List all branches in a project repository with optional search filtering and pagination support for navigating branch lists in large repositories
Get detailed information about a specific branch by project ID and branch name, including commit details, merge status, protection status, and access permissions
Create a new branch from a specified source branch, tag, or commit SHA with branch name and ref, enabling parallel development workflows and feature branching
Delete a branch from a project repository permanently, removing the branch reference but preserving commits in the repository history if they are referenced elsewhere
Protect a branch with push and merge access level restrictions, allowed users/groups, code owner approval requirements, and unprotect access control for enforcing branch protection policies
Remove protection from a branch to allow unrestricted access, disabling all branch protection rules and access level restrictions
List all commits in a project repository with comprehensive filtering by ref, date range, path, author, and more, plus pagination support for exploring repository history
Get detailed information about a specific commit by project ID and commit SHA, including message, author, committer, timestamps, parent commits, stats, and complete commit metadata
Create a commit with multiple file operations in one atomic commit. Each actions item is an object: {action: 'create'|'update'|'delete'|'chmod'|'move', filepath, content (create/update), encoding ('text'|'base64'), previouspath (move), executefilemode (chmod)}. Use startbranch to branch off before committing.
Get the diff of changes introduced by a specific commit, showing file modifications, additions, deletions, and detailed line-by-line changes
List all comments on a specific commit showing discussions, code review feedback, and inline comments with author, timestamps, and comment content
Create a new comment on a commit with optional inline file and line reference for code review, feedback, and commit discussions
Get a file from a repository with base64-encoded content, metadata, blob ID, commit ID, size, encoding, and last commit information for file inspection and content retrieval
Get the raw content of a file from a repository (plain text or binary) without base64 encoding for direct content access and display
Create a new file in a repository with specified content, commit message, branch, and encoding for adding files programmatically
Update an existing file in a repository with new content, commit message, and optional last commit ID verification for file modification
Delete a file from a repository with specified commit message, branch, and optional last commit ID verification for file removal
List all accessible groups in GitLab with comprehensive filtering by search query, owned groups, top-level groups, visibility, and more, plus pagination support for large group directories
Get detailed information about a specific group by ID or path, including name, description, visibility, avatar, projects, members, statistics, and complete group metadata
Create a new group or subgroup with specified name, path, visibility, description, and settings for organizing projects and managing access across multiple repositories
Update an existing group's name, path, description, visibility, settings, and permissions for modifying group configuration and access control
Delete a group and all its projects, subgroups, and associated data permanently, asynchronous operation that schedules group deletion (requires owner permissions)
List all issues in a GitLab project with comprehensive filtering by state, labels, milestone, assignee, author, search query, and date ranges, plus pagination support for large issue collections
Get comprehensive detailed information about a specific GitLab issue by project ID and issue IID including description, state, labels, assignees, time tracking, and linked resources
Create a new GitLab issue with title, description, labels, assignees, milestone, due date, and confidentiality settings for comprehensive issue tracking
Update an existing GitLab issue's title, description, state, labels, assignees, milestone, or other properties with support for state transitions and label management
Permanently delete a GitLab issue by project ID and issue IID including all its comments, attachments, and metadata (irreversible operation)
Move a GitLab issue from one project to another project while preserving history, comments, and metadata, creating a new issue IID in the target project
List all CI/CD jobs in a GitLab project with filtering by scope (created, pending, running, failed, success, canceled, skipped, manual) and pagination support for comprehensive job tracking and monitoring
List all CI/CD jobs in a specific pipeline with optional filtering by scope, showing all job stages, statuses, and execution details for pipeline-specific job tracking and debugging
Get detailed information about a specific CI/CD job by project ID and job ID, including status, stage, name, duration, artifacts, runner, user, commit, and complete execution metadata
Cancel a running or pending CI/CD job immediately, stopping job execution and transitioning it to canceled status, useful for stopping incorrect or unnecessary job runs
