GitLab CI Lint

A fast GitLab CI/CD configuration linter for .gitlab-ci.yml files. Two-stage validation: local YAML parsing and optional GitLab API validation.

This project is developed with AI assistance (Claude, Z.ai).

Features

• Local validation — YAML syntax checking without API calls
• Optional API validation — Full semantic validation against a GitLab instance
• Smart file discovery — Auto-discover .gitlab-ci.yml in current and parent directories, recursive directory scanning
• Multiple output formats — Text, JSON, YAML
• Flexible configuration — Config file, environment variables, CLI flags
• Single binary — No external dependencies (Go)
• Cross-platform — Linux, macOS, Windows
• Interactive setup — setup wizard to save instances and tokens

Quick Start

1. Install

Linux / macOS (install script):

curl -sSL https://github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/raw/main/install.sh | bash

The script installs the binary to ~/.local/bin. If that directory is not in your PATH, add export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH to your shell profile and run source ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zshrc).

With Go installed:

go install github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/cmd/gitlab-ci-lint@latest

The binary will be in $(go env GOPATH)/bin (typically ~/go/bin). Ensure that directory is in your PATH.

2. Configure (optional)

For API validation you need a GitLab instance URL and a personal access token. Run the setup wizard:

gitlab-ci-lint setup

Settings are saved to ~/.tools-config/.gitlab-ci-lint/config.yaml. Without configuration, only local YAML validation is available (use --skip-api or run without a token).

3. Validate

# Local validation only (no API)
gitlab-ci-lint --skip-api .gitlab-ci.yml

# Auto-discover file in current and parent directories
gitlab-ci-lint

# Full validation via API (requires instance + token from setup or env)
gitlab-ci-lint .gitlab-ci.yml

Installation (detailed)

Install script (Linux / macOS)

Recommended: downloads the latest release for your platform and installs to ~/.local/bin.

curl -sSL https://github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/raw/main/install.sh | bash

Manual install (Linux / macOS)

Run from any writable directory (e.g. ~/Downloads or /tmp).

VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/releases/latest | grep -E '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | sed 's/^v//')
OS=$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
ARCH=$(uname -m)
case "$ARCH" in x86_64) ARCH=amd64;; aarch64|arm64) ARCH=arm64;; i386|i686) ARCH=386;; *) echo "Unsupported: $ARCH"; exit 1;; esac

curl -sL "https://github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/releases/download/v${VERSION}/gitlab-ci-lint_${VERSION}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz" | tar xz -O gitlab-ci-lint > gitlab-ci-lint
chmod +x gitlab-ci-lint
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv gitlab-ci-lint ~/.local/bin/

# Add to PATH if needed
[[ ":$PATH:" != *":$HOME/.local/bin:"* ]] && echo 'export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH

Windows (PowerShell)

$version = (Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.github.com/repos/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/releases/latest").tag_name -replace '^v', ''
$zip = "gitlab-ci-lint_${version}_windows_amd64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/releases/download/v$version/$zip" -OutFile $zip -UseBasicParsing
Expand-Archive -Path $zip -DestinationPath . -Force
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\bin" | Out-Null
Move-Item -Path "gitlab-ci-lint.exe" -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\bin\" -Force
Remove-Item $zip

$binPath = "$env:USERPROFILE\bin"
$path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
if ($path -notlike "*$binPath*") {
  [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$path;$binPath", "User")
  $env:Path += ";$binPath"
}

Build from source

Requires Go 1.24+.

git clone https://github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint.git
cd gitlab-ci-lint

make build    # binary: ./build/gitlab-ci-lint
make install  # install to $(go env GOPATH)/bin

Go install

go install github.com/InkyQuill/gitlab-ci-lint/cmd/gitlab-ci-lint@latest
# Binary at $(go env GOPATH)/bin/gitlab-ci-lint
export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

Configuration

Priority (low to high): defaults → config file → GCL_* environment variables → CLI flags.

Config file

Default path: ~/.tools-config/.gitlab-ci-lint/config.yaml. Created by gitlab-ci-lint setup.

Example (single instance and shared options):

gitlab:
  instance: "https://gitlab.com"
  timeout: 30s

auth:
  token: ""           # prefer GCL_TOKEN env var
  netrc: false

validation:
  skip_api: false
  strict: true

output:
  format: "text"       # text | json | yaml
  verbose: false
  color: "auto"       # auto | always | never

files:
  search_parent: true
  max_depth: 10
  ignore_patterns:
    - ".git"
    - "node_modules"
    - "vendor"
    - "build"
    - "dist"
    - "*.tar.gz"

Project for project-specific validation is set only via GCL_PROJECT or --project, not stored in the config file.

Environment variables

Variable	Description
GCL_INSTANCE	GitLab instance URL
GCL_TOKEN	Personal access token (scope api)
GCL_PROJECT	Project for API validation (ID or path)
GCL_OUTPUT_FORMAT	Output format: text, json, yaml
GCL_SKIP_API	true = local validation only
GCL_VERBOSE	true = verbose output
GCL_COLOR	auto, always, never
GCL_DEBUG	true = debug output
GCL_CONFIG	Path to config file

GitLab token

For API validation you need a personal access token with api scope:

1. GitLab → User Settings → Access Tokens
2. Create a token with api scope
3. Provide via: GCL_TOKEN, gitlab-ci-lint setup, config auth.token, or --token

Usage

gitlab-ci-lint [flags] [file]

Commands: setup (interactive config), version, help.

Main flags:

• -c, --config — config file path
• -t, --token — GitLab token
• --netrc — use ~/.netrc
• --instance — GitLab URL (default https://gitlab.com)
• --project — project for API validation (ID or group/project)
• -s, --skip-api — local validation only
• -o, --output — format: text | json | yaml
• -v, --verbose — verbose output
• --color — auto | always | never
• -f, --file — path(s) to file(s), repeatable
• -d, --directory — directory to scan recursively for CI files
• --list-instances — list configured instances and exit

File discovery order when no file argument is given: -f flags → -d flags → single positional argument → auto-discover in current and parent directories.

Examples

# Auto-discover .gitlab-ci.yml in current and parent dirs
gitlab-ci-lint

# Multiple files
gitlab-ci-lint -f .gitlab-ci.yml -f ci/frontend.yml

# Recursive directory scan
gitlab-ci-lint -d ./monorepo

# Syntax only
gitlab-ci-lint --skip-api .gitlab-ci.yml

# Custom instance
gitlab-ci-lint --instance https://gitlab.example.com .gitlab-ci.yml

# JSON for pipelines
gitlab-ci-lint --output json .gitlab-ci.yml | jq .valid

# Project-specific (extends, trigger, etc.)
gitlab-ci-lint --project mygroup/myproject .gitlab-ci.yml

# From stdin
cat .gitlab-ci.yml | gitlab-ci-lint -

Exit codes

• 0 — all validations passed
• 1 — runtime error (file not found, network, auth)
• 10 — CI configuration invalid

For batch validation, exit code is 10 if any file is invalid.

Documentation

• Wiki
• Contributing

Development

make build             # build to ./build/gitlab-ci-lint
make test-unit         # unit tests
make test-integration  # integration tests (requires built binary)
make lint
make fmt

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Project status

• Two-stage validation (local + API)
• Interactive setup and multi-instance config
• Text/JSON/YAML output
• Unit and integration tests
• Semantic-release and goreleaser

Plans: ROADMAP.md.