Runners API

Introduced in GitLab 8.5.

Registration and authentication tokens

There are two tokens to take into account when connecting a runner with GitLab.

Token Description
Registration token Token used to register the runner. It can be obtained through GitLab.
Authentication token Token used to authenticate the runner with the GitLab instance. It is obtained automatically when you register a runner or by the Runner API when you manually register a runner or reset the authentication token.

Here’s an example of how the two tokens are used in runner registration:

  1. You register the runner via the GitLab API using a registration token, and an authentication token is returned.

  2. You use that authentication token and add it to the runner’s configuration file: 

    [[runners]]
  token = "<authentication_token>"

GitLab and the runner are then connected.

List owned runners

Get a list of runners available to the user. 

GET /runners
GET /runners?scope=active
GET /runners?type=project_type
GET /runners?status=online
GET /runners?paused=true
GET /runners?tag_list=tag1,tag2
Attribute Type Required Description
scope string no Deprecated: Use type or status instead. The scope of runners to return, one of: active, paused, online and offline; showing all runners if none provided
type string no The type of runners to return, one of: instance_type, group_type, project_type
status string no The status of runners to return, one of: online, offline, stale, and never_contacted. active and paused are also possible values which were deprecated in GitLab 14.8 and will be removed in GitLab 16.0
paused boolean no Whether to include only runners that are accepting or ignoring new jobs
tag_list string array no A list of runner tags 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners"
note
The active and paused values in the status query parameter were deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. They are replaced by the paused query parameter.
note
The active attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

[
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "test-1-20150125",
        "id": 6,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": false,
        "runner_type": "project_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": true,
        "status": "online"
    },
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "test-2-20150125",
        "id": 8,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": false,
        "runner_type": "group_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": false,
        "status": "offline"
    }
]

List all runners

Get a list of all runners in the GitLab instance (project and shared). Access is restricted to users with administrator access. 

GET /runners/all
GET /runners/all?scope=online
GET /runners/all?type=project_type
GET /runners/all?status=online
GET /runners/all?paused=true
GET /runners/all?tag_list=tag1,tag2
Attribute Type Required Description
scope string no Deprecated: Use type or status instead. The scope of runners to return, one of: specific, shared, active, paused, online and offline; showing all runners if none provided
type string no The type of runners to return, one of: instance_type, group_type, project_type
status string no The status of runners to return, one of: online, offline, stale, and never_contacted. active and paused are also possible values which were deprecated in GitLab 14.8 and will be removed in GitLab 16.0
paused boolean no Whether to include only runners that are accepting or ignoring new jobs
tag_list string array no A list of runner tags 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/all"
note
The active and paused values in the status query parameter were deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. They are replaced by the paused query parameter.
note
The active attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

[
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "shared-runner-1",
        "id": 1,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": true,
        "runner_type": "instance_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": true,
        "status": "online"
    },
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "shared-runner-2",
        "id": 3,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": true,
        "runner_type": "instance_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": false,
        "status": "offline"
    },
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "test-1-20150125",
        "id": 6,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": false,
        "runner_type": "project_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": true,
        "status": "paused"
    },
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "test-2-20150125",
        "id": 8,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": false,
        "runner_type": "group_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": false,
        "status": "offline"
    }
]

To view more than the first 20 runners, use pagination.

Get runner’s details

Get details of a runner.

At least the Maintainer role is required to get runner details at the project and group level.

Instance-level runner details via this endpoint are available to all authenticated users. 

GET /runners/:id
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of a runner 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/6"
note
The token attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 12.10. and removed in GitLab 13.0.
note
The active attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

{
    "active": true,
    "paused": false,
    "architecture": null,
    "description": "test-1-20150125",
    "id": 6,
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "is_shared": false,
    "runner_type": "project_type",
    "contacted_at": "2016-01-25T16:39:48.066Z",
    "name": null,
    "online": true,
    "status": "online",
    "platform": null,
    "projects": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "name": "GitLab Community Edition",
            "name_with_namespace": "GitLab.org / GitLab Community Edition",
            "path": "gitlab-foss",
            "path_with_namespace": "gitlab-org/gitlab-foss"
        }
    ],
    "revision": null,
    "tag_list": [
        "ruby",
        "mysql"
    ],
    "version": null,
    "access_level": "ref_protected",
    "maximum_timeout": 3600
}

Update runner’s details

Update details of a runner. 

