[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":788},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables":3,"navigation-en-us":42,"banner-en-us":441,"footer-en-us":451,"blog-post-authors-en-us-GitLab Team":692,"blog-related-posts-en-us-getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables":707,"assessment-promotions-en-us":739,"next-steps-en-us":778},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":28,"isFeatured":12,"meta":29,"navigation":12,"path":30,"publishedDate":20,"seo":31,"stem":36,"tagSlugs":37,"__hash__":41},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables.yml","Getting Started With Gitlab Working With Ci Cd Variables",[7],"gitlab-team",null,"product",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables",true,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"Getting started with GitLab: Working with CI/CD variables","Learn what CI/CD variables are, why they are important in DevSecOps, and best practices for utilizing them.",[18],"GitLab Team","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749659525/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-getting-started-with-gitlab-banner-0497-option4-fy25.png","2025-05-27","*Welcome to our \"Getting started with GitLab\" series, where we help newcomers get familiar with the GitLab DevSecOps platform.*\n\nIn an earlier article, we explored [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-understanding-ci-cd/). Now, let's dive deeper into the world of **CI/CD variables** and unlock their full potential.\n\n### What are CI/CD variables?\n\nCI/CD variables are dynamic key-value pairs that you can define at different levels within your GitLab environment (e.g., project, group, or instance). These variables act as placeholders for values that you can use in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file to customize your pipelines, securely store sensitive information, and make your CI/CD configuration more maintainable.\n\n### Why are CI/CD variables important?\n\nCI/CD variables offer numerous benefits:\n\n* **Flexibility** - Easily adapt your pipelines to different environments, configurations, or deployment targets without modifying your core CI/CD script.  \n* **Security** - Securely store sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and tokens, preventing them from being exposed directly in your code.  \n* **Maintainability** - Keep your CI/CD configuration clean and organized by centralizing values in variables, making updates and modifications easier.  \n* **Reusability** - Define variables once and reuse them across multiple projects, promoting consistency and reducing duplication.\n\n### Scopes of CI/CD variables: Project, group, and instance\n\nGitLab allows you to define CI/CD variables with different scopes, controlling their visibility and accessibility:\n\n* **Project-level variables** - These variables are specific to a single project and are ideal for storing project-specific settings, such as:\n  * Deployment URLs: Define different URLs for staging and production environments.  \n  * Database credentials: Store database connection details for testing or deployment.  \n  * Feature flags: Enable or disable features during different stages of your pipeline.  \n  * Example: You have a project called \"MyWebApp\" and want to store the production deployment URL. You create a project-level variable named `DPROD_DEPLOY_URL` with the value `https://mywebapp.com`.  \n* **Group-level variables** - These variables are shared across all projects within a GitLab group. They are useful for settings that are common to multiple projects, such as:\n\n  * API keys for shared services: Store API keys for services like AWS, Google Cloud, or Docker Hub that are used by multiple projects within the group.  \n  * Global configuration settings: Define common configuration parameters that apply to all projects in the group.  \n  * Example: You have a group called \"Web Apps\" and want to store an API key for Docker Hub. You create a group-level variable named `DOCKER_HUB_API_KEY` with the corresponding API key value.  \n* **Instance-level variables** - These variables are available to all projects on a GitLab instance. They are typically used for global settings that apply across an entire organization such as:\n\n  * Default runner registration token: Provide a default token for registering new [runners](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/).  \n  * License information: Store license keys for GitLab features or third-party tools.  \n  * Global environment settings: Define environment variables that should be available to all projects.  \n  * Example: You want to set a default Docker image for all projects on your GitLab instance. You create an instance-level variable named `DEFAULT_DOCKER_IMAGE` with the value `ubuntu:latest`.