¶ GitLab
¶ Dev Ops
¶ Introduction to GitLab: A Complete DevOps Platform for the Modern Software Era
If you look at how software is built today, it’s almost impossible to imagine the process without automation, collaboration tools, version control, pipeline systems, security checks, monitoring, and seamless deployment workflows. Modern engineering teams aren’t just writing code—they’re managing an ever-evolving ecosystem of tools that must work together flawlessly. And in that world, GitLab stands out as one of the most ambitious and complete platforms ever built for DevOps.
GitLab is not just a repository hosting service. It’s not just CI/CD. It’s not simply a place to store issues, track merge requests, or run pipelines. GitLab is a unified DevOps platform that aims to handle the entire software lifecycle in one continuous, cohesive environment. From planning to coding, from packaging to deployment, from testing to security scanning, from observability to governance—GitLab brings everything under one roof.
This integration changes how teams work. It removes the friction of switching between tools. It eliminates gaps where security issues slip through unnoticed. It reduces delays caused by disconnected processes. And most importantly, it creates a single source of truth for every part of the development cycle. That’s why GitLab has become a central pillar in DevOps transformations across companies of every size—from early-stage startups to massive enterprises running multinational operations.
This course of 100 articles explores GitLab as a deeply capable, evolving DevOps platform. It isn’t about memorizing features or clicking through menus. It’s about understanding how GitLab empowers teams to build software faster, safer, and with far more visibility. You’ll learn not only how to use GitLab, but how to think in terms of GitLab’s workflow, how to design pipelines that scale, how to manage code with confidence, and how to leverage a platform that’s built for cloud-native development.
But before we dive into all of that, it’s worth stepping back and looking at why GitLab matters so much in the modern DevOps world.
¶ GitLab’s Role in the DevOps Revolution
DevOps is about breaking down silos. Historically, developers wrote code, operations deployed and managed it, QA tested it, and security came in only at the end—or worse, after a breach. GitLab’s greatest contribution is that it brings all of these practices together into one shared environment. Instead of scattering tools across the engineering ecosystem, GitLab integrates them with remarkable intention.
At its core, GitLab allows teams to:
- collaborate through version control,
- automate through pipelines,
- secure through integrated scanning,
- deploy through infrastructure automation,
- observe through logs and metrics,
- and govern through policies and compliance tools.
This consolidation isn’t just a convenience. It reshapes the culture of how software is delivered. Teams that adopt GitLab tend to communicate better, make decisions faster, and maintain far greater visibility into their systems. GitLab reduces the number of moving parts. It keeps effort focused. It creates a rhythm to development that centers around transparency and shared responsibility.
That’s why GitLab is often described as “The DevOps Platform.” Because it doesn't just help you do DevOps—it helps you embody it.
¶ GitLab as a Single Source of Truth
One of the strongest ideas behind GitLab is the concept of a single source of truth. In many engineering environments, information is scattered: issues live in one tool, pipelines in another, monitoring in a third, documentation somewhere else entirely. GitLab ties these pieces together so that anyone involved in the software lifecycle can understand what’s happening.
When you look at a merge request in GitLab, you aren’t just seeing code changes. You’re seeing:
- pipeline results,
- code reviews,
- security scan findings,
- test summaries,
- compliance checks,
- environment deployment status,
- related issues,
- linked discussions,
- and documentation updates.
Everything aligns around one place. The merge request becomes the story of a change—from idea to production. And that clarity fundamentally changes development culture. Instead of chasing scattered details, teams can focus on problem-solving and collaboration.
This course will help you gain that kind of clarity. You’ll come to appreciate how GitLab structures information so that engineering work becomes easier to understand, easier to audit, and more predictable.
¶ Why GitLab Is Worth Mastering
There are many DevOps tools out there. You can certainly learn CI/CD from standalone systems, or version control from Git alone, or security scanning from specialized platforms. But GitLab teaches something more holistic: how to build a full DevOps operating model.
