Project-level CI/CD variables API

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

Version history

Introduced filter in GitLab 16.9.

Use this API to interact with CI/CD variables for a project.

List project variables

Get list of a project's variables. Use the page and per_page pagination parameters to control the pagination of results.

GET /projects/:id/variables

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project

Example request:

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/variables"

Example response:

[
    {
        "variable_type": "env_var",
        "key": "TEST_VARIABLE_1",
        "value": "TEST_1",
        "protected": false,
        "masked": true,
        "hidden": false,
        "raw": false,
        "environment_scope": "*",
        "description": null
    },
    {
        "variable_type": "env_var",
        "key": "TEST_VARIABLE_2",
        "value": "TEST_2",
        "protected": false,
        "masked": false,
        "hidden": false,
        "raw": false,
        "environment_scope": "*",
        "description": null
    }
]

Get a single variable

Get the details of a single variable. If there are multiple variables with the same key, use filter to select the correct environment_scope.

GET /projects/:id/variables/:key

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`key`	string	Yes	Key of a variable.
`filter`	hash	No	Filters results when multiple variables share the same key. Possible values: `[environment_scope]`. Premium and Ultimate only.

Example request:

curl --request PUT \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/variables/SCOPED_VARIABLE_1?filter[environment_scope]=production"

Example response:

{
    "key": "TEST_VARIABLE_1",
    "variable_type": "env_var",
    "value": "TEST_1",
    "protected": false,
    "masked": true,
    "hidden": false,
    "raw": false,
    "environment_scope": "*",
    "description": null
}

Create a variable

Version history

masked_and_hidden and hidden attributes introduced in GitLab 17.4.

Create a new variable. If a variable with the same key already exists, the new variable must have a different environment_scope. Otherwise, GitLab returns a message similar to: VARIABLE_NAME has already been taken.

POST /projects/:id/variables

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project
`key`	string	Yes	The `key` of a variable; must have no more than 255 characters; only `A-Z`, `a-z`, `0-9`, and `_` are allowed
`value`	string	Yes	The `value` of a variable
`description`	string	No	The description of the variable. Default: `null`. Introduced in GitLab 16.2.
`environment_scope`	string	No	The `environment_scope` of the variable. Default: `*`
`masked`	boolean	No	Whether the variable is masked. Default: `false`
`masked_and_hidden`	boolean	No	Whether the variable is masked and hidden. Default: `false`
`protected`	boolean	No	Whether the variable is protected. Default: `false`
`raw`	boolean	No	Whether the variable is treated as a raw string. Default: `true`. When `false`, variables in the value are expanded.
`variable_type`	string	No	The type of a variable. Available types are: `env_var` (default) and `file`

Example request:

curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/variables" --form "key=NEW_VARIABLE" --form "value=new value"

Example response:

{
    "variable_type": "env_var",
    "key": "NEW_VARIABLE",
    "value": "new value",
    "protected": false,
    "masked": false,
    "hidden": false,
    "raw": false,
    "environment_scope": "*",
    "description": null
}

Update a variable

Update a project's variable. If there are multiple variables with the same key, use filter to select the correct environment_scope.

PUT /projects/:id/variables/:key

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`key`	string	Yes	Key of a variable.
`value`	string	Yes	Value of a variable.
`description`	string	No	Description of the variable. Introduced in GitLab 16.2. Default: `null`.
`environment_scope`	string	No	Environment scope of the variable.
`filter`	hash	No	Filters results when multiple variables share the same key. Possible values: `[environment_scope]`. Premium and Ultimate only.
`masked`	boolean	No	If `true`, indicates the variable is masked.
`protected`	boolean	No	If `true`, indicates the variable is protected.
`raw`	boolean	No	If `true`, indicates the variable is treated as a raw string. When `false`, the variable value is expanded. Default: `true`.
`variable_type`	string	No	Type of a variable. Available types are: `env_var` (default) and `file`.

Example request:

curl --request PUT \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/variables/SCOPED_VARIABLE_1?value=scoped-variable-updated-value&environment_scope=production&filter[environment_scope]=production"

Example response:

{
    "variable_type": "env_var",
    "key": "NEW_VARIABLE",
    "value": "updated value",
    "protected": true,
    "masked": false,
    "hidden": false,
    "raw": false,
    "environment_scope": "*",
    "description": "null"
}

Delete a variable

Delete a project's variable. If there are multiple variables with the same key, use filter to select the correct environment_scope.

DELETE /projects/:id/variables/:key

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	Yes	ID or URL-encoded path of the project.
`key`	string	Yes	Key of a variable.
`filter`	hash	No	Filters results when multiple variables share the same key. Possible values: `[environment_scope]`. Premium and Ultimate only.

Example request:

curl --request DELETE \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>"
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/variables/SCOPED_VARIABLE_1?filter[environment_scope]=production"