PUT /runners/:id
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of a runner
description string no The description of the runner
active boolean no Deprecated: Use paused instead. Flag indicating whether the runner is allowed to receive jobs
paused boolean no Specifies whether the runner should ignore new jobs
tag_list array no The list of tags for the runner
run_untagged boolean no Specifies whether the runner can execute untagged jobs
locked boolean no Specifies whether the runner is locked
access_level string no The access level of the runner; not_protected or ref_protected
maximum_timeout integer no Maximum timeout that limits the amount of time (in seconds) that runners can run jobs 
curl --request PUT --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/6" \
     --form "description=test-1-20150125-test" --form "tag_list=ruby,mysql,tag1,tag2"
note
The token attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 12.10. and removed in GitLab 13.0.
note
The active query parameter was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

{
    "active": true,
    "architecture": null,
    "description": "test-1-20150125-test",
    "id": 6,
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "is_shared": false,
    "runner_type": "group_type",
    "contacted_at": "2016-01-25T16:39:48.066Z",
    "name": null,
    "online": true,
    "status": "online",
    "platform": null,
    "projects": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "name": "GitLab Community Edition",
            "name_with_namespace": "GitLab.org / GitLab Community Edition",
            "path": "gitlab-foss",
            "path_with_namespace": "gitlab-org/gitlab-foss"
        }
    ],
    "revision": null,
    "tag_list": [
        "ruby",
        "mysql",
        "tag1",
        "tag2"
    ],
    "version": null,
    "access_level": "ref_protected",
    "maximum_timeout": null
}

Pause a runner

Pause a runner. 

PUT --form "paused=true" /runners/:runner_id

# --or--

# Deprecated: removal planned in 16.0
PUT --form "active=false" /runners/:runner_id
Attribute Type Required Description
runner_id integer yes The ID of a runner 
curl --request PUT --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     --form "paused=true"  "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/6"

# --or--

# Deprecated: removal planned in 16.0
curl --request PUT --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     --form "active=false"  "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/6"
note
The active form attribute was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

List runner’s jobs

Introduced in GitLab 10.3.

List jobs that are being processed or were processed by the specified runner. The list of jobs is limited to projects where the user has at least the Reporter role. 

GET /runners/:id/jobs
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of a runner
status string no Status of the job; one of: running, success, failed, canceled
order_by string no Order jobs by id
sort string no Sort jobs in asc or desc order (default: desc). Specify order_by as well, including for id. 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/1/jobs?status=running"

Example response: 

[
    {
        "id": 2,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "status": "running",
        "stage": "test",
        "name": "test",
        "ref": "master",
        "tag": false,
        "coverage": null,
        "created_at": "2017-11-16T08:50:29.000Z",
        "started_at": "2017-11-16T08:51:29.000Z",
        "finished_at": "2017-11-16T08:53:29.000Z",
        "duration": 120,
        "user": {
            "id": 1,
            "name": "John Doe2",
            "username": "user2",
            "state": "active",
            "avatar_url": "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/c922747a93b40d1ea88262bf1aebee62?s=80&d=identicon",
            "web_url": "http://localhost/user2",
            "created_at": "2017-11-16T18:38:46.000Z",
            "bio": null,
            "location": null,
            "public_email": "",
            "skype": "",
            "linkedin": "",
            "twitter": "",
            "website_url": "",
            "organization": null
        },
        "commit": {
            "id": "97de212e80737a608d939f648d959671fb0a0142",
            "short_id": "97de212e",
            "title": "Update configuration\r",
            "created_at": "2017-11-16T08:50:28.000Z",
            "parent_ids": [
                "1b12f15a11fc6e62177bef08f47bc7b5ce50b141",
                "498214de67004b1da3d820901307bed2a68a8ef6"
            ],
            "message": "See merge request !123",
            "author_name": "John Doe2",
            "author_email": "user2@example.org",
            "authored_date": "2017-11-16T08:50:27.000Z",
            "committer_name": "John Doe2",
            "committer_email": "user2@example.org",
            "committed_date": "2017-11-16T08:50:27.000Z"
        },
        "pipeline": {
            "id": 2,
            "sha": "97de212e80737a608d939f648d959671fb0a0142",
            "ref": "master",
            "status": "running"
        },
        "project": {
            "id": 1,
            "description": null,
            "name": "project1",
            "name_with_namespace": "John Doe2 / project1",
            "path": "project1",
            "path_with_namespace": "namespace1/project1",
            "created_at": "2017-11-16T18:38:46.620Z"
        }
    }
]

List project’s runners

List all runners available in the project, including from ancestor groups and any allowed shared runners. 