When you master GitLab, you gain:
¶ A working understanding of end-to-end DevOps
From planning user stories to deploying a service, GitLab exposes every part of the pipeline.
¶ Skills in CI/CD automation that scale
Pipelines are not just sequences of jobs—they become engines of reliability and speed. GitLab’s pipeline features are rich, flexible, and designed for real-world complexity.
¶ Security-first awareness
Security isn’t bolted on in GitLab. It’s woven through the entire platform: SAST, DAST, dependency scanning, container scanning, secret detection, license compliance, and more.
¶ Operational intuition
GitLab’s environment dashboards, deployment tools, and monitoring integrations give you a real feel for how systems behave in production.
¶ Governance literacy
As engineering organizations grow, compliance and auditability matter. GitLab provides the tools for policies, access controls, permissions, and audit logs necessary for enterprise-level governance.
These are the kinds of capabilities that define strong DevOps engineers—people who understand not just tooling, but the flow of software creation from idea to deployment.
¶ The Power of GitLab CI/CD
GitLab’s CI/CD system is often the first thing that impresses people. It’s powerful, flexible, and deeply integrated with source control. Pipelines trigger automatically. Jobs run in parallel. Artifacts are stored and tracked. Environments update themselves. Deployments can be automated, monitored, and rolled back with ease.
GitLab CI/CD isn't trying to be a separate product—it's built into the DNA of GitLab. As soon as you commit a .gitlab-ci.yml file, the platform springs to life. This tight integration eliminates so much of the overhead normally associated with automation pipelines. You don’t need to configure external triggers, maintain separate systems, or glue together brittle integrations. Everything is organically connected.
In this course, you’ll learn how to build pipelines that:
- reduce manual effort,
- catch failures early,
- enforce quality,
- integrate security,
- deploy reliably,
- and scale across multiple services and clusters.
By the end, you should feel as comfortable with GitLab pipelines as you are with writing code.
¶ Collaboration and Culture Through GitLab
Technology is only half of DevOps. The other half is culture—how teams communicate, how they review work, how they manage risks, and how they maintain flow. GitLab subtly encourages better culture through its tools. Merge requests become conversations. Issues become living documentation. Wikis become shared knowledge. Pipelines become safety nets. Dashboards become alignment points.
GitLab brings transparency to the forefront. Anyone on the team can see what’s happening, how progress is moving, what deployments are occurring, and which discussions are shaping decisions. That transparency builds trust. It encourages shared ownership. It reduces friction around collaboration.
Learning GitLab isn’t just learning a tool. It’s learning how to work better as an engineering team.
¶ GitLab’s Place in Cloud-Native Development
As more systems move toward microservices, containers, serverless architectures, and Kubernetes deployments, GitLab positions itself as a natural DevOps platform for cloud-native development. It integrates tightly with Kubernetes clusters, allowing GitLab to:
- deploy applications automatically,
- scale environments,
- manage container registries,
- visualize workloads,
- and integrate monitoring and logs.
GitLab becomes the control plane for the entire application lifecycle. In many organizations, GitLab isn’t just a DevOps tool—it’s the operational backbone of the entire engineering ecosystem.
¶ What This Course Will Help You Achieve
Across 100 articles, you’ll develop a deep understanding of GitLab at both a technical and strategic level. You’ll learn:
- how GitLab structures collaboration,
- how source code flows through the platform,
- how pipelines are built and optimized,
- how GitLab secures your workflow,
- how deployments are automated and tracked,
- how environments and clusters integrate with GitLab,
- how teams use GitLab to plan, track, design, and manage work,
- how governance and compliance are enforced through GitLab,
- how GitLab supports multi-service, multi-cluster operations,
- and how to use the platform to build reliable software at scale.
By the time you finish, GitLab won’t feel like a tool—it will feel like an ecosystem you understand deeply.
You’ll know how to make GitLab work for your team, how to design workflows that reduce friction, how to automate intelligently, and how to build confidence into your deployment process. You’ll even begin to recognize opportunities where GitLab can simplify, accelerate, or secure engineering processes that once felt complicated.