\n\n### Defining CI/CD variables\n\nTo define a CI/CD variable:\n\n1. Click on the **Settings > CI/CD** buttons for  your project, group, or instance.  \n2. Go to the **Variables** section.  \n3. Click **Add variable**.  \n4. Enter the **key** (e.g., `API_KEY`) and **value**.  \n5. Optionally, check the **Protect variable** box for sensitive information. This ensures that the variable is only available to pipelines running on protected branches or tags.  \n6. Optionally, check the **Mask variable** box to hide the variable's value from job logs, preventing accidental exposure.  \n7. Click **Save variable**.\n\n### Using CI/CD variables\n\nTo use a CI/CD variable in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, simply prefix the variable name with `$`:\n\n```yaml\ndeploy_job:\n  script:\n    - echo \"Deploying to production...\"\n    - curl -H \"Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY\" https://api.example.com/deploy\n\n```\n\n### Predefined CI/CD variables\n\nGitLab provides a set of [predefined CI/CD variables](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/variables/predefined_variables/) that you can use in your pipelines. These variables provide information about the current pipeline, job, project, and more.\n\nSome commonly used predefined variables include:\n\n* `$CI_COMMIT_SHA`: The commit SHA of the current pipeline.  \n* `$CI_PROJECT_DIR`: The directory where the project is cloned.  \n* `$CI_PIPELINE_ID`: The ID of the current pipeline.  \n* `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME`: The name of the environment being deployed to (if applicable).\n\n### Best practices\n\n* Securely manage sensitive variables: Use protected and masked variables for API keys, passwords, and other sensitive information.  \n* Avoid hardcoding values: Use variables to store configuration values, making your pipelines more flexible and maintainable.  \n* Organize your variables: Use descriptive names and group related variables together for better organization.  \n* Use the appropriate scope: Choose the correct scope (project, group, or instance) for your variables based on their intended use and visibility.\n\n### Unlock the power of variables\n\nCI/CD variables are a powerful tool for customizing and securing your GitLab pipelines. By mastering variables and understanding their different scopes, you can create more flexible, maintainable, and efficient workflows.\n\nWe hope you found it helpful and are now well-equipped to leverage the power of GitLab for your development projects.\n\n> Get started with CI/CD variables today with a [free trial of GitLab Ultimate with Duo Enterprise](https://about.gitlab.com/free-trial/).\n\n## \"Getting Started with GitLab\" series\nRead more articles in our \"Getting Started with GitLab\" series:\n\n- [How to manage users](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-how-to-manage-users/)\n-  [How to import your projects to GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-how-to-import-your-projects-to-gitlab/)  \n- [Mastering project management](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-mastering-project-management/)\n- [Automating Agile workflows with the gitlab-triage gem](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/automating-agile-workflows-with-the-gitlab-triage-gem/)\n- [Understanding CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-understanding-ci-cd/)\n",[9,23,24,25,26,27],"tutorial","CI","CD","CI/CD","features","yml",{},"/en-us/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables",{"title":15,"description":16,"ogTitle":15,"ogDescription":16,"noIndex":32,"ogImage":19,"ogUrl":33,"ogSiteName":34,"ogType":35,"canonicalUrls":33},false,"https://about.gitlab.com/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables","https://about.gitlab.com","article","en-us/blog/getting-started-with-gitlab-working-with-ci-cd-variables",[9,23,38,39,40,27],"ci","cd","cicd","t7u1aO7VGYalGBiiqoXWI0BaHg6ohN8hCzVzbyeSqrY",{"data":43},{"logo":44,"freeTrial":49,"sales":54,"login":59,"items":64,"search":371,"minimal":402,"duo":421,"pricingDeployment":431},{"config":45},{"href":46,"dataGaName":47,"dataGaLocation":48},"/","gitlab 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Team",{"template":697},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":699},{"headshot":700,"ctfId":701},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749659488/Blog/Author%20Headshots/gitlab-logo-extra-whitespace.png","GitLab-Team",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/gitlab-team",{},"en-us/blog/authors/gitlab-team","lmrXWttQYRbkSz_xfCfucB21pf44aAdxkvbbS48UVcE",[708,720,730],{"content":709,"config":718},{"title":710,"description":711,"authors":712,"heroImage":714,"body":715,"date":716,"category":9,"tags":717},"New GitLab metrics and registry features help reduce CI/CD bottlenecks","See how CI/CD Job Performance Metrics and Container Virtual Registry, currently in beta, help platform teams quickly spot slow jobs and simplify multi-registry container pulls.",[713],"Talia Armato-Helle","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1771438388/t6sts5qw4z8561gtlxiq.png","Platform and DevOps engineers spend too much time piecing together visibility across fragmented tools and managing infrastructure that should just work.