Roles and permissions

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, 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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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 status         The 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:

Action Non-member Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Notes
View existing artifacts Non-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View list of jobs Non-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 artifacts Non-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 artifacts Non-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 environments Non-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View job logs and job details page Non-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 pages Non-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 MR Non-members and guests: Only if the project is public.
View vulnerabilities in a pipeline   Guests: Only if Public pipelines is enabled in Project Settings > CI/CD.
Run deployment job for a protected environment       Reporters: 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 branch         Developers 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 artifacts         Developers: Only if the job was triggered by the user and runs for a non-protected branch.
Enable review apps          
Cancel jobs         Cancellation 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 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.

Action Developer Maintainer Notes
Clone source and LFS from current project  
Clone source and LFS from public projects  
Clone source and LFS from internal projects Developers and Maintainers: Only if the triggering user is not an external user.
Clone source and LFS from private projects Only 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 projects Developers and Maintainers: Only if the triggering user is not an external user.
Pull container images from private projects Only 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 project You cannot push container images to other projects.

Compliance

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

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View allowed and denied licenses in MR On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 events       Users 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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View models and versions Non-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 experiments Non-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 artifacts       You 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View issues  
Create issues Authors and assignees can modify the title and description even if they don’t have the Reporter role.
View confidential issues    
Update metadata on issues   Metadata 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 / reopen issues   Authors and assignees can close and reopen issues even if they don’t have the Reporter role.
Manage design management files    
Manage issue boards    
Manage milestones    
Archive or reopen requirements   Authors and assignees can archive and re-open even if they don’t have the Reporter role.
Create or edit requirements   Authors and assignees can modify the title and description even if they don’t have the Reporter role.
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View tasks  
Create tasks Guest users can create tasks for issues they authored. Authors and assignees can modify the title and description even if they don’t have the Reporter role.
Add a linked item  
Convert to another item type  
Remove from issue  
Edit tasks    
Add internal note    
Delete tasks         Authors of tasks can delete them even if they don’t have the Owner role.

Project permissions for OKRs:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View OKRs  
Create OKRs  
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View wiki  
Create wiki pages      
Edit wiki pages      
Delete wiki pages      

Packages and registry

Project permissions for container registry:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Pull an image from the container registry The 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Pull a package On self-managed GitLab instances, 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Download project On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 reports On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 releases     Guest 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 releases         If the tag is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Configure webhooks          
Manage project access tokens         For self-managed GitLab, 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 level         A 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View project code On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 code On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 status       If the branch is protected, this depends on the access given to Developers and Maintainers.
Update commit status       If 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 branches         If 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 branches             Not allowed for Guest, Reporter, Developer, Maintainer, or Owner. See protected branches.

Project permissions for merge requests:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View a merge request On self-managed GitLab instances, 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 request       In 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 threads       For 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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Manage team members         Maintainers 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 groups         When 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:

Action Non-member Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Use Duo features   Code 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View audit events       Users 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:

Action Non-member Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Use Duo features       Requires user being assigned a seat to gain access to a Duo add-on.
Configure Duo feature availability            
Configure self-hosted models              
Enable beta and experimental features              
Purchase Duo seats              

Groups group permissions

Group permissions for group features:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Browse group  
View group audit events       Developers and Maintainers can only view events based on their individual actions. For more details, see the prerequisites.
Create project in group       Developers, 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 subgroup         Maintainers: 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 Billing           Does not apply to subgroups
View group Usage Quotas page           Does 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 SSO           Does not apply to subgroups
Disable notification emails            

Project planning group permissions

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

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Manage group labels    
Manage group milestones    
Manage iterations    

Group permissions for epics:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View epic  
Create epic    
Edit epic    
Delete epic          
Manage epic boards    
Add issue to an epic You must have permission to view the epic and edit the issue.
Add/remove child epics You must have permission to view the parent and child epics.
Add internal note    

Group permissions for wikis:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
View group wiki Guests: 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Pull a container registry image Guests 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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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.

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
Manage deploy tokens            
Manage merge request settings            
Manage push rules            

User management group permissions

Group permissions for user management:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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:

Action Guest Planner Reporter Developer Maintainer Owner Notes
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, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated
History
  • Support for inviting users with Minimal Access role introduced in GitLab 15.9.

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.