[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":791},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt":3,"navigation-en-us":33,"banner-en-us":433,"footer-en-us":443,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Guest author André Miranda":685,"blog-related-posts-en-us-tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt":700,"assessment-promotions-en-us":742,"next-steps-en-us":781},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":22,"isFeatured":12,"meta":23,"navigation":24,"path":25,"publishedDate":20,"seo":26,"stem":30,"tagSlugs":31,"__hash__":32},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt.yml","Tutorial Securing Your Gitlab Pages With Tls And Letsencrypt",[7],"guest-author-andr-miranda",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9},"Tutorial: Securing your GitLab Pages with TLS and Let's Encrypt","In this post we will talk about HTTPS and how to add it to your GitLab Pages site with Let's Encrypt",[18],"Guest author André Miranda","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749672214/Blog/Hero%20Images/altssh.jpg","2016-04-11","In this post we will talk about HTTPS and how to add it to your GitLab Pages site\nwith [Let's Encrypt][letsencrypt].\n\n\u003C!-- more -->\n\n## Why TLS/SSL?\n\nWhen discussing HTTPS, it's common to hear people saying that a static\nwebsite doesn't need HTTPS, since it doesn't receive any POST requests, or isn't\nhandling credit card transactions or any other secure request.\nBut that's not the whole story.\n\nTLS ([formerly SSL][TLSwiki]) is a security protocol that can be added to HTTP\nto increase the security of your website by:\n\n1. properly authenticating yourself: the client can trust that you are really\n**you**. The TLS handshake that is made at the beginning of the connection\nensures the client that no one is trying to impersonate you;\n2. data integrity: this ensures that no one has tampered with the data in a\nrequest/response cycle;\n3. encryption: this is the main selling point of TLS, but the\nother two are just as important. This protects the privacy of the communication\nbetween client and server.\n\nThe TLS layer can be added to other protocols too, such as FTP (making it\n[FTPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTPS)) or WebSockets\n(making `ws://` [`wss://`](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/websocket-security#wss)).\n\n## HTTPS Everywhere\n\nNowadays, there is a strong push for using TLS on every website.\nThe ultimate goal is to make the web safer, by adding those three components\ncited above to every website.\n\nThe first big player was the [HTTPS Everywhere](https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere)\nbrowser extension. Google has also been using HTTPS compliance to better\nrank websites since [2014](https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html).\n\n## How to get TLS certificates\n\nIn order to add TLS to HTTP, one would need to get a certificate, and until 2015,\none would need to either pay for it or figure out how to do it with one of the\navailable [Certificate Authorities][certificateauthority].\n\nEnter [Let's Encrypt][letsencrypt], a free, automated, and open Certificate Authority.\nSince [December 2015][publicbeta] anyone can get a free certificate from this\nnew Certificate Authority from the comfort of their terminal.\n\n\n## Implementation\n\nSo, let's suppose we're going to create a static blog with [Jekyll 3][Jekyll].\nIf you are not creating a blog or are not using Jekyll just follow along, it\nshould be straightforward enough to translate the steps for different purposes.\nYou can also find many example projects using different static site generators\n(like Middleman or Hugo) in [GitLab's example projects][examplepages].\n\nA simple example blog can be created with:\n\n```shell\n$ jekyll new cool-blog\nNew jekyll site installed in ~/cool-blog.\n$ cd cool-blog/\n```\n\nNow you have to create a GitLab project. Here we are going to create a \"user\npage\", which means that it is a project created within a user account (not a\ngroup account), and that the name of the project looks like `YOURUSERNAME.gitlab.io`.\nRefer to the [\"Getting started\" section of the GitLab Pages manual][pagesdocs]\nfor more information on that.\n\nFrom now on, remember to replace `YOURDOMAIN.org` with your custom domain and\n`YOURUSERNAME` with, well, your username. ;)\n\n[Create a project] named `YOURUSERNAME.gitlab.io` so that GitLab will\nidentify the project correctly. After that, upload your code to GitLab:\n\n```shell\n$ git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:YOURUSERNAME/YOURUSERNAME.gitlab.io.git\n$ git push -u origin master\n```\n\nOK, so far we have a project uploaded to GitLab, but we haven't configured GitLab Pages yet.\nTo configure it, just create a `.gitlab-ci.yml` file in the root directory of your repository\nwith the following contents:\n\n```yaml\npages:\n  stage: deploy\n  image: ruby:2.3\n  script:\n    - gem install jekyll\n    - jekyll build -d public/\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n      - public\n  only:\n    - master\n\n```\n\nThis file instructs GitLab Runner to `deploy` by installing Jekyll and\nbuilding your website under the `public/` folder\n(`jekyll build -d public/`).\n\nWhile you Wait for the build process to complete, you can track the progress in the\nBuilds page of your project. Once it starts, it probably won't take longer\nthan a few minutes. Once the build is finished, your website will be available at\n`https://YOURUSERNAME.gitlab.io`. Note that GitLab already provides TLS\ncertificates to all subdomains of `gitlab.io` (but it has some limitations, so\nplease [refer to the documentation for more][limitation]). So if you don't want to add a\ncustom domain, you're done.\n\n## How to configure the TLS certificate of your custom domain.\n\nOnce you buy a domain name and point that domain to your GitLab Pages website,\nyou need to configure 2 things:\n\n1. add the domain to GitLab Pages configuration ([see documentation][customdomain]);\n2. add your custom certificate to your website.\n\nOnce you add your domain, your website will be available under both\n`http://YOURDOMAIN.org` and `https://YOURUSERNAME.gitlab.io`.\n\nBut if you try to access your custom domain with `HTTPS`\n(`https://YOURDOMAIN.org` in this case), your browser will show that\nhorrible page, saying that things are going wrong and someone is trying to\nsteal your information. *Why is that?*\n\nSince GitLab offers TLS certificates to all `gitlab.io` pages\nand your custom domain is just a `CNAME` over that same domain, GitLab serves\nthe `gitlab.io` certificate, and your browser receives mixed messages: on one\nside, the browser is trying to access `YOURDOMAIN.org`, but on the other side\nit is getting a TLS certificate for `*.gitlab.io`,\nsignaling that something is wrong.\n\nIn order to fix it, you need to obtain a certificate for `YOURDOMAIN.org` and\nadd it to GitLab Pages. For that we are going to use\n[Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/).\n\nLet's Encrypt is a new certificate authority that offers both *free* and\n*automated* certificates. That's perfect for us: we don't have to pay for\nhaving HTTPS and you can do everything within the comfort of your terminal.\n\nWe begin with downloading the `letsencrypt-auto` utility.\nOpen a new terminal window and type:\n\n```shell\n$ git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt\n$ cd letsencrypt\n```\n\n`letsencrypt-auto` offers a lot of functionality. For example, if you have\na web server running Apache, you could add `letsencrypt-auto --apache` inside your\nwebserver and have everything done for you. `letsencrypt` targets primarily Unix-like\nwebservers, so the `letsencrypt-auto` tool won't work for Windows users. Check [this\ntutorial][letsencryptwindows] to see how to get Let's Encrypt certificates while running\nWindows.