¶ The Beginning of a Long, Meaningful Journey
GitLab represents a shift in how we build software. It brings everything together—tools, processes, people—into a coherent platform that encourages clarity and collaboration. It eliminates the distance between writing code and delivering value. It makes the entire software lifecycle feel natural and connected.
This course is your starting point for mastering that world.
As you explore GitLab through these articles, you’ll discover the depth behind its features, the elegance of its workflows, and the power that comes from having your entire DevOps practice in one place. You will learn to appreciate how GitLab changes habits, simplifies engineering, and strengthens the quality and reliability of software.
Most importantly, you’ll gain the confidence to operate in a modern DevOps environment—an environment where GitLab isn’t just a tool, but a foundation for everything you build.
Your journey with GitLab begins now.
¶ GitLab
¶ Beginner
1. Introduction to GitLab: Why It's Essential for DevOps
2. Setting Up Your First GitLab Account and Repository
3. Understanding GitLab’s Interface: Key Components and Features
4. Getting Started with Git: Cloning, Pulling, and Pushing Code
5. Creating and Managing GitLab Repositories
6. Branching and Merging in GitLab: Essential Git Operations
7. Commit History and Logs: Navigating GitLab’s Commit Features
8. Creating and Managing GitLab Issues for Project Tracking
9. Forking Repositories on GitLab: Contributing to Open Source
10. Using GitLab’s Web IDE for Editing and Committing Code
11. Understanding GitLab’s Pipeline Basics: An Introduction
12. Introduction to GitLab CI/CD: Automating Your DevOps Pipelines
13. Setting Up Your First GitLab CI/CD Pipeline
14. Using GitLab CI for Continuous Integration: The Basics
15. GitLab Merge Requests: Code Review and Collaboration Workflow
16. Exploring GitLab’s Auto DevOps: Automated Pipelines for Beginners
17. Understanding GitLab’s Permissions and User Roles
18. GitLab Pages: Hosting Static Websites on GitLab
19. GitLab CI Configuration: Basics of .gitlab-ci.yml File
20. Best Practices for Git Commit Messages and Versioning
¶ Intermediate
21. Advanced Branching Strategies in GitLab: Feature, Develop, Master
22. Using GitLab’s Issue Boards for Agile Project Management
23. GitLab CI/CD for Testing: Setting Up Automated Unit Tests
24. Continuous Delivery with GitLab CI/CD: Deploying Code Automatically
25. Advanced GitLab CI/CD Pipelines: Stages, Jobs, and Environments
26. Using GitLab Runners for CI/CD: Configuration and Management
27. Building Docker Containers with GitLab CI
28. GitLab’s Container Registry: Storing and Managing Docker Images
29. Setting Up GitLab’s Auto DevOps for Continuous Delivery
30. Using GitLab’s Protected Branches to Ensure Quality Control
31. Implementing GitLab’s CI/CD with Kubernetes for Containerized Applications
32. Using GitLab’s Built-in Security Scanning for Code Quality
33. Setting Up Secrets and Variables in GitLab CI for Secure Deployments
34. Managing GitLab CI Pipeline Failures: Debugging and Troubleshooting
35. Using GitLab for Continuous Integration in Microservices Architecture
36. Automating Deployment with GitLab and Kubernetes
37. Configuring and Using GitLab’s Review Apps for Feature Previews
38. Understanding GitLab Webhooks and Integrating with External Systems
39. Monitoring GitLab CI/CD Pipelines with Metrics and Logs
40. Managing Deployments in Multiple Environments with GitLab CI/CD
41. Using GitLab’s Container Scanning for Security Vulnerability Detection
42. Securing Your GitLab Repositories: Best Practices
43. Integrating GitLab with Slack and Other Collaboration Tools
44. Handling Merge Conflicts in GitLab: Best Practices for Resolution
