- Available scopes for personal access tokens
- Get file from repository
- Get file blame from repository
- Get raw file from repository
- Create new file in repository
- Update existing file in repository
- Delete existing file in repository
Repository files API
You can fetch, create, update, and delete files in your repository with this API. You can also configure rate limits for this API.
Available scopes for personal access tokens
The different scopes available using personal access tokens are depicted in the following table.
Scope | Description |
---|---|
api
| Allows read-write access to the repository files. |
read_repository
| Allows read-access to the repository files. |
Get file from repository
The execute_filemode
field in the response was introduced in GitLab 14.10.
Allows you to receive information about file in repository like name, size, and content. File content is Base64 encoded. This endpoint can be accessed without authentication if the repository is publicly accessible.
GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb?ref=master"
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL encoded full path to new file, such as lib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
ref
| string | yes | The name of branch, tag or commit. |
Example response:
{
"file_name": "key.rb",
"file_path": "app/models/key.rb",
"size": 1476,
"encoding": "base64",
"content": "IyA9PSBTY2hlbWEgSW5mb3...",
"content_sha256": "4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481",
"ref": "master",
"blob_id": "79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83",
"commit_id": "d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50",
"last_commit_id": "570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d",
"execute_filemode": false
}
blob_id
is the blob SHA. Refer to Get a blob from repository
in the Repositories API.In addition to the GET
method, you can also use HEAD
to get just file metadata.
HEAD /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb?ref=master"
Example response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
...
X-Gitlab-Blob-Id: 79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83
X-Gitlab-Commit-Id: d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50
X-Gitlab-Content-Sha256: 4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481
X-Gitlab-Encoding: base64
X-Gitlab-File-Name: key.rb
X-Gitlab-File-Path: app/models/key.rb
X-Gitlab-Last-Commit-Id: 570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d
X-Gitlab-Ref: master
X-Gitlab-Size: 1476
X-Gitlab-Execute-Filemode: false
...
Get file blame from repository
Allows you to receive blame information. Each blame range contains lines and corresponding commit information.
GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path/blame
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL-encoded full path to new file, such aslib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
ref
| string | yes | The name of branch, tag or commit. |
range[end]
| integer | yes | The last line of the range to blame. |
range[start]
| integer | yes | The first line of the range to blame. |
range
| hash | no | Blame range. |
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=master"
Example response:
[
{
"commit": {
"id": "d42409d56517157c48bf3bd97d3f75974dde19fb",
"message": "Add feature\n\nalso fix bug\n",
"parent_ids": [
"cc6e14f9328fa6d7b5a0d3c30dc2002a3f2a3822"
],
"authored_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
"author_name": "John Doe",
"author_email": "john.doe@example.com",
"committed_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
"committer_name": "John Doe",
"committer_email": "john.doe@example.com"
},
"lines": [
"require 'fileutils'",
"require 'open3'",
""
]
},
...
]
HEAD
method returns just file metadata, as in Get file from repository.curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=master"
Example response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
...
X-Gitlab-Blob-Id: 79f7bbd25901e8334750839545a9bd021f0e4c83
X-Gitlab-Commit-Id: d5a3ff139356ce33e37e73add446f16869741b50
X-Gitlab-Content-Sha256: 4c294617b60715c1d218e61164a3abd4808a4284cbc30e6728a01ad9aada4481
X-Gitlab-Encoding: base64
X-Gitlab-File-Name: file.rb
X-Gitlab-File-Path: path/to/file.rb
X-Gitlab-Last-Commit-Id: 570e7b2abdd848b95f2f578043fc23bd6f6fd24d
X-Gitlab-Ref: master
X-Gitlab-Size: 1476
X-Gitlab-Execute-Filemode: false
...