\n\nTwo new GitLab features currently in beta tackle this from different angles but share the same goal: giving practitioners direct control over the CI/CD infrastructure they depend on, without adding another third-party tool. One surfaces job-level performance data right where you monitor pipelines. The other simplifies how you pull container images from multiple registries with built-in caching.\n\nBoth features are open for feedback now. Your input will help shape what ships next.\n\n## CI/CD Job Performance Metrics\n\n* **Available tiers:** GitLab Premium, GitLab Ultimate\n* **Status:** Limited-availability beta on GitLab.com; available on GitLab Self-Managed and GitLab Dedicated when ClickHouse is configured\n\nToday, there’s no simple way to see when a particular job’s duration starts increasing or which jobs are quietly dragging down your pipeline runtimes. Most teams either build custom dashboards or manually dig through logs to answer basic questions like:\n\n* Which jobs are slowest?  \n* Where are failure rates climbing?  \n* Which stage is the real bottleneck?\n\nCI/CD Job Performance Metrics changes that by adding a new job-focused panel to the CI/CD analytics page at the project level.\n\nFor each job in your pipelines, you can see:\n\n* Typical (P50, median) and worst‑case (P95) job duration, so you can quickly view normal versus slowest runs  \n* Failure rate, so you can spot fragile or flaky jobs  \n* Job name and stage, covering the last 30 days by default\n\nThe table is sortable, searchable by job name, and paginated, so platform teams get a single view to answer questions that previously required separate tools or custom reporting.\n\n**Try it now**\n\n* Navigate to your project and select **Analyze \\> CI/CD analytics**.  \n* Look for the CI/CD job performance metrics panel and sort by duration or failure rate to find your slowest or least reliable jobs.\n\n**Documentation**\n\n* [CI/CD analytics – CI/CD job performance metrics](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/analytics/ci_cd_analytics/#cicd-job-performance-metrics)\n\n**What’s coming next**\n\nWe’re working on stage-level grouping, so you can view aggregated metrics across your build, test, and deploy stages, and quickly understand where to focus optimization work.\n\n**Share your feedback:**\n\n* [CI/CD job performance metrics epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/work_items/18548)\n\n## Container Virtual Registry\n\n**Tier:** GitLab Premium, GitLab Ultimate\n**Status:** Beta, API-ready in 18.9\n\nMost organizations pulling container images into CI/CD pipelines rely on multiple registries: Docker Hub, Harbor, Quay, and internal registries, to name a few. Managing authentication, availability, and caching across all of them is operational overhead that slows pipelines down and introduces fragility.\n\nThe Container Virtual Registry lets you create a single GitLab endpoint that pulls from multiple upstream container sources with built-in caching.\n\nInstead of configuring credentials and availability for each registry individually in your pipeline configuration, you can:\n\n* Point your pipelines at one GitLab virtual registry endpoint  \n* Configure multiple upstream registries (Docker Hub, Harbor, Quay, and others using long-lived token authentication)  \n* Let GitLab resolve image pulls automatically, with pull-through caching to reduce bandwidth costs and improve reliability\n\nFor teams evaluating GitLab as a container registry replacement, this closes a critical capability gap. For teams already managing multi-registry container workflows, it centralizes image management into GitLab and cuts down on repeated pulls.\n\n**What the beta supports today**\n\n* Upstream registries using long-lived token authentication: Docker Hub, Harbor, Quay, and other compatible registries  \n* Pull-through caching so commonly used images are served from GitLab after the first pull  \n* API-first configuration, with UI management in progress++\n\nCloud provider registries requiring IAM authentication (such as Amazon Elastic Container Registry, Google Artifact Registry, and Azure Container Registry) are being considered for future iterations.