The GitLab
/ Gauntlet
Primer.

The push response is the one place GitLab does something distinctive — it hands you back a URL to open a Merge Request immediately. Hold onto that URL. We’ll use it next.

Tutorial → docs.gitlab.com / Create a merge request

# identity — shows up on every commit you make
git config --global user.name  "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@gauntletai.com"

# the magic line — cache credentials on disk after first login
git config --global credential.helper store

# clone any project over HTTPS
git clone https://labs.gauntletai.com/<group>/<project>.git

# git prompts you exactly once:
#   Username for 'https://labs.gauntletai.com': your-gitlab-username
#   Password for 'https://...':                 <paste your PAT here>

# from now on: no prompts, ever. credentials live in ~/.git-credentials
git pull
git push

Full guides → docs.gitlab.com / Personal Access Tokens  ·  git-scm.com / gitcredentials

Full docs → docs.gitlab.com / Get started with GitLab CI/CD

A Jest test job, out of the box, on a small runner. It starts out OOM-killed. Change the dials until it fits and finishes fast. The YAML underneath updates as you go.

When a job is long or memory-hungry, the fix is almost never “get a bigger runner.” Break it into small jobs that each fit comfortably, and let GitLab run them side by side.

Full docs → docs.gitlab.com / Pipeline efficiency  ·  docs.gitlab.com / parallel

Four jobs from one pipeline. Grey is image + tool setup, amber is installing dependencies, and green is the work you actually wanted done. Flip the two switches and watch the grey and amber shrink.

# tools only. no app code, no node_modules
FROM node:20-slim
RUN apt-get update \
 && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git ca-certificates curl jq \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*          # keep the layer small

ci-image:
  stage: .pre                       # built-in, always first
  image: docker:27
  services: [docker:27-dind]       # needs a privileged runner
  variables:
    DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: "/certs"
  script:
    - echo "$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD" | docker login -u "$CI_REGISTRY_USER" --password-stdin "$CI_REGISTRY"
    - docker build -f Dockerfile.ci -t "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci:latest" .
    - docker push "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci:latest"
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
      changes: [Dockerfile.ci]

default:
  image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/ci:latest

install:
  stage: install
  script:
    - npm ci --cache .npm --prefer-offline
  cache:                          # speeds up THIS job
    key:
      files: [package-lock.json]
    paths: [.npm/]
  artifacts:                      # hands deps to later jobs
    paths: [node_modules/]
    expire_in: 1 hour              # don't fill the server disk

test:
  stage: test
  needs: [install]                 # downloads node_modules/
  script:
    - npx jest --maxWorkers=2

Full docs → Caching  ·  workflow:rules  ·  Registry cleanup

// Times and memory are illustrative estimates for a typical mid-size project. The YAML is real: copy it, then swap in your own paths and commands.

Full docs → CI/CD YAML reference  ·  needs (DAG pipelines)