance features including compliance center, audit events, compliance frameworks, and licenses.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View audit eventsUsers can view only events based on their individual actions. For more details, see the prerequisites.
View licenses in the dependency list
View the compliance center
Manage compliance frameworks
Assign compliance frameworks to projects
Manage audit streams

GitLab Duo group permissions

Group permissions for GitLab Duo:

ActionNon-memberGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Use Duo featuresRequires user being assigned a seat to gain access to a Duo add-on.
Configure Duo feature availability
Configure GitLab Duo Self Hosted
Enable beta and experimental features
Purchase Duo seats

Groups group permissions

Group permissions for group features:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Browse group
View group audit eventsDevelopers and Maintainers can only view events based on their individual actions. For more details, see the prerequisites.
Create project in groupDevelopers, Maintainers and Owners: Only if the project creation role is set for the instance or for the group.

Developers: Developers can push commits to the default branch of a new project only if the default branch protection is set to “Partially protected” or “Not protected”.
Create subgroupMaintainers: Only if users with the Maintainer role can create subgroups.
Change custom settings for the project integrations
Edit epic comments (posted by any user)
Fork project into a group
View BillingDoes not apply to subgroups
View group Usage Quotas pageDoes not apply to subgroups
Migrate group
Delete group
Manage subscriptions, storage, and compute minutes
Manage group access tokens
Change group visibility level
Edit group settings
Configure project templates
Configure SAML SSODoes not apply to subgroups
Disable notification emails

Project planning group permissions

Group permissions for project planning features including iterations, milestones, and labels:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Manage group labels
Manage group milestones
Manage iterations

Group permissions for epics:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View epic
Create epic
Edit epic, including metadata, item locking, and resolving threads
Delete epic
Manage epic boards
Add issue to an epicYou must have permission to view the epic and edit the issue.
Add/remove child epicsYou must have permission to view the parent and child epics.
Add internal note

Group permissions for wikis:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View group wikiGuests: In addition, if your group is public or internal, all users who can see the group can also see group wiki pages.
Create group wiki pages
Edit group wiki pages
Delete group wiki pages

Packages and registries group permissions

Group permissions for container registry:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Pull a container registry imageGuests can only view events based on their individual actions.
Pull a container image using the dependency proxy
Delete a container registry image

Group permissions for package registry:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Pull packages
Publish packages
Delete packages
Manage package settings
Manage dependency proxy cleanup policies
Enable dependency proxy
Disable dependency proxy
Purge the dependency proxy for a group
Enable package request forwarding
Disable package request forwarding

Repository group permissions

Group permissions for repository features including merge requests, push rules, and deploy tokens.

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
Manage deploy tokens
Manage merge request settings
Manage push rules

User management group permissions

Group permissions for user management:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View 2FA status of members
Manage group members
Manage group-level custom roles
Share (invite) groups to groups
Filter members by 2FA status

Workspace group permissions

Groups permissions for workspaces:

ActionGuestPlannerReporterDeveloperMaintainerOwnerNotes
View workspace cluster agents mapped to a group
Map or unmap workspace cluster agents to and from a group

Subgroup permissions

When you add a member to a subgroup, they inherit the membership and permission level from the parent groups. This model allows access to nested groups if you have membership in one of its parents.

For more information, see subgroup memberships.

Users with Minimal Access

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

Users with the Minimal Access role do not:

  • Automatically have access to projects and subgroups in that top-level group.
  • Count as licensed seats on self-managed Ultimate subscriptions or any GitLab.com subscriptions, provided the user has no other role anywhere in the instance or in the GitLab.com namespace.

Owners must explicitly add these users to the specific subgroups and projects.

You can use the Minimal Access role with SAML SSO for GitLab.com groups to control access to groups and projects in the group hierarchy. You can set the default role to Minimal Access for members automatically added to the top-level group through SSO.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.
  3. From the Default membership role dropdown list, select Minimal Access.
  4. Select Save changes.

Minimal access users receive 404 errors

Because of an outstanding issue, when a user with the Minimal Access role:

  • Signs in with standard web authentication, they receive a 404 error when accessing the parent group.
  • Signs in with Group SSO, they receive a 404 error immediately because they are redirected to the parent group page.

To work around the issue, give these users the Guest role or higher to any project or subgroup in the parent group. Guest users consume a license seat in the Premium tier but do not in the Ultimate tier.