Examples
To request a blame range, specify range[start]
and range[end]
parameters with
the starting and ending line numbers of the file.
curl --head --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/path%2Fto%2Ffile.rb/blame?ref=master&range[start]=1&range[end]=2"
Example response:
[
{
"commit": {
"id": "d42409d56517157c48bf3bd97d3f75974dde19fb",
"message": "Add feature\n\nalso fix bug\n",
"parent_ids": [
"cc6e14f9328fa6d7b5a0d3c30dc2002a3f2a3822"
],
"authored_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
"author_name": "John Doe",
"author_email": "john.doe@example.com",
"committed_date": "2015-12-18T08:12:22.000Z",
"committer_name": "John Doe",
"committer_email": "john.doe@example.com"
},
"lines": [
"require 'fileutils'",
"require 'open3'"
]
},
...
]
Get raw file from repository
GET /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path/raw
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL-encoded full path to new file, such as lib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
ref
| string | yes | The name of branch, tag or commit. Default is the HEAD of the project.
|
lfs
| boolean | no | Determines if the response should be Git LFS file contents, rather than the pointer. If the file is not tracked by Git LFS, ignored. Defaults to false .
|
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb/raw?ref=master"
HEAD
to get just file metadata.Create new file in repository
The execute_filemode
parameter was introduced in GitLab 14.10.
Allows you to create a single file. For creating multiple files with a single request, refer to the commits API.
POST /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
branch
| string | yes | Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch. |
commit_message
| string | yes | The commit message. |
content
| string | yes | The file’s content. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL-encoded full path to new file. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
author_email
| string | no | The commit author’s email address. |
author_name
| string | no | The commit author’s name. |
encoding
| string | no | Change encoding to base64 . Default is text .
|
execute_filemode
| boolean | no | Enables or disables the execute flag on the file. Can be true or false .
|
start_branch
| string | no | Name of the base branch to create the new branch from. |
curl --request POST --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{"branch": "master", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
"content": "some content", "commit_message": "create a new file"}' \
"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"
Example response:
{
"file_path": "app/project.rb",
"branch": "master"
}
Update existing file in repository
The execute_filemode
parameter was introduced in GitLab 14.10.
Allows you to update a single file. For updating multiple files with a single request, refer to the commits API.
PUT /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
branch
| string | yes | Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch. |
commit_message
| string | yes | The commit message. |
content
| string | yes | The file’s content. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL-encoded full path to new file. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user |
author_email
| string | no | The commit author’s email address. |
author_name
| string | no | The commit author’s name. |
encoding
| string | no | Change encoding to base64 . Default is text .
|
execute_filemode
| boolean | no | Enables or disables the execute flag on the file. Can be true or false .
|
last_commit_id
| string | no | Last known file commit ID. |
start_branch
| string | no | Name of the base branch to create the new branch from. |
curl --request PUT --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{"branch": "master", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
"content": "some content", "commit_message": "update file"}' \
"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"
Example response:
{
"file_path": "app/project.rb",
"branch": "master"
}
If the commit fails for any reason we return a 400 Bad Request
error with a non-specific
error message. Possible causes for a failed commit include:
- The
file_path
contained/../
(attempted directory traversal). - The commit was empty: new file contents were identical to the current file contents.
- The branch was updated by
git push
while the file edit was in progress.
GitLab Shell has a boolean return code, preventing GitLab from specifying the error.
Delete existing file in repository
This allows you to delete a single file. For deleting multiple files with a single request, refer to the commits API.
DELETE /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
branch
| string | yes | Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch. |
commit_message
| string | yes | The commit message. |
file_path
| string | yes | URL-encoded full path to new file. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb .
|
id
| integer or string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user. |
author_email
| string | no | The commit author’s email address. |
author_name
| string | no | The commit author’s name. |
last_commit_id
| string | no | Last known file commit ID. |
start_branch
| string | no | Name of the base branch to create the new branch from. |
curl --request DELETE --header 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>' \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{"branch": "master", "author_email": "author@example.com", "author_name": "Firstname Lastname",
"commit_message": "delete file"}' \
"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fproject%2Erb"