Retry a failed or canceled CI/CD job, creating a new job instance and rerunning it with the same configuration, useful for handling transient failures and flaky tests
Trigger a manual CI/CD job to run with optional variables, starting jobs that require manual action and supporting parameterized manual job execution for controlled deployments and operations
Erase a CI/CD job's artifacts and trace log permanently, removing build outputs and logs while keeping job metadata and status, useful for removing sensitive data or large artifacts
Get the log trace output of a CI/CD job showing all console output, script execution, build logs, and job execution details, essential for debugging failed jobs and monitoring job progress
List all labels in a project with optional issue and merge request counts, color, description, and pagination support for label management and organization
Get detailed information about a specific label by project ID and label ID, including name, description, color, priority, and usage statistics
Create a new label with specified name, color, and optional description and priority for issue and merge request categorization and filtering
Update an existing label's name, color, description, or priority for modifying label appearance and organization
Delete a label from a project permanently, removing the label from all issues and merge requests that use it
List all merge requests in a GitLab project with comprehensive filtering by state, labels, assignee, reviewer, source/target branch, draft status, and date ranges, plus pagination support for large MR collections
Get detailed information about a specific merge request by project ID and MR IID, including description, state, branches, assignees, reviewers, pipeline status, merge status, conflicts, approvals, and time tracking
Create a new merge request with source branch, target branch, title, description, assignees, reviewers, labels, milestone, and merge settings including squash commits and remove source branch options
Update an existing merge request's title, description, state, target branch, assignees, reviewers, labels, milestone, squash settings, and other properties including discussion lock and remove source branch options
Delete a merge request from a project by project ID and MR IID, permanently removing the merge request and all associated data including comments, approvals, and metadata
Accept and merge a merge request with optional custom commit message, squash commits, auto-remove source branch, and merge when pipeline succeeds settings, completing the code review and integration process
Approve a merge request to indicate review approval and satisfy approval rules, contributing to the required approvals count before the merge request can be merged
Remove approval from a merge request, retracting the authenticated user's previous approval and decreasing the approvals count
List all milestones in a project with filtering by state (active, closed, all), title search, and pagination support for milestone management and sprint planning
Get detailed information about a specific milestone by project ID and milestone ID, including title, description, state, dates, progress, and issue/MR counts
Create a new milestone with title, description, and optional due date and start date for sprint planning, release management, and goal tracking
Update an existing milestone's title, description, dates, or state (activate/close) for modifying sprint plans and release schedules
Delete a milestone from a project permanently, removing the milestone but preserving associated issues and merge requests
List all comments/notes on a specific issue with author, timestamps, content, and pagination support for tracking discussions and feedback
Get detailed information about a specific note/comment on an issue by project ID, issue IID, and note ID
Create a new comment/note on an issue with Markdown content for adding feedback, discussion, and collaboration
Update an existing comment/note on an issue to modify content or mark as resolved
Delete a comment/note from an issue permanently, removing the comment from the discussion history
List all comments/notes on a specific merge request with author, timestamps, content, and pagination support for code review and discussion tracking
Get detailed information about a specific note/comment on a merge request by project ID, MR IID, and note ID
Create a new comment/note on a merge request with Markdown content for code review feedback, discussion, and collaboration
Update an existing comment/note on a merge request to modify content or resolve discussions
Delete a comment/note from a merge request permanently, removing the comment from the code review discussion history
List all CI/CD pipelines in a GitLab project with comprehensive filtering by scope, status, source, ref, SHA, YAML errors, username, and update dates, plus pagination support for large pipeline collections
Get detailed information about a specific CI/CD pipeline by project ID and pipeline ID, including status, source, ref, SHA, user, timestamps, duration, coverage, jobs, and detailed status information
Trigger a new CI/CD pipeline run for a specified branch or tag with optional variables, manually initiating the CI/CD workflow for testing, deployment, or continuous integration