\n\nSince we are running on GitLab's servers instead, we have to do a bit of manual\nwork:\n\n```shell\n$ ./letsencrypt-auto certonly -a manual -d YOURDOMAIN.org\n#\n# If you want to support another domain, www.YOURDOMAIN.org, for example, you\n# can add it to the domain list after -d like:\n# ./letsencrypt-auto certonly -a manual -d YOURDOMAIN.org www.YOURDOMAIN.org\n#\n```\n\nAfter you accept that your IP will be publicly logged, a message like the\nfollowing will appear:\n\n```shell\nMake sure your web server displays the following content at\nhttp://YOURDOMAIN.org/.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM\nbefore continuing:\n\n5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.ewlbSYgvIxVOqiP1lD2zeDKWBGEZMRfO_4kJyLRP_4U\n\n#\n# output omitted\n#\n\nPress ENTER to continue\n```\n\nNow it is waiting for the server to be correctly configured so it can go on.\nLeave this terminal window open for now.\n\nSo, the goal is to the make our already-published static website return\nsaid token when said URL is requested. That's easy: create a custom\npage! Just create a file in your blog folder that looks like this:\n\n```markdown\n---\nlayout: null\npermalink: /.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.html\n---\n\n5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.ewlbSYgvIxVOqiP1lD2zeDKWBGEZMRfO_4kJyLRP_4U\n```\n\nThis tells Jekyll to create a static page, which you can see at\n`cool-blog/_site/.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.html`,\nwith no extra HTML, just the token in plain text. As we are using the `permalink` attribute in the\nfront matter, you can name this file anyway you want and put it anywhere, too.\n Note that the behaviour of the `permalink` attribute has\n[changed][jekyllversion] from Jekyll 2 to Jekyll 3, so make sure you have Jekyll 3.x installed.\nIf you're not using version 3 of Jekyll or if you're using a different tool,\njust create the same file in the exact path, like\n`cool-blog/.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.html`\nor an equivalent path in your static site generator of choice.\nHere we'll call it `letsencrypt-setup.html` and place it in the root folder\nof the blog. In order to check that everything is working as expected, start a local server with `jekyll serve` in a separate terminal window and try to access the URL:\n\n```shell\n$ curl http://localhost:4000/.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM\n# response:\n5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM.ewlbSYgvIxVOqiP1lD2zeDKWBGEZMRfO_4kJyLRP_4U\n```\n\nNote that I just replaced the `http://YOURDOMAIN.org` (from the\n`letsencrypt-auto` instructions) with `http://localhost:4000`.\nEverything is working fine, so we just need to upload the new file to GitLab:\n\n```shell\n$ git add letsencrypt-setup.html\n$ git commit -m \"add letsencypt-setup.html file\"\n$ git push\n```\n\nOnce the build finishes, test again if everything is working well:\n\n```shell\n# Note that we're using the actual domain, not localhost anymore\n$ curl http://YOURDOMAIN.org/.well-known/acme-challenge/5TBu788fW0tQ5EOwZMdu1Gv3e9C33gxjV58hVtWTbDM\n```\n\nIf you get a `404 page not found`, check if you missed any step, or get in touch\nin the comments below.\n\nNow that everything is working as expected, go back to the terminal window\nthat's waiting for you and hit `ENTER`. This instructs the Let's Encrypt's\nservers to go to the URL we just created. If they get the response they were waiting for,\nwe've proven that we actually own the domain and now they'll send you the\nTLS certificates. After a while it responds:\n\n```text\nIMPORTANT NOTES:\n - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at\n   /etc/letsencrypt/live/YOURDOMAIN.org/fullchain.pem. Your cert will\n   expire on 2016-07-04. To obtain a new version of the certificate in\n   the future, simply run Let's Encrypt again.\n - If you like Let's Encrypt, please consider supporting our work by:\n\n   Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt:   https://letsencrypt.org/donate\n   Donating to EFF:                    https://eff.org/donate-le\n\n```\n\nSuccess! We have correctly acquired a free TLS certificate for our domain!\n\nNote, however, that like any other TLS certificate, it has an expiration date,\nand in the case of certificates issued by Let's Encrypt, the certificate will\nremain valid for 90 days. When you finish setting up, just put in your calendar to\nremember to renew the certificate in time, otherwise it will become invalid,\nand the browser will reject it.\n\nNow we just need to upload the certificate and the key to GitLab.\nGo to **Settings** -> **Pages** inside your project, remove the old `CNAME` and\nadd a new one with the same domain, but now you'll also upload the TLS\ncertificate. Paste the contents of `/etc/letsencrypt/live/YOURDOMAIN.org/fullchain.pem`\n(you'll need `sudo` to read the file) to the \"Certificate (PEM)\"\n field and `/etc/letsencrypt/live/YOURDOMAIN.org/privkey.pem` (also needs `sudo`) to the\n\"Key (PEM)\" field.\n\n![Uploading the certificate to GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/gitlab-pages-cert-upload-screenshot.png)\n\nAnd you're done! You now have a fully working HTTPS website:\n\n```shell\n$ curl -vX HEAD https://YOURDOMAIN.org/\n#\n# starting connection\n#\n* TLS 1.2 connection using TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA\n* Server certificate: YOURDOMAIN.org\n* Server certificate: Lets Encrypt Authority X3\n* Server certificate: DST Root CA X3\n```\n\n## How to redirect all traffic to the HTTPS version\n\nEverything is working fine, but now we have an extra concern: we have two\nworking versions of our website, both HTTP **and** HTTPS. We need a way to\nredirect all of our traffic to the HTTPS version, and tell search engines to\ndo the same.\n\n### How to tell search engines which is the correct version\n\nInstructing the search engines is really easy: just tell them that the HTTPS\nversion is the \"canonical\" version, and they send all the users to it.\nAnd how do you do that? By adding a `link` tag to the header of the HTML:\n\n```html\n\u003Clink rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https://YOURDOMAIN.org/specific/page\" />\n```\n\nAdding this to every header on a blog tells the search engine that the correct\nversion is the HTTPS one, and they'll comply.\n\n### Internal links\n\nRemember to use HTTPS for your CSS or JavaScript file URLs, because when the\nbrowser accesses a secure website that relies on an insecure resource, it may\nblock that resource.\n\nIt is [considered a good practice][relativeprotocol] to use the protocol-agnostic path:\n\n```xml\n\u003Clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"//YOURDOMAIN.org/styles.css\" />\n\u003Cscript src=\"//YOURDOMAIN.org/script.js\">\u003C/script>\n```\n\n### When to use JavaScript-based redirect\n\nThere is, however, a case where the user specifically types in the URL\n**without** using HTTPS, and they'll access the HTTP version of your website.\n\nThe correct way of handling that would be to respond with a 301 \"Moved\npermanently\" HTTP code, and the browser would remember it for the next request.\nHowever, that's not a possibility we have here, since we're running on GitLab's servers.\n\nA small hack you can do is to redirect your users with a bit of JavaScript code:\n\n```javascript\nvar host = \"YOURDOMAIN.org\";\nif ((host == window.location.host) && (window.location.protocol != 'https:')) {\n  window.location = window.location.toString().replace(/^http:/, \"https:\");\n}\n```\n\nThis redirects the user to the HTTPS version, but there are a few problems with it:\n\n1. a user could have JavaScript disabled, and would not be affected by that;\n2. an attacker could simply remove that code and behave as a [Man in the Middle][middleattack];\n3. the browser won't remember the redirect instruction, so every time the user types\nthat same URL, the website will have to redirect him/her again.\n\n## Wrap up\n\n![a working certificate screenshot](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/working-certificate-screenshot.png)\n\nThat's how easy it is to have a free HTTPS-enabled website.