GET /projects/:id/runners
GET /projects/:id/runners?scope=active
GET /projects/:id/runners?type=project_type
GET /projects/:id/runners/all?status=online
GET /projects/:id/runners/all?paused=true
GET /projects/:id/runners?tag_list=tag1,tag2
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user
scope string no Deprecated: Use type or status instead. The scope of runners to return, one of: active, paused, online and offline; showing all runners if none provided
type string no The type of runners to return, one of: instance_type, group_type, project_type
status string no The status of runners to return, one of: online, offline, stale, and never_contacted. active and paused are also possible values which were deprecated in GitLab 14.8 and will be removed in GitLab 16.0
paused boolean no Whether to include only runners that are accepting or ignoring new jobs
tag_list string array no A list of runner tags 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/9/runners"
note
The active and paused values in the status query parameter were deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. They are replaced by the paused query parameter.
note
The active attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

[
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "test-2-20150125",
        "id": 8,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": false,
        "runner_type": "project_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": false,
        "status": "offline"
    },
    {
        "active": true,
        "paused": false,
        "description": "development_runner",
        "id": 5,
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "is_shared": true,
        "runner_type": "instance_type",
        "name": null,
        "online": true,
        "status": "online"
    }
]

Enable a runner in project

Enable an available project runner in the project. 

POST /projects/:id/runners
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user
runner_id integer yes The ID of a runner 
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/9/runners" \
     --form "runner_id=9"

Example response: 

{
    "active": true,
    "description": "test-2016-02-01",
    "id": 9,
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "is_shared": false,
    "runner_type": "project_type",
    "name": null,
    "online": true,
    "status": "online"
}

Disable a runner from project

Disable a project runner from the project. It works only if the project isn’t the only project associated with the specified runner. If so, an error is returned. Use the call to delete a runner instead. 

DELETE /projects/:id/runners/:runner_id
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user
runner_id integer yes The ID of a runner 
curl --request DELETE --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/9/runners/9"

List group’s runners

List all runners available in the group as well as its ancestor groups, including any allowed shared runners. 

GET /groups/:id/runners
GET /groups/:id/runners?type=group_type
GET /groups/:id/runners/all?status=online
GET /groups/:id/runners/all?paused=true
GET /groups/:id/runners?tag_list=tag1,tag2
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of the group owned by the authenticated user
type string no The type of runners to return, one of: instance_type, group_type, project_type. The project_type value is deprecated and will be removed in GitLab 15.0
status string no The status of runners to return, one of: online, offline, stale, and never_contacted. active and paused are also possible values which were deprecated in GitLab 14.8 and will be removed in GitLab 16.0
paused boolean no Whether to include only runners that are accepting or ignoring new jobs
tag_list string array no A list of runner tags 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/groups/9/runners"
note
The active and paused values in the status query parameter were deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. They are replaced by the paused query parameter.
note
The active attribute in the response was deprecated in GitLab 14.8. and will be removed in GitLab 16.0. It is replaced by the paused attribute.

Example response: 

[
  {
    "id": 3,
    "description": "Shared",
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "active": true,
    "paused": false,
    "is_shared": true,
    "runner_type": "instance_type",
    "name": "gitlab-runner",
    "online": null,
    "status": "never_contacted"
  },
  {
    "id": 6,
    "description": "Test",
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "active": true,
    "paused": false,
    "is_shared": true,
    "runner_type": "instance_type",
    "name": "gitlab-runner",
    "online": false,
    "status": "offline"
  },
  {
    "id": 8,
    "description": "Test 2",
    "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
    "active": true,
    "paused": false,
    "is_shared": false,
    "runner_type": "group_type",
    "name": "gitlab-runner",
    "online": null,
    "status": "never_contacted"
  }
]

Register a new runner

Register a new runner for the instance. 