\n\n**Test it today**\n\n* The Container Virtual Registry is API-ready in 18.9.  \n* SaaS (GitLab.com): Request access through your CSM or by commenting on the feedback issue below to have the feature flag enabled for your group.  \n* Self-managed: Enable the feature flag and configure the virtual registry using the API.\n\n**Documentation**\n\n* [Container Virtual Registry API](https://docs.gitlab.com/api/container_virtual_registries/)  \n* [Pull container images from the virtual registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/#pull-container-images-from-the-virtual-registry)\n\n\n Watch this walkthrough of the Container Virtual Registry Beta:\n   \n\n  \u003Ciframe src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/1167512082?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" title=\"20260223_Container Virtual Registry Beta_V1\">\u003C/iframe>\u003C\u003Cscript src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js\">\u003C/script>\n\n  \u003Cbr>\u003C/br>\n\n\n\n**Share your feedback:**\n\n* [Container virtual registry feedback issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/589630)\n\n## Help us build what matters\n\nEveryone in the GitLab community is a contributor. We built these betas based on community requests.\n\n* **CI/CD Job Performance Metrics** came from teams who had no easy way to see when build times started trending in the wrong direction, or which jobs were hurting pipeline reliability.  \n* **Container Virtual Registry** came from enterprise customers managing multiple registries and looking to reduce tool sprawl and bandwidth costs while evaluating GitLab as a central registry.\n\nYour feedback shapes what we create next. Try one or both of these betas, and share your experience in the linked feedback issues.\n\nThis is the first in a series of Core DevOps betas we plan to highlight. More are coming throughout the year, and we hope you’ll help us make them as useful as possible.\n","2026-02-25",[26,9,27],{"featured":12,"template":13,"slug":719},"new-gitlab-metrics-and-registry-features-help-reduce-ci-cd-bottlenecks",{"content":721,"config":728},{"title":722,"description":723,"heroImage":724,"date":716,"category":9,"tags":725},"GitLab Patch Release: 18.9.1, 18.8.5, 18.7.5","Learn more about this patch release for GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition.","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749661926/Blog/Hero%20Images/security-patch-blog-image-r2-0506-700x400-fy25_2x.jpg",[726,727],"patch releases","security releases",{"featured":32,"template":13,"externalUrl":729},"https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2026/02/25/patch-release-gitlab-18-9-1-released/",{"content":731,"config":737},{"title":732,"description":733,"heroImage":714,"date":734,"tags":735,"category":9},"GitLab 18.9 released","Read about GitLab Duo Agent Platform self-hosted models now available for cloud licenses, vulnerability resolution with GitLab Duo Agent Platform, and more.","2026-02-19",[9,736],"releases",{"featured":32,"template":13,"externalUrl":738},"https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2026/02/19/gitlab-18-9-released/",{"promotions":740},[741,755,766],{"id":742,"categories":743,"header":745,"text":746,"button":747,"image":752},"ai-modernization",[744],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":748,"config":749},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":750,"dataGaName":751,"dataGaLocation":245},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":753},{"src":754},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":756,"categories":757,"header":758,"text":746,"button":759,"image":763},"devops-modernization",[9,560],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":760,"config":761},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":762,"dataGaName":751,"dataGaLocation":245},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":764},{"src":765},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":767,"categories":768,"header":770,"text":746,"button":771,"image":775},"security-modernization",[769],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":772,"config":773},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":774,"dataGaName":751,"dataGaLocation":245},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":776},{"src":777},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":779,"blurb":780,"button":781,"secondaryButton":786},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":782,"config":783},"Get your free trial",{"href":784,"dataGaName":53,"dataGaLocation":785},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":497,"config":787},{"href":57,"dataGaName":58,"dataGaLocation":785},1772652061726]