\nWith these tools, I see no reason not to do it.\n\nIf you want to improve GitLab's support for Let's Encrypt, you can\ndiscuss and contribute in issues [#474][issue474], [#467][issue467] and\n[#472][issue472] from GitLab EE. They are open to merge requests!\n\nThere's an [excellent talk][talk] by [Pierre Far][pierretwitter] and\n[Ilya Grigorik][ilyatwitter] on HTTPS where you can learn more\nabout it.\n\nIf you want to check the status of your HTTPS enabled website,\n[SSL Labs offers a free online service][ssltest] that\n\"performs a deep analysis of the configuration of any SSL web server on the\npublic Internet\".\n\nThis article is based on [Paul Wakeford's post][wakeford].\n\nI hope it helps you :)\n\n[Create a project]: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/working_with_projects.html#create-a-project\n[Jekyll]: https://jekyllrb.com/\n[examplepages]: https://gitlab.com/groups/pages\n[pagesdocs]: http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/pages/README.html#getting-started-with-gitlab-pages\n[TLSwiki]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security#TLS_1.0\n[letsencrypt]: https://letsencrypt.org/\n[wakeford]: https://www.paulwakeford.info/2015/11/24/letsencrypt/\n[publicbeta]: https://letsencrypt.org/2015/12/03/entering-public-beta.html\n[ssltest]: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/\n[middleattack]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack\n[talk]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhZ6S0PFCY\n[relativeprotocol]: http://www.paulirish.com/2010/the-protocol-relative-url/\n[jekyllversion]: https://jekyllrb.com/docs/upgrading/2-to-3/#permalinks-no-longer-automatically-add-a-trailing-slash\n[letsencryptwindows]: https://cultiv.nl/blog/lets-encrypt-on-windows/\n[customdomain]: http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/pages/README.html#add-a-custom-domain-to-your-pages-website\n[certificateauthority]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_authority\n[limitation]: http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/pages/README.html#limitations\n[issue474]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/474\n[issue472]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/472\n[issue467]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/467\n[pierretwitter]: 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statement",{"items":675},[676,679,682],{"text":677,"config":678},"Terms",{"href":503,"dataGaName":504,"dataGaLocation":451},{"text":680,"config":681},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":513,"dataGaLocation":451,"id":514,"isOneTrustButton":24},{"text":683,"config":684},"Privacy",{"href":508,"dataGaName":509,"dataGaLocation":451},[686],{"id":687,"title":688,"body":8,"config":689,"content":691,"description":8,"extension":22,"meta":695,"navigation":24,"path":696,"seo":697,"stem":698,"__hash__":699},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/guest-author-andr-miranda.yml","Guest Author Andr Miranda",{"template":690},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":692},{"headshot":693,"ctfId":694},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749659488/Blog/Author%20Headshots/gitlab-logo-extra-whitespace.png","Guest-author-Andr-Miranda",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/guest-author-andr-miranda",{},"en-us/blog/authors/guest-author-andr-miranda","ac2zHo3Yd7Rcc4McAovjjDoyFOUP1di-YhL9MOAJMAk",[701,714,726],{"content":702,"config":712},{"title":703,"description":704,"authors":705,"heroImage":707,"date":708,"category":9,"tags":709,"body":711},"How IIT Bombay students are coding the future with GitLab","At GitLab, we often talk about how software accelerates innovation. But sometimes, you have to step away from the Zoom calls and stand in a crowded university hall to remember why we do this.",[706],"Nick Veenhof","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099013/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2814%29_6VTUA8mUhOZNDaRVNPeKwl_1750099012960.png","2026-01-08",[255,607,710],"open source","The GitLab team recently had the privilege of judging the **iHack Hackathon** at **IIT Bombay's E-Summit**. The energy was electric, the coffee was flowing, and the talent was undeniable. But what struck us most wasn't just the code — it was the sheer determination of students to solve real-world problems, often overcoming significant logistical and financial hurdles to simply be in the room.\n\n\nThrough our [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we aim to empower the next generation of developers with tools and opportunity. Here is a look at what the students built, and how they used GitLab to bridge the gap between idea and reality.\n\n## The challenge: Build faster, build securely\n\nThe premise for the GitLab track of the hackathon was simple: Don't just show us a product; show us how you built it. We wanted to see how students utilized GitLab's platform — from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines — to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode — Democratizing Scientific Research\n\n**Project:** FIRE (Fast Integrated Research Environment)\n\nTeam Decode took home the top prize with a solution that warms a developer's heart: a local-first, blazing-fast data processing tool built with [Rust](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/secure-rust-development-with-gitlab/) and Tauri. They identified a massive pain point for data science students: existing tools are fragmented, slow, and expensive.\n\nTheir solution, FIRE, allows researchers to visualize complex formats (like NetCDF) instantly. What impressed the judges most was their \"hacker\" ethos. They didn't just build a tool; they built it to be open and accessible.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** Since the team lived far apart, asynchronous communication was key. They utilized **GitLab Issue Boards** and **Milestones** to track progress and integrated their repo with Telegram to get real-time push notifications. As one team member noted, \"Coordinating all these technologies was really difficult, and what helped us was GitLab... the Issue Board really helped us track who was doing what.\"\n\n![Team Decode](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/epqazj1jc5c7zkgqun9h.jpg)\n\n### 2nd place: Team BichdeHueDost — Reuniting to Solve Payments\n\n**Project:** SemiPay (RFID Cashless Payment for Schools)\n\nThe team name, BichdeHueDost, translates to \"Friends who have been set apart.\" It's a fitting name for a group of friends who went to different colleges but reunited to build this project. They tackled a unique problem: handling cash in schools for young children. Their solution used RFID cards backed by a blockchain ledger to ensure secure, cashless transactions for students.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** They utilized [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/) to automate the build process for their Flutter application (APK), ensuring that every commit resulted in a testable artifact. This allowed them to iterate quickly despite the \"flaky\" nature of cross-platform mobile development.\n\n![Team BichdeHueDost](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/pkukrjgx2miukb6nrj5g.jpg)\n\n### 3rd place: Team ZenYukti — Agentic Repository Intelligence\n\n**Project:** RepoInsight AI (AI-powered, GitLab-native intelligence platform)\n\nTeam ZenYukti impressed us with a solution that tackles a universal developer pain point: understanding unfamiliar codebases. What stood out to the judges was the tool's practical approach to onboarding and code comprehension: RepoInsight-AI automatically generates documentation, visualizes repository structure, and even helps identify bugs, all while maintaining context about the entire codebase.