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Connecting GitLab - AWS DevOps Agent
Registering GitLab (account-level)Connecting projects to an Agent SpaceConfiguring Code Review and Automated TestingManaging GitLab connections

Connecting GitLab

GitLab integration enables AWS DevOps Agent to monitor deployments from GitLab Pipelines to inform causal investigations during incident response. This integration follows a two-step process: account-level registration of GitLab, followed by connecting specific projects to individual Agent Spaces.

Registering GitLab (account-level)

GitLab is registered at the AWS account level and shared among all Agent Spaces in that account. Each registration links to one GitLab user or one GitLab group.

Step 1: Navigate to pipeline providers

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console

  2. Navigate to the AWS DevOps Agent console

  3. Go to the Capability Providers page (accessible from the side navigation)

  4. Find GitLab in the Available providers section under Pipeline and choose Register

Step 2: Configure GitLab connection

On the GitLab registration page, configure the following:

Connection type – Select whether you're connecting as a person or a group:

  • Personal (default) – Your individual GitLab user account with a username and profile

  • Group – In GitLab, you use groups to manage one or more related projects at the same time

GitLab instance type – Choose which type of GitLab instance you're connecting to:

  • GitLab.com (default) – The public GitLab service

  • Publicly accessible self-hosted GitLab – Check the Use GitLab self hosted endpoint box and provide the URL to your GitLab instance

Note

Currently, only publicly accessible GitLab instances are supported.

Access token – Provide a GitLab personal access token:

  1. In a separate browser tab, log in to your GitLab account

  2. Navigate to your user settings and select Access Tokens

  3. Create a new personal access token with the following permissions:

    • read_repository – Required to access repository content

    • read_virtual_registry – Required to access virtual registry information

    • read_registry – Required to access registry information

    • api – Required for read and write API access

    • self_rotate - Required for rotating tokens. This feature is currently unsupported by AWS DevOps Agent but will be supported at a later date. Adding now prevents the need to create a new token in the future.

  4. Set the token expiration to a maximum of 365 days from the current date

  5. Copy the generated token

  6. Return to the AWS DevOps Agent console

  7. Paste the token into the "Access Token" field

Step 3: Complete registration

(Optional) Tags – Add AWS tags to the GitLab registration for organizational purposes.

Choose Next to review your configuration, then choose Submit to complete the GitLab registration process. The system will validate your access token and establish the connection.

Connecting projects to an Agent Space

After registering GitLab at the account level, you can connect specific projects to individual Agent Spaces:

  1. In the AWS DevOps Agent console, select your Agent Space

  2. Go to the Capabilities tab

  3. In the Pipeline section, choose Add

  4. Select GitLab from the list of available providers

  5. Select the GitLab registration that contains the projects you want to use

  6. Select the GitLab projects relevant to your Agent Space

  7. Choose Save

AWS DevOps Agent monitors these projects for deployments from GitLab Pipelines to inform causal investigations. A single Agent Space can use projects from multiple registrations. To add projects from another registration, repeat these steps.

Configuring Code Review and Automated Testing

When you select projects in the GitLab connection step, they are automatically added to the Code Review and Automated Testing section. This section configures which projects automatically trigger a Release readiness code reviews and automated testing capabilities.

The Code Review and Automated Testing configuration includes:

  • Capabilities — Choose code review and automated testing capabilities for each project. The section provides two per-project settings:

    • Auto trigger change review — When enabled for a project, DevOps Agent automatically runs a Release readiness code reviews each time a merge request is opened or updated. Review findings appear as inline comments on the merge request. This is enabled by default for all connected projects.

    • Automated verification testing — When enabled for a project, DevOps Agent builds, runs, and tests your code changes in a managed verification environment during code reviews. This provides functional validation beyond static analysis. For more information, see Automated verification testing. This is enabled by default for all connected projects.

  • Project list — Shows all projects you selected during the connection step. Use the search field to filter projects by name. Each project has independent checkboxes for both capabilities.

  • Runtime role (optional) — Choose the IAM role that DevOps Agent assumes to run automated capabilities on your selected projects. This role is used when accessing internal services needed during builds, such as private package registries and artifact storage systems. We recommend using a different role from your primary agent role.

To configure automated reviews:

  1. After connecting your projects, navigate to the Code Review and Automated Testing section in your GitLab integration settings.

  2. For each project, enable or disable the Auto trigger change review capability depending on whether you want automatic merge request reviews.

  3. For each project, enable or disable the Automated verification testing capability depending on whether you want automated verification testing in a managed verification environment.

  4. Optionally, select an IAM role from the Runtime role dropdown that DevOps Agent will assume when running automated capabilities on your selected projects.

  5. Choose Save to apply your configuration.

Once configured, any new merge request in a project with Auto trigger change review enabled will automatically trigger a release readiness code review. If Automated verification testing is also enabled, the review includes functional validation in a verification environment. For more information about code reviews, see Release readiness code reviews.

Managing GitLab connections

  • Updating access token – If your access token expires or needs to be updated, you can update it in the AWS DevOps Agent console by modifying the GitLab registration at the account level.

  • Viewing connected projects – In the AWS DevOps Agent console, select your Agent Space and go to the Capabilities tab to view connected projects in the Pipeline section.

  • Removing GitLab connection – To disconnect GitLab projects from an Agent Space, select the connection in the Pipeline section and choose Remove. To remove the GitLab registration completely, remove it from all Agent Spaces first, then delete the registration at the account level.