Agents are working across your team's software development lifecycle, but most still operate as separate tools, leaving the context, handoffs, and permissions for your team to stitch together. When your agents use APIs for these disparate tools, they often guess at endpoints and use up their context window on extra calls. The GitLab MCP server, now generally available with GitLab 19.5, connects your team’s external agents to your entire software lifecycle — from planning through production.
The GitLab MCP server enables any MCP-compatible agent to run GitLab workflows from the client your team already works in, getting what it needs in fewer calls and with less context bloat. Agents can work across code, merge requests, work items, and pipelines, and hand work to agentic flows within GitLab Duo Agent Platform. Each action runs under your existing GitLab permissions.
Built for how agents work
APIs are built for developers writing code. An agent that uses one has to work out which endpoints to call and make several calls to assemble one answer. Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard built for agents. An MCP server tells an agent what it can do and offers a curated set of tools designed around real workflows. Agents get the tools they need with more focused context, in fewer calls, and needing less data to carry through each task.
The GitLab MCP server applies that approach to your workflows across your projects, supporting all your team members within the GitLab permissions you already set.
Whether you're a developer handing a task to an agent or a team deciding how agents should work across your organization, your agents get tool coverage broad enough to complete the work, with access that follows each user’s GitLab permissions. Developers can even start GitLab Duo Agent Platform flows from the MCP-compatible coding agent they already use.
Here is Claude Code using the GitLab MCP server to start the Fix Pipeline flow in Duo Agent Platform:
More of your workflow, within reach of an agent
In addition to the tools announced in 19.4, the GitLab MCP server now includes more tools for working with code and pipelines, and for finding the right group or doc.
- Code: add_branch starts a feature branch, get_repository_file reads a file at any ref, and semantic_search finds code by meaning, answering "where is this implemented?" without knowing the file or symbol name.
- Pipelines: get_pipeline shows why a pipeline is red, with its jobs, downstream pipelines, and artifacts on request. list_pipelines surfaces patterns across recent runs, and get_artifact_file reads a single file from a job's artifacts, such as a log, report, or test fixture, without downloading the whole archive.
- Orientation: list_groups lets an agent browse your group hierarchy to find the right group instead of guessing at identifiers, and list_wiki_pages, an opt-in tool, surfaces runbooks and docs before it answers a how-to question.
In 19.5, the MCP server tool catalog is also simpler to work with. Related tools are now consolidated, with fewer tools doing more. get_merge_request lets you ask your agent for a merge request’s commits, diffs, pipelines, conflicts, or notes. get_pipeline now includes get_pipeline_jobs, so you can ask for a pipeline’s jobs along with the pipeline itself. Your agents spend less time choosing the right tool and pull in only the details a task needs.
let you choose which groups of tools the server returns. Each agent works from a focused set of tools that fits your team’s workflow instead of everything the server offers. A smaller set makes it less likely that an agent picks the wrong tool and has to retry. Most groups are on by default, and code security and wikis are available as opt-in groups. Browse the full catalog in the tools reference.
Start GitLab flows without leaving your client
Calling tools is one way an agent works with GitLab. Now, an agent can also hand a job to GitLab Duo Agent Platform and follow that job to the result without leaving your client. It can find the flows a project offers with list_duo_agents_and_flows, start a new flow from a goal in plain language with start_duo_session, and check progress with get_duo_session and list_duo_sessions. The work runs in a CI job inside GitLab, under the same context layer, policy checks, and audit trail as any other Duo Agent Platform session.
When a session needs a decision, it pauses for your input. With send_duo_session_input, you approve or reject the agent’s proposed action, or answer its question, and the session picks back up, keeping you in the loop. The duo_agent_platform toolset is included by default alongside the rest of the GitLab MCP server's tools.
Connect your agents to GitLab today
The agents supporting your software lifecycle will continue evolving. As your team adopts new agents, the GitLab MCP server connects each one to GitLab’s tools and flows, so they’re productive from day one.
You can connect the agents your team already uses by following the MCP server documentation, which includes setup instructions for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Gemini, Kiro, Zed, and other MCP-compatible clients. The GitLab MCP server is available on the Free, Premium, and Ultimate tiers, on GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, and GitLab Dedicated. On GitLab.com, per-user rate limits are set at 60 calls per minute on Free and 600 on Premium and Ultimate.
If you’re new to Duo Agent Platform, start a free trial. Already on Premium or Ultimate? Turn on Duo Agent Platform and use the GitLab Credits included with your subscription.