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** The team built a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline that showcased GitLab's security and DevOps capabilities. They integrated [GitLab's Security Templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security) (SAST, Dependency Scanning, and Secret Detection), and utilized [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/container_registry/) to manage their Docker images for backend and frontend components. They created an AI auto-review bot that runs on merge requests, demonstrating an \"agentic workflow\" where AI assists in the development process itself.\n\n![Team ZenYukti](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/ymlzqoruv5al1secatba.jpg)\n\n## Beyond the code: A lesson in inclusion\n\nWhile the code was impressive, the most powerful moment of the event happened away from the keyboard.\n\nDuring the feedback session, we learned about the journey Team ZenYukti took to get to Mumbai. They traveled over 24 hours, covering nearly 1,800 kilometers. Because flights were too expensive and trains were booked, they traveled in the \"General Coach,\" a non-reserved, severely overcrowded carriage.\n\nAs one student described it:\n\n*\"You cannot even imagine something like this... there are no seats... people sit on the top of the train. This is what we have endured.\"*\n\nThis hit home. [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/) are core values at GitLab. We realized that for these students, the barrier to entry wasn't intellect or skill, it was access.\n\nIn that moment, we decided to break that barrier. We committed to reimbursing the travel expenses for the participants who struggled to get there. It's a small step, but it underlines a massive truth: **talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.**\n\n![hackathon class together](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380252/o5aqmboquz8ehusxvgom.jpg)\n\n### The future is bright (and automated)\n\nWe also saw incredible potential in teams like Prometheus, who attempted to build an autonomous patch remediation tool (DevGuardian), and Team Arrakis, who built a voice-first job portal for blue-collar workers using [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo/) to troubleshoot their pipelines.\n\nTo all the students who participated: You are the future. Through [GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we are committed to providing you with the top-tier tools (like GitLab Ultimate) you need to learn, collaborate, and change the world — whether you are coding from a dorm room, a lab, or a train carriage. **Keep shipping.**\n\n> :bulb: Learn more about the [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/).\n",{"slug":713,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":715,"config":724},{"title":716,"description":717,"authors":718,"heroImage":719,"date":720,"category":9,"tags":721,"body":723},"Artois University elevates research and curriculum with GitLab Ultimate for Education","Artois University's CRIL leveraged the GitLab for Education program to gain free access to Ultimate, transforming advanced research and computer science curricula.",[706],"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099203/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2820%29_2bJGC5ZP3WheoqzlLT05C5_1750099203484.png","2025-12-10",[607,255,722],"product","Leading academic institutions face a critical challenge: how to provide thousands of students and researchers with industry-standard, **full-featured DevSecOps tools** without compromising institutional control. Many start with basic version control, but the modern curriculum demands integrated capabilities for planning, security, and advanced CI/CD.\n\nThe **GitLab for Education program** is designed to solve this by providing access to **GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying institutions, allowing them to scale their operations and elevate their academic offerings. \n\nThis article showcases a powerful success story from the **Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Lens (CRIL)**, a joint laboratory of **Artois University** and CNRS in France. After years of relying solely on GitLab Community Edition (CE), the university's move to GitLab Ultimate through the GitLab for Education program immediately unlocked advanced capabilities, transforming their teaching, research, and contribution workflows virtually overnight. This story demonstrates why GitLab Ultimate is essential for institutions seeking to deliver advanced computer science and research curricula.\n\n## GitLab Ultimate unlocked: Managing scale and driving academic value\n\n**Artois University's** self-managed GitLab instance is a large-scale operation, supporting nearly **3,000 users** across approximately **19,000 projects**, primarily serving computer science students and researchers. While GitLab Community Edition was robust, the upgrade to GitLab Ultimate provided the sophisticated tooling necessary for managing this scale and facilitating advanced university-level work.\n\n***\"We can see the difference,\" says Daniel Le Berre, head of research at CRIL and the instance maintainer. \"It's a completely different product. Each week reveals new features that directly enhance our productivity and teaching.\"***\n\nThe institution joined the GitLab for Education program specifically because it covers both **instructional and non-commercial research use cases** and offers full access to Ultimate's features, removing significant cost barriers.\n\n### Key GitLab Ultimate benefits for students and researchers\n\n* **Advanced project management at scale:** Master's students now benefit from **GitLab Ultimate's project planning features**. This enables them to structure, track, and manage complex, long-term research projects using professional methodologies like portfolio management and advanced issue tracking that seamlessly roll up across their thousands of projects.\n\n* **Enhanced visibility:** Features like improved dashboards and code previews directly in Markdown files dramatically streamline tracking and documentation review, reducing administrative friction for both instructors and students managing large project loads.\n\n## Comprehensive curriculum: From concepts to continuous delivery\n\nGitLab Ultimate is deeply integrated into the computer science curriculum, moving students beyond simple `git` commands to practical **DevSecOps implementation**.\n\n* **Git fundamentals:** Students begin by visualizing concepts using open-source tools to master Git concepts.\n\n* **Full CI/CD implementation:** Students use GitLab CI for rigorous **Test-Driven Development (TDD)** in their software projects. They learn to build, test, and perform quality assurance using unit and integration testing pipelines—core competency made seamless by the integrated platform.\n\n* **DevSecOps for research and documentation:** The university teaches students that DevSecOps principles are vital for all collaborative work. Inspired by earlier work in Delft, students manage and produce critical research documentation (PDFs from Markdown files) using GitLab, incorporating quality checks like linters and spell checks directly in the CI pipeline. This ensures high-quality, reproducible research output.\n\n* **Future-proofing security skills:** The GitLab Ultimate platform immediately positions the institution to incorporate advanced DevSecOps features like SAST and DAST scanning as their research and development code projects grow, ensuring students are prepared for industry security standards.\n\n## Accelerating open source contributions with GitLab Duo\n\nAccess to the full GitLab platform, including our AI capabilities, has empowered students to make impactful contributions to the wider open source community faster than ever before.\n\nTwo Master's students recently completed direct contributions to the GitLab product, adding the **ORCID identifier** into user profiles. Working on GitLab.com, they leveraged **GitLab Duo's AI chat and code suggestions** to navigate the codebase efficiently.