POST /runners
Attribute Type Required Description
token string yes Registration token
description string no Runner’s description
info hash no Runner’s metadata. You can include name, version, revision, platform, and architecture, but only version, platform, and architecture are displayed in the Admin Area of the UI
active boolean no Deprecated: Use paused instead. Specifies whether the runner is allowed to receive new jobs
paused boolean no Specifies whether the runner should ignore new jobs
locked boolean no Specifies whether the runner should be locked for the current project
run_untagged boolean no Specifies whether the runner should handle untagged jobs
tag_list string array no A list of runner tags
access_level string no The access level of the runner; not_protected or ref_protected
maximum_timeout integer no Maximum timeout that limits the amount of time (in seconds) that runners can run jobs
maintainer_note string no Deprecated, see maintenance_note
maintenance_note string no Free-form maintenance notes for the runner (1024 characters) 
curl --request POST "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners" \
     --form "token=<registration_token>" --form "description=test-1-20150125-test" \
     --form "tag_list=ruby,mysql,tag1,tag2"

Response:

Status Description
201 Runner was created

Example response: 

{
    "id": 12345,
    "token": "6337ff461c94fd3fa32ba3b1ff4125",
    "token_expires_at": "2021-09-27T21:05:03.203Z"
}

Delete a runner

There are two ways to delete a runner:

  • By specifying the runner ID.
  • By specifying the runner’s authentication token.

Delete a runner by ID

To delete the runner by ID, use your access token with the runner’s ID: 

DELETE /runners/:id
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of a runner. The ID is visible in the UI under Settings > CI/CD. Expand Runners, and below the Remove Runner button is an ID preceded by the pound sign, for example, #6. 
curl --request DELETE --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/6"

Delete a runner by authentication token

To delete the runner by using its authentication token: 

DELETE /runners
Attribute Type Required Description
token string yes The runner’s authentication token. 
curl --request DELETE "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners" \
     --form "token=<authentication_token>"

Response:

Status Description
204 Runner was deleted

Verify authentication for a registered runner

Validates authentication credentials for a registered runner. 

POST /runners/verify
Attribute Type Required Description
token string yes The runner’s authentication token. 
curl --request POST "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/verify" \
     --form "token=<authentication_token>"

Response:

Status Description
200 Credentials are valid
403 Credentials are invalid

Reset instance’s runner registration token

Version history
caution
This feature was deprecated in GitLab 15.7 and is planned for removal in 17.0. This change is a breaking change.

Reset the runner registration token for the GitLab instance. 

POST /runners/reset_registration_token

curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/reset_registration_token"

Reset project’s runner registration token

Version history
caution
This feature was deprecated in GitLab 15.7 and is planned for removal in 16.0. This change is a breaking change.

Reset the runner registration token for a project. 

POST /projects/:id/runners/reset_registration_token

curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/9/runners/reset_registration_token"

Reset group’s runner registration token

Version history
caution
This feature was deprecated in GitLab 15.7 and is planned for removal in 16.0. This change is a breaking change.

Reset the runner registration token for a group. 

POST /groups/:id/runners/reset_registration_token

curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/groups/9/runners/reset_registration_token"

Reset runner’s authentication token by using the runner ID

Reset the runner’s authentication token by using its runner ID. 

POST /runners/:id/reset_authentication_token
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer yes The ID of a runner 
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/1/reset_authentication_token"

Example response: 

{
    "token": "6337ff461c94fd3fa32ba3b1ff4125",
    "token_expires_at": "2021-09-27T21:05:03.203Z"
}

Reset runner’s authentication token by using the current token

Reset the runner’s authentication token by using the current token’s value as an input. 

POST /runners/reset_authentication_token
Attribute Type Required Description
token string yes The authentication token of the runner 
curl --request POST --form "token=<current token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/runners/reset_authentication_token"

Example response: 

{
    "token": "6337ff461c94fd3fa32ba3b1ff4125",
    "token_expires_at": "2021-09-27T21:05:03.203Z"
}