GitLab is a single-application DevOps platform that brings source control, CI/CD, package registries, security scanning, and deployment pipelines under one roof to accelerate software delivery. Built around Git repositories and merge-request workflows, it tightly integrates continuous integration, automated testing, code review, and release orchestration so teams can move from idea to production within a unified UI and policy model. GitLab’s features extend into the operational lifecycle—container registries, infrastructure as code, monitoring dashboards, and incident management—allowing platform teams to define guardrails and compliance as code across projects and groups. It supports extensive automation via pipelines, runners, webhooks, and a comprehensive REST/GraphQL API, enabling complex workflows like canary deployments, feature flagging, and security scanning as part of merge request gates.
Features
- Version control of Git repositories with fine-grained access permissions
- Merge requests and code reviews to support collaboration
- Integrated CI/CD pipelines to automate build, test, deploy workflows
- Issue tracker, boards, milestones and wiki per project for planning/documentation
- On-premises or SaaS hosting with scalability and backup options
- Security and compliance tools (static analysis, vulnerability scanning etc)