# Getting started with the API

python-gitlab supports both GitLab v3 and v4 APIs.

v3 being deprecated by GitLab, its support in python-gitlab will be minimal. The development team will focus on v4.

v4 is the default API used by python-gitlab since version 1.3.0.

## `gitlab.Gitlab` class

To connect to a GitLab server, create a `gitlab.Gitlab` object:

    import gitlab

    # private token or personal token authentication
    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', private_token='JVNSESs8EwWRx5yDxM5q')

    # oauth token authentication
    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', oauth_token='my_long_token_here')

    # username/password authentication (for GitLab << 10.2)
    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', email='jdoe', password='s3cr3t')

    # anonymous gitlab instance, read-only for public resources
    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1')

    # make an API request to create the gl.user object. This is mandatory if you
    # use the username/password authentication.
    gl.auth()

You can also use configuration files to create `gitlab.Gitlab` objects:

    gl = gitlab.Gitlab.from_config('somewhere', ['/tmp/gl.cfg'])

See the Configuration section for more information about configuration files.

### Note on password authentication

The `/session` API endpoint used for username/password authentication has been removed from GitLab in version 10.2, and is not available on gitlab.com anymore. Personal token authentication is the prefered authentication method.

If you need username/password authentication, you can use cookie-based authentication. You can use the web UI form to authenticate, retrieve cookies, and then use a custom `requests.Session` object to connect to the GitLab API. The following code snippet demonstrates how to automate this: https://gist.github.com/gpocentek/bd4c3fbf8a6ce226ebddc4aad6b46c0a.

See issue 380 for a detailed discussion.

## API version

`python-gitlab` uses the v4 GitLab API by default. Use the `api_version` parameter to switch to v3:

    import gitlab

    gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', 'JVNSESs8EwWRx5yDxM5q', api_version=3)

Warning

The python-gitlab API is not the same for v3 and v4. Make sure to read Switching to GitLab API v4 if you are upgrading from v3.

## Managers

The `gitlab.Gitlab` class provides