\n\n***\"This would not have been possible without GitLab Duo,\" Daniel Le Berre notes. \"The AI features helped students, who might have lacked deep codebase knowledge, deliver meaningful contributions in just two weeks.\"***\n\nThis demonstrates how providing students with cutting-edge tools **accelerates their learning and impact**, allowing them to translate classroom knowledge into real-world contributions immediately.\n\n## Empowering open research and institutional control\n\nThe stability of the self-managed instance at Artois University is key to its success. This model guarantees **institutional control and stability** — a critical factor for long-term research preservation.\n\nThe institution's expertise in this area was recently highlighted in a major 2024 study led by CRIL, titled: \"[Higher Education and Research Forges in France - Definition, uses, limitations encountered and needs analysis](https://hal.science/hal-04208924v4)\" ([Project on GitLab](https://gitlab.in2p3.fr/coso-college-codes-sources-et-logiciels/forges-esr-en)). The research found that the vast majority of public forges in French Higher Education and Research relied on **GitLab**. This finding underscores the consensus among academic leaders that self-hosted solutions are essential for **data control and longevity**, especially when compared to relying on external, commercial forges.\n\n## Unlock GitLab Ultimate for your institution today\n\nThe success story of **Artois University's CRIL** proves the transformative power of the GitLab for Education program. By providing **free access to GitLab Ultimate**, we enable large-scale institutions to:\n\n1.  **Deliver a modern, integrated DevSecOps curriculum.**\n\n2.  **Support advanced, collaborative research projects with Ultimate planning features.**\n\n3.  **Empower students to make AI-assisted open source contributions.**\n\n4.  **Maintain institutional control and data longevity.**\n\nIf your academic institution is ready to equip its students and researchers with the complete DevSecOps platform and its most advanced features, we invite you to join the program.\n\nThe program provides **free access to GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying instructional and non-commercial research use cases.\n\n**Apply now [online](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/).**\n",{"slug":725,"featured":24,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"content":727,"config":740},{"category":9,"tags":728,"body":731,"date":732,"updatedDate":733,"heroImage":734,"authors":735,"title":738,"description":739},[729,730,102],"tutorial","git","\nEnterprise teams are increasingly migrating from Azure DevOps to GitLab to gain strategic advantages and accelerate secure software delivery. \n\n\n- GitLab comes with integrated controls, policies, and [compliance frameworks](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/compliance/compliance_frameworks/) that allow organizations to implement software delivery standards at scale. This is especially important for regulated industries.\n\n- [Security testing](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/application_security/) is embedded in the pipeline and results show in the developer workflow, including static application security testing (SAST), source code analysis (SCA), dynamic application security testing (DAST), infrastructure-as-code scanning (IaC), container scanning, and API scanning.\n\n- [AI capabilities](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo-agent-platform/) across the full software delivery lifecycle include advanced agent orchestration and customizable flows to support how your organizational teams work.\n\n\nGitLab's open-source, open-core approach, flexible deployment options such as single-tenant dedicated and self-managed, and truly unified platform eliminate integration complexity and security gaps. \n\n\nFor teams facing mounting pressure to accelerate delivery while strengthening security posture and maintaining regulatory compliance, GitLab represents not just a migration but a platform evolution.\n\n\nMigrating from Azure DevOps to GitLab can seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach and tools, it can be a smooth and efficient process. This guide will walk you through the steps needed to successfully migrate your projects, repositories, and pipelines from Azure DevOps to GitLab.\n\n\n## Overview\n\nGitLab provides both [Congregate](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/) (maintained by [GitLab Professional Services](https://about.gitlab.com/professional-services/) organization) and [a built-in Git repository import](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/import/repo_by_url/) for migrating projects from Azure DevOps (ADO). These options support repository-by-repository or bulk migration and preserve git commit history, branches, and tags. With Congregate and professional services tools, we support additional assets such as wikis, work items, CI/CD variables, container images, packages, pipelines, and more (see this [feature matrix](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/-/blob/master/customer/ado-migration-features-matrix.md)). Use this guide to plan and execute your migration and complete post-migration follow-up tasks.\n\n\nEnterprises migrating from ADO to GitLab commonly follow a multi-phase approach:\n\n\n- Migrate repositories from ADO to GitLab using Congregate or GitLab's built-in repository migration.\n\n- Migrate pipelines from Azure Pipelines to GitLab CI/CD.\n\n- Migrate remaining assets such as boards, work items, and artifacts to GitLab Issues, Epics, and the Package and Container Registries.\n\n\nHigh-level migration phases:\n\n\n```mermaid\ngraph LR\n    subgraph Prerequisites\n        direction TB\n        A[\"Set up identity provider (IdP) and\u003Cbr/>provision users\"]\n        A --> B[\"Set up runners and\u003Cbr/>third-party integrations\"]\n        B --> I[\"Users enablement and\u003Cbr/>change management\"]\n    end\n    \n    subgraph MigrationPhase[\"Migration phase\"]\n        direction TB\n        C[\"Migrate source code\"]\n        C --> D[\"Preserve contributions and\u003Cbr/> format history\"]\n        D --> E[\"Migrate work items and\u003Cbr/>map to \u003Ca href=\"https://docs.gitlab.com/topics/plan_and_track/\">GitLab Plan \u003Cbr/>and track work\"]\n    end\n    \n    subgraph PostMigration[\"Post-migration steps\"]\n        direction TB\n        F[\"Create or translate \u003Cbr/>ADO pipelines to GitLab CI\"]\n        F --> G[\"Migrate other assets\u003Cbr/>packages and container images\"]\n        G --> H[\"Introduce \u003Ca href=\"https://docs.gitlab.com/user/application_security/secure_your_application/\">security\u003C/a> and\u003Cbr/>SDLC improvements\"]\n    end\n    \n    Prerequisites --> MigrationPhase\n    MigrationPhase --> PostMigration\n\n    style A fill:#FC6D26\n    style B fill:#FC6D26\n    style I fill:#FC6D26\n    style C fill:#8C929D\n    style D fill:#8C929D\n    style E fill:#8C929D\n    style F fill:#FFA500\n    style G fill:#FFA500\n    style H fill:#FFA500\n```\n\n\n## Planning your migration\n\n\n**To plan your migration, ask these questions:**\n\n\n- How soon do we need to complete the migration?\n\n- Do we understand what will be migrated?\n\n- Who will run the migration?\n\n- What organizational structure do we want in GitLab?\n\n- Are there any constraints, limitations, or pitfalls that need to be taken into account?\n\n\nDetermine your timeline, as it will largely dictate your migration approach. Identify champions or groups familiar with both ADO and GitLab platforms (such as early adopters) to help drive adoption and provide guidance.\n\n\n**Inventory what you need to migrate:**\n\n\n- The number of repositories, pull requests, and contributors\n\n- The number and complexity of work items and pipelines\n\n- Repository sizes and dependency relationships\n\n- Critical integrations and runner requirements (agent pools with specific capabilities)\n\n\nUse GitLab Professional Services's [Evaluate](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/utilities/evaluate#beta-azure-devops) tool to produce a complete inventory of your entire Azure DevOps organization, including repositories, PR counts, contributor lists, number of pipelines, work items, CI/CD variables and more. If you're working with the GitLab Professional Services team, share this report with your engagement manager or technical architect to help plan the migration.