GitLab as OpenID Connect identity provider
- Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
- Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated
You can use GitLab as an OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity provider to access other services. OIDC is an identity layer that performs many of the same tasks as OpenID 2.0, but is API-friendly and usable by native and mobile applications.
Clients can use OIDC to:
- Verify the identity of an end-user based on the authentication performed by GitLab.
- Obtain basic profile information about the end-user in an interoperable and REST-like manner.
You can use OmniAuth::OpenIDConnect for Rails applications and there are many other available client implementations.
GitLab uses the doorkeeper-openid_connect gem to provide OIDC service. For more information, see
the doorkeeper-openid_connect repository.
Enable OIDC for OAuth applications
To enable OIDC for an OAuth application, you need to select the openid scope in the application
settings. For more information, see Configure GitLab as an OAuth 2.0 authentication identity provider.
Settings discovery
If your client can import OIDC settings from a discovery URL, GitLab provides endpoints to access this information:
- For GitLab.com, use
https://gitlab.com/.well-known/openid-configuration. - For GitLab Self-Managed, use
https://<your-gitlab-instance>/.well-known/openid-configuration
Shared information
The following user information is shared with clients:
| Claim | Type | Description | Included in ID Token | Included in userinfo endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
sub | string | The ID of the user | ||
auth_time | integer | The timestamp for the user’s last authentication | No | |
name | string | The user’s full name | ||
nickname | string | The user’s GitLab username | ||
preferred_username | string | The user’s GitLab username | ||
email | string | The user’s primary email address | ||
email_verified | boolean | Whether the user’s email address is verified | ||
website | string | URL for the user’s website | ||
profile | string | URL for the user’s GitLab profile | ||
picture | string | URL for the user’s GitLab avatar | ||
groups | array | Paths for the groups the user is a member of, either directly or through an ancestor group. | No | |
groups_direct | array | Paths for the groups the user is a direct member of. | No | |
https://gitlab.org/claims/groups/owner | array | Names of the groups the user is a direct member of with the Owner role | No | |
https://gitlab.org/claims/groups/maintainer | array | Names of the groups the user is a direct member of with the Maintainer role | No | |
https://gitlab.org/claims/groups/developer | array | Names of the groups the user is a direct member of with the Developer role | No |
The claims email and email_verified are included only if the application has access to the
email scope and the user’s public email address. All other claims are available from the
/oauth/userinfo endpoint used by OIDC clients.