Retry all failed jobs in a CI/CD pipeline, rerunning only the jobs that failed while keeping successful jobs unchanged, useful for transient failures and flaky tests
Cancel a running CI/CD pipeline and all its jobs, immediately stopping all running jobs and preventing pending jobs from starting, useful for stopping incorrect or unnecessary pipeline runs
Delete a CI/CD pipeline and all its associated data including jobs, artifacts, and logs, permanently removing the pipeline from the project history
List all accessible GitLab projects with comprehensive filtering including archived status, visibility level, ownership, membership, and starred projects, plus pagination support for large project collections
Get comprehensive detailed information about a specific GitLab project by ID or URL-encoded path including repository details, statistics, permissions, and configuration
Create a new GitLab project with specified name, path, namespace, description, visibility level, and initialization options including automatic README generation
Update an existing GitLab project's name, path, description, visibility, default branch, topics, and other configuration settings
Permanently delete a GitLab project by ID or path including all its data, issues, merge requests, and repository content (irreversible asynchronous operation)
Archive a GitLab project to make it read-only and hide it from most project lists while preserving all data and repository access
Unarchive a previously archived GitLab project to restore it to active status with full read-write access and normal visibility
Star a GitLab project to add it to your favorites list for quick access and to show appreciation for the project
Unstar a previously starred GitLab project to remove it from your favorites list
Create a complete fork of a GitLab project to a specified namespace with optional custom name, path, and description for independent development
Add time spent working on an issue using human-readable format (e.g., '3h30m', '1h', '2d') for time tracking and project management
Get time tracking statistics for an issue including time estimate, total time spent, and remaining time in both seconds and human-readable format
Set or update the time estimate for an issue using human-readable format (e.g., '3h30m', '2d') for project planning and resource allocation
Reset the time estimate for an issue to zero, removing the estimate while preserving time spent records
Reset the spent time for an issue to zero, removing all time tracking records while preserving the time estimate
List all users in GitLab instance with comprehensive filtering by username, search query, active/blocked status, external users, and more, plus pagination support for large user directories
Get detailed information about a specific user by user ID, including username, name, email, avatar, state, bio, location, organization, job title, creation date, and complete profile information
Get information about the currently authenticated user including username, name, email, permissions, namespace, private token details, and complete profile information for the API credential in use
Create a new user account with username, email, password, and optional profile settings, admin-only operation for user provisioning and account management
Update an existing user's profile, email, username, password, permissions, and settings, supporting admin modifications or self-service profile updates
Delete a user account permanently from GitLab, removing the user and optionally hard-deleting all associated data including projects, issues, and contributions (admin only)
Validate GitLab credentials. Verifies credentials during setup.
List all webhooks configured for a project with URL, token, event triggers, and enable status for webhook management and integration monitoring
Get detailed information about a specific webhook by project ID and hook ID, including URL, event triggers, SSL verification, and configuration
Create a new webhook with URL, secret token, and comprehensive event trigger configuration for push, issues, merge requests, pipelines, deployments, and more
Update an existing webhook's URL, secret token, event triggers, SSL verification, or branch filter for modifying webhook configuration
Delete a webhook from a project permanently, removing the integration and stopping all event notifications
In an mcp.json file, add the configuration below, and restart Cursor.
Learn more in the official documentation ↗
1{
2 "mcpServers": {
3 "agent-handler": {
4 "url": "https://ah-api-develop.merge.dev/api/v1/tool-packs/{TOOL_PACK_ID}/registered-users/{REGISTERED_USER_ID}/mcp",
5 "headers": {
6 "Authorization": "Bearer yMt*****"
7 }
8 }
9 }
10}
11Open your Claude Desktop configuration file and add the server configuration below. You'll also need to restart the application for the changes to take effect.
Make sure Claude is using the Node v20+.
Learn more in the official documentation ↗
1{
2 "mcpServers": {
3 "agent-handler": {
4 "command": "npx",
5 "args": [
6 "-y",
7 "mcp-remote@latest",
8 "https://ah-api-develop.merge.dev/api/v1/tool-packs/{TOOL_PACK_ID}/registered-users/{REGISTERED_USER_ID}/mcp",
9 "--header",
10 "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}"
11 ],
12 "env": {
13 "AUTH_TOKEN": "yMt*****"
14 }
15 }
16 }
17}Open your Windsurf MCP configuration file and add the server configuration below.