\n\n\nMigration timing is primarily driven by pull request count, repository size, and amount of contributions (e.g. comments in PR, work items, etc). For example, 1,000 small repositories with few PRs and limited contributors can migrate much faster than a smaller set of repositories containing tens of thousands of PRs and thousands of contributors. Use your inventory data to estimate effort and plan test runs before proceeding with production migrations.\n\n\nCompare inventory against your desired timeline and decide whether to migrate all repositories at once or in batches. If teams cannot migrate simultaneously, batch and stagger migrations to align with team schedules. For example, in Professional Services engagements, we organize migrations into waves of 200-300 projects to manage complexity and respect API rate limits, both in [GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/security/rate_limits/) and [ADO](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/integrate/concepts/rate-limits?view=azure-devops).\n\n\nGitLab's built-in [repository importer](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/import/repo_by_url/) migrates Git repositories (commits, branches, and tags) one-by-one. Congregate is designed to preserve pull requests (known in GitLab as merge requests), comments, and related metadata where possible; the simple built-in repository import focuses only on the Git data (history, branches, and tags).\n\n\n**Items that typically require separate migration or manual recreation:**\n\n\n- Azure Pipelines - create equivalent GitLab CI/CD pipelines (consult with [CI/CD YAML](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/) and/or with [CI/CD components](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/components/)). Alternatively, consider using AI-based pipeline conversion available in Congregate.\n\n- Work items and boards - map to GitLab Issues, Epics, and Issue Boards.\n\n- Artifacts, container images (ACR) - migrate to GitLab Package Registry or Container Registry.\n\n- Service hooks and external integrations - recreate in GitLab.\n\n- [Permissions models](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/permissions/) differ between ADO and GitLab; review and plan permissions mapping rather than assuming exact preservation.\n\n\nReview what each tool (Congregate vs. built-in import) will migrate and choose the one that fits your needs. Make a list of any data or integrations that must be migrated or recreated manually.\n\n\n**Who will run the migration?**\n\n\nMigrations are typically run by a GitLab group owner or instance administrator, or by a designated migrator who has been granted the necessary permissions on the destination group/project. Congregate and the GitLab import APIs require valid authentication tokens for both Azure DevOps and GitLab.\n\n\n- Decide whether a group owner/admin will perform the migrations or whether you will grant a specific team/person delegated access.\n\n- Ensure the migrator has correctly configured personal access tokens (Azure DevOps and GitLab) with the scopes required by your chosen migration tool (for example, api/read_repository scopes and any tool-specific requirements). \n\n- Test tokens and permissions with a small pilot migration.\n\n**Note:** Congregate leverages file-based import functionality for ADO migrations and requires instance administrator permissions to run ([see our documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/project/settings/import_export/#migrate-projects-by-uploading-an-export-file)). If you are migrating to GitLab.com, consider engaging Professional Services. For more information, see the [Professional Services Full Catalog](https://about.gitlab.com/professional-services/catalog/). Non-admin account cannot preserve contribution attribution!\n\n\n**What organizational structure do we want in GitLab?**\n\nWhile it's possible to map ADO structure directly to GitLab structure, it's recommended to rationalize and simplify the structure during migration. Consider how teams will work in GitLab and design the structure to facilitate collaboration and access management. Here is a way to think about mapping ADO structure to GitLab structure:\n\n\n```mermaid\ngraph TD\n    subgraph GitLab\n        direction TB\n        A[\"Top-level Group\"]\n        B[\"Subgroup (optional)\"]\n        C[\"Projects\"]\n        A --> B\n        A --> C\n        B --> C\n    end\n\n    subgraph AzureDevOps[\"Azure DevOps\"]\n        direction TB\n        F[\"Organizations\"]\n        G[\"Projects\"]\n        H[\"Repositories\"]\n        F --> G\n        G --> H\n    end\n\n    style A fill:#FC6D26\n    style B fill:#FC6D26\n    style C fill:#FC6D26\n    style F fill:#8C929D\n    style G fill:#8C929D\n    style H fill:#8C929D\n```\n\nRecommended approach:\n\n\n- Map each ADO organization to a GitLab group (or a small set of groups), not to many small groups. Avoid creating a GitLab group for every ADO team project. Use migration as an opportunity to rationalize your GitLab structure.\n\n- Use subgroups and project-level permissions to group related repositories.\n\n- Manage access to sets of projects by using GitLab groups and group membership (groups and subgroups) rather than one group per team project.\n\n- Review GitLab [permissions](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html) and consider [SAML Group Links](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/group/saml_sso/group_sync/) to implement an enterprise RBAC model for your GitLab instance (or a GitLab.com namespace).\n\n\n**ADO Boards and work items: State of migration**\n\n\nIt's important to understand how work items migrate from ADO into GitLab Plan (issues, epics, and boards).\n\n\n- ADO Boards and work items map to GitLab Issues, Epics, and Issue Boards. Plan how your workflows and board configurations will translate.\n\n- ADO Epics and Features become GitLab Epics.\n\n- Other work item types (e.g., user stories, tasks, bugs) become project-scoped issues.\n\n- Most standard fields are preserved; selected custom fields can be migrated when supported.\n\n- Parent-child relationships are retained so Epics reference all related issues.\n\n- Links to pull requests are converted to merge request links to maintain development traceability.\n\n\nExample: Migration of an individual work item to a GitLab Issue, including field accuracy and relationships:\n\n\n![Example: Migration of an individual work item to a GitLab Issue](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1764769188/ztesjnxxfbwmfmtckyga.png)\n\n\nBatching guidance:\n\n\n- If you need to run migrations in batches, use your new group/subgroup structure to define batches (for example, by ADO organization or by product area).\n\n- Use inventory reports to drive batch selection and test each batch with a pilot migration before scaling.\n\n\n**Pipelines migration**\n\n\nCongregate [recently introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/professional-services-automation/tools/migration/congregate/-/merge_requests/1298) AI-powered conversion for multi-stage YAML pipelines from Azure DevOps to GitLab CI/CD. This automated conversion works best for simple, single-file pipelines and is designed to provide a working starting point rather than a production-ready `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. The tool generates a functionally equivalent GitLab pipeline that you can then refine and optimize for your specific needs.\n\n\n- Converts Azure Pipelines YAML to `.gitlab-ci.yml` format automatically.\n\n- Best suited for straightforward, single-file pipeline configurations.