45. Implementing Blue-Green Deployments Using GitLab CI/CD
46. Using GitLab for Documentation and Wikis in DevOps Projects
47. GitLab CI/CD with External Tools: Jenkins, Terraform, and Ansible
48. Creating Custom GitLab CI/CD Runners for Specific Environments
49. Scaling GitLab CI/CD with Multiple Runners and Executors
50. Automating Tests with GitLab CI: Unit, Integration, and E2E Tests
¶ Advanced
51. GitLab CI/CD Pipelines at Scale: Optimizing for Speed and Efficiency
52. GitLab Runner Advanced Configuration: Autoscaling and Docker Executor
53. Advanced GitLab Security: Managing Permissions and Access Controls
54. Using GitLab for Serverless Deployments with CI/CD
55. Advanced CI/CD Pipelines with GitLab: Conditional Jobs and Complex Workflows
56. Continuous Security with GitLab: Integrating DevSecOps Practices
57. Creating Multi-Stage Pipelines in GitLab for Complex Applications
58. Implementing GitOps with GitLab and Kubernetes for Continuous Deployment
59. GitLab and Terraform: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Integration
60. GitLab with Helm: Deploying Kubernetes Applications with CI/CD
61. Using GitLab for Canary Releases and Gradual Deployments
62. Building GitLab Pipelines with Custom Docker Images
63. Advanced GitLab CI/CD Security: Secrets Management and Compliance
64. Monitoring and Optimizing GitLab Performance in Large-Scale Environments
65. Building Serverless Architectures with GitLab and AWS Lambda
66. Automating Disaster Recovery with GitLab CI/CD Pipelines
67. Scaling GitLab CI/CD Pipelines with Parallel Execution
68. Using GitLab CI/CD for Hybrid Cloud Environments
69. GitLab’s Advanced Metrics and Analytics for Monitoring Pipeline Health
70. Customizing GitLab CI/CD Pipelines with Scripts and External Services
71. GitLab and Kubernetes Continuous Deployment (CD) for Microservices
72. Continuous Integration with GitLab and MonoRepo Strategies
73. Integrating GitLab with Monitoring Tools like Prometheus and Grafana
74. Using GitLab CI for Multi-cloud Deployments (AWS, GCP, Azure)
75. GitLab and Docker Swarm for Scalable Continuous Delivery
76. Using GitLab Auto DevOps for Complex Production Pipelines
77. Security Best Practices for GitLab Repositories and CI/CD Pipelines
78. Continuous Testing with GitLab and Selenium for Automated QA
79. GitLab for DevSecOps: Continuous Scanning and Compliance Automation
80. Advanced GitLab CI/CD Pipeline Debugging and Logs Analysis
81. Managing GitLab Deployments Across Multiple Cloud Providers
82. GitLab for High-Availability Deployment and Disaster Recovery Strategies
83. Building a Complete Microservices CI/CD Pipeline with GitLab
84. Continuous Integration for Large-Scale Projects Using GitLab
85. Leveraging GitLab for Multi-Tenant Application Deployments
86. GitLab for Observability and Monitoring: Setting Up Dashboards
87. Using GitLab for Automated Release Management and Versioning
88. Integrating GitLab with External Identity Providers for Authentication
89. GitLab and Service Mesh Integration: Monitoring and Observing Services
90. Using GitLab’s Code Quality Tools to Enforce Best Practices
91. Scaling GitLab in Kubernetes for Continuous Delivery
92. Building and Managing CI/CD Pipelines for Serverless Apps with GitLab
93. Leveraging GitLab CI/CD for Cloud-Native Application Deployments
94. Advanced GitLab CI/CD Pipelines for Multi-Region Deployments
95. Using GitLab for End-to-End Automation of Continuous Delivery
96. Building Secure CI/CD Pipelines with GitLab and Open Policy Agent (OPA)
97. GitLab and Helm for Kubernetes-Managed Applications
98. Implementing Continuous Compliance and Audit Trails with GitLab
99. GitLab CI/CD in a Continuous Testing Framework for Automated Validation
100. The Future of GitLab in DevOps: Trends, Best Practices, and Innovations