Click on the refresh button in the top right of the Manage MCP server page or in the top right of the chat box in the box icon.
Learn more in the official documentation ↗
1{
2 "mcpServers": {
3 "agent-handler": {
4 "command": "npx",
5 "args": [
6 "-y",
7 "mcp-remote@latest",
8 "https://ah-api.merge.dev/api/v1/tool-packs/<tool-pack-id>/registered-users/<registered-user-id>/mcp",
9 "--header",
10 "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}"
11 ],
12 "env": {
13 "AUTH_TOKEN": "<ah-production-access-key>"
14 }
15 }
16 }
17 }In Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows), run "MCP: Open User Configuration".
You can then add the configuration below and press "start" right under servers. Enter the auth token when prompted.
Learn more in the official documentation ↗
1{
2 "inputs": [
3 {
4 "type": "promptString",
5 "id": "agent-handler-auth",
6 "description": "Agent Handler AUTH_TOKEN", // "yMt*****" when prompt
7 "password": true
8 }
9 ],
10 "servers": {
11 "agent-handler": {
12 "type": "stdio",
13 "command": "npx",
14 "args": [
15 "-y",
16 "mcp-remote@latest",
17 "https://ah-api-develop.merge.dev/api/v1/tool-packs/{TOOL_PACK_ID}/registered-users/{REGISTERED_USER_ID}/mcp",
18 "--header",
19 "Authorization: Bearer ${input:agent-handler-auth}"
20 ]
21 }
22 }
23}It’s an MCP server that exposes data and functionality from GitLab via tools. Your agents can use these tools to gather and share commits, upload files to repositories, update issues, and more.
Here are just a few use cases (these also apply to other project management MCP servers):
Here are some popular tools across data types.
Issues
Jobs
Projects
Merge Agent Handler provides a standardized, enterprise-grade control plane that isn’t available in the official GitLab MCP server. This includes:
Yes. Merge Agent Handler includes a Security Gateway with Data Loss Protection (DLP) that allows you to configure default and custom security rules. These rules inspect GitLab tool inputs and outputs and can block, redact, or mask sensitive data fields based on your organization’s policies.
Here are some examples:
You can take these steps:
1. Create a Merge Agent Handler account.
2. Create a Tool Pack for the workflow you want (for example, “GitLab triage”).
3. Add the GitLab connector to that Tool Pack.
4. Configure authentication for GitLab (shared org auth vs individual end-user auth, depending on your setup).
5. Create a Registered User (this represents the identity that will execute tool calls).
6. Complete the GitLab authentication flow for that Registered User so the GitLab tools can execute.
7. Copy the MCP entry URL for your Tool Pack + Registered User and add it to your MCP client (Cursor, Claude Desktop, VSCode, Windsurf, etc.).
8. Use the Playground to run a few GitLab tool calls end-to-end and confirm you see successful responses and logs.
Yes, Agent Handler for Employees lets your employees connect Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible AI tools to GitLab without bypassing IT governance.
Instead of setting up direct connections with personal credentials that IT can't monitor or revoke, each employee authenticates through Agent Handler and gets individual credentials tied to their identity.
IT also provisions access by role or group via SCIM. An engineer, for example, gets GitLab access to manage code and issues, Datadog to monitor service health, and PagerDuty to respond to alerts; while a PM gets GitLab access to track project progress, Jira to coordinate cross-team tasks, and Slack to stay aligned with stakeholders.
Every tool call an employee's AI makes to GitLab is also inspected against your DLP rules and logged to a searchable audit trail, giving security teams full visibility into what data was accessed and by whom.
Whether you're an engineer experimenting with agents or a product manager looking to add tools, you can get started for free now