\n\n- Provides a boilerplate to accelerate migration, not a final production artifact.\n\n- Requires review and adjustment for complex scenarios, custom tasks, or enterprise requirements.\n\n- Does not support Azure DevOps classic release pipelines — [convert these to multi-stage YAML](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/release/from-classic-pipelines?view=azure-devops) first.\n\n\nRepository owners should review the [GitLab CI/CD documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/) to further optimize and enhance their pipelines after the initial conversion.\n\n\nExample of converted pipelines:\n\n\n```yml \n\n# azure-pipelines.yml\n\ntrigger:\n  - main\n\nvariables:\n  imageName: myapp\n\nstages:\n  - stage: Build\n    jobs:\n      - job: Build\n        pool:\n          vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n        steps:\n          - checkout: self\n\n          - task: Docker@2\n            displayName: Build Docker image\n            inputs:\n              command: build\n              repository: $(imageName)\n              Dockerfile: '**/Dockerfile'\n              tags: |\n                $(Build.BuildId)\n\n  - stage: Test\n    jobs:\n      - job: Test\n        pool:\n          vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n        steps:\n          - checkout: self\n\n          # Example: run tests inside the container\n          - script: |\n              docker run --rm $(imageName):$(Build.BuildId) npm test\n            displayName: Run tests\n\n  - stage: Push\n    jobs:\n      - job: Push\n        pool:\n          vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'\n        steps:\n          - checkout: self\n\n          - task: Docker@2\n            displayName: Login to ACR\n            inputs:\n              command: login\n              containerRegistry: '\u003Cyour-acr-service-connection>'\n\n          - task: Docker@2\n            displayName: Push image to ACR\n            inputs:\n              command: push\n              repository: $(imageName)\n              tags: |\n                $(Build.BuildId)\n\n```\n\n```yaml\n\n# .gitlab-ci.yml\n\nvariables:\n  imageName: myapp\n\nstages:\n  - build\n  - test\n  - push\n\nbuild:\n  stage: build\n  image: docker:latest\n  services:\n    - docker:dind\n  script:\n    - docker build -t $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID -f $(find . -name Dockerfile) .\n  only:\n    - main\n\ntest:\n  stage: test\n  image: docker:latest\n  services:\n    - docker:dind\n  script:\n    - docker run --rm $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID npm test\n  only:\n    - main\n\npush:\n  stage: push\n  image: docker:latest\n  services:\n    - docker:dind\n  before_script:\n    - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY\n  script:\n    - docker tag $imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID $CI_REGISTRY/$CI_PROJECT_PATH/$imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID\n    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY/$CI_PROJECT_PATH/$imageName:$CI_PIPELINE_ID\n  only:\n    - main\n\n```\n\n**Final checklist:**\n\n\n- Decide timeline and batch strategy.\n\n- Produce a full inventory of repositories, PRs, and contributors.\n\n- Choose Congregate or the built-in import based on scope (PRs and metadata vs. Git data only).\n\n- Decide who will run migrations and ensure tokens/permissions are configured.\n\n- Identify assets that must be migrated separately (pipelines, work items, artifacts, and hooks) and plan those efforts.\n\n- Run pilot migrations, validate results, then scale according to your plan.\n\n\n## Running your migrations\n\n\nAfter planning, execute migrations in stages, starting with trial runs. Trial migrations help surface org-specific issues early and let you measure duration, validate outcomes, and fine-tune your approach before production.\n\n\nWhat trial migrations validate:\n\n\n- Whether a given repository and related assets migrate successfully (history, branches, tags; plus MRs/comments if using Congregate)\n\n- Whether the destination is usable immediately (permissions, runners, CI/CD variables, integrations)\n\n- How long each batch takes, to set schedules and stakeholder expectations\n\n\nDowntime guidance:\n\n\n- GitLab's built-in Git import and Congregate do not inherently require downtime.\n\n- For production waves, freeze changes in ADO (branch protections or read-only) to avoid missed commits, PR updates, or work items created mid-migration.\n\n- Trial runs do not require freezes and can be run anytime.\n\n\nBatching guidance:\n\n\n- Run trial batches back-to-back to shorten elapsed time; let teams validate results asynchronously.\n\n- Use your planned group/subgroup structure to define batches and respect API rate limits.\n\n\nRecommended steps:\n\n\n1. Create a test destination in GitLab for trials:\n\n\n  - GitLab.com: create a dedicated group/namespace (for example, my-org-sandbox)\n\n  - Self-managed: create a top-level group or a separate test instance if needed\n\n\n2. Prepare authentication:\n\n\n  - Azure DevOps PAT with required scopes.\n\n  - GitLab Personal Access Token with api and read_repository (plus admin access for file-based imports used by Congregate).\n\n\n3. Run trial migrations:\n\n\n  - Repos only: use GitLab's built-in import (Repo by URL)\n\n  - Repos + PRs/MRs and additional assets: use Congregate\n\n\n4. Post-trial follow-up:\n\n\n  - Verify repo history, branches, tags; merge requests (if migrated), issues/epics (if migrated), labels, and relationships.\n\n  - Check permissions/roles, protected branches, required approvals, runners/tags, variables/secrets, integrations/webhooks.\n\n  - Validate pipelines (`.gitlab-ci.yml`) or converted pipelines where applicable.\n\n\n5. Ask users to validate functionality and data fidelity.\n\n6. Resolve issues uncovered during trials and update your runbooks.\n\n7. Network and security:\n\n\n  - If your destination uses IP allow lists, add the IPs of your migration host and any required runners/integrations so imports can succeed.\n\n\n8. Run production migrations in waves:\n\n\n  - Enforce change freezes in ADO during each wave.\n\n  - Monitor progress and logs; retry or adjust batch sizes if you hit rate limits.\n\n\n9. Optional: remove the sandbox group or archive it after you finish.\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"video_container\">\n  \u003Ciframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/ibIXGfrVbi4?si=ZxOVnXjCF-h4Ne0N\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">\u003C/iframe>\n\u003C/figure>\n\n\n## Terminology reference for GitLab and Azure DevOps\n\n| GitLab                                                           | Azure DevOps                                 | Similarities & Key Differences                                                                                                                                          |\n| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Group                                                            | Organization                                 | Top-level namespace, membership, policies. ADO org contains Projects; GitLab Group contains Subgroups and Projects.                                                   |\n| Group or Subgroup                                                | Project                                      | Logical container, permissions boundary. ADO Project holds many repos; GitLab Groups/Subgroups organize many Projects.                                                |\n| Project (includes a Git repo)                                    | Repository (inside a Project)                | Git history, branches, tags. In GitLab, a \"Project\" is the repo plus issues, CI/CD, wiki, etc. One repo per Project.                                                  |\n| Merge Request (MR)                                               | Pull Request (PR)                            | Code review, discussions, approvals. MR rules include approvals, required pipelines, code owners.                                                                     |\n| Protected Branches, MR Approval Rules, Status Checks             | Branch Policies                              | Enforce reviews and checks. GitLab combines protections + approval rules + required status checks.                                                                    |\n| GitLab CI/CD                                                     | Azure Pipelines                              | YAML pipelines, stages/jobs, logs. ADO also has classic UI pipelines; GitLab centers on .gitlab-ci.yml.                                                               |\n| .gitlab-ci.yml                                                   | azure-pipelines.yml                          | Defines stages/jobs/triggers. Syntax/features differ; map jobs, variables, artifacts, and triggers.                                                                   |\n| Runners (shared/specific)                                        | Agents / Agent Pools                         | Execute jobs on machines/containers. Target via demands (ADO) vs tags (GitLab). Registration/scoping differs.                                                         |\n| CI/CD Variables (project/group/instance), Protected/Masked       | Pipeline Variables, Variable Groups, Library | Pass config/secrets to jobs. GitLab supports group inheritance and masking/protection flags.                                                                          |\n| Integrations, CI/CD Variables, Deploy Keys                       | Service Connections                          | External auth to services/clouds. Map to integrations or variables; cloud-specific helpers available.                                                                 |\n| Environments & Deployments (protected envs)                      | Environments (with approvals)                | Track deploy targets/history. Approvals via protected envs and manual jobs in GitLab.                                                                                 |\n| Releases (tag + notes)                                           | Releases (classic or pipelines)              | Versioned notes/artifacts. GitLab Release ties to tags; deployments tracked separately.                                                                               |\n| Job Artifacts                                                    | Pipeline Artifacts                           | Persist job outputs. Retention/expiry configured per job or project.                                                                                                  |\n| Package Registry (NuGet/npm/Maven/PyPI/Composer, etc.)           | Azure Artifacts (NuGet/npm/Maven, etc.)      | Package hosting. Auth/namespace differ; migrate per package type.                                                                                                     |\n| GitLab Container Registry                                        | Azure Container Registry (ACR) or others     | OCI images. GitLab provides per-project/group registries.                                                                                                             |\n| Issue Boards                                                     | Boards                                       | Visualize work by columns. GitLab boards are label-driven; multiple boards per project/group.                                                                         |\n| Issues (types/labels), Epics                                     | Work Items (User Story/Bug/Task)             | Track units of work. Map ADO types/fields to labels/custom fields; epics at group level.                                                                              |\n| Epics, Parent/Child Issues                                       | Epics/Features                               | Hierarchy of work. Schema differs; use epics + issue relationships.                                                                                                   |\n| Milestones and Iterations                                        | Iteration Paths                              | Time-boxing. GitLab Iterations (group feature) or Milestones per project/group.                                                                                       |\n| Labels (scoped labels)                                           | Area Paths                                   | Categorization/ownership. Replace hierarchical areas with scoped labels.                                                                                              |\n| Project/Group Wiki                                               | Project Wiki                                 | Markdown wiki. Backed by repos in both; layout/auth differ slightly.                                                                                                  |\n| Test reports via CI, Requirements/Test Management, integrations  | Test Plans/Cases/Runs                        | QA evidence/traceability. No 1:1 with ADO Test Plans; often use CI reports + issues/requirements.                                                                     |\n| Roles (Owner/Maintainer/Developer/Reporter/Guest) + custom roles | Access levels + granular permissions         | Control read/write/admin. Models differ; leverage group inheritance and protected resources.                                                                          |\n| Webhooks                                                         | Service Hooks                                | Event-driven integrations. Event names/payloads differ; reconfigure endpoints.                                                                                        |\n| Advanced Search                                                  | Code Search                                  | Full-text repo search. Self-managed GitLab may need Elasticsearch/OpenSearch for advanced features.                                                                   |\n","2025-12-03","2026-01-16","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749658924/Blog/Hero%20Images/securitylifecycle-light.png",[736,737],"Evgeny Rudinsky","Michael Leopard","Guide: Migrate from Azure DevOps to GitLab","Learn how to carry out the full migration from Azure DevOps to GitLab using GitLab Professional Services migration tools — from planning and execution to post-migration follow-up tasks.",{"featured":24,"template":13,"slug":741},"migration-from-azure-devops-to-gitlab",{"promotions":743},[744,758,769],{"id":745,"categories":746,"header":748,"text":749,"button":750,"image":755},"ai-modernization",[747],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":751,"config":752},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":753,"dataGaName":754,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":756},{"src":757},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":759,"categories":760,"header":761,"text":749,"button":762,"image":766},"devops-modernization",[722,553],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":763,"config":764},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":765,"dataGaName":754,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":767},{"src":768},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":770,"categories":771,"header":773,"text":749,"button":774,"image":778},"security-modernization",[772],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":775,"config":776},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":777,"dataGaName":754,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":779},{"src":780},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":782,"blurb":783,"button":784,"secondaryButton":789},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":785,"config":786},"Get your free trial",{"href":787,"dataGaName":44,"dataGaLocation":788},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":489,"config":790},{"href":48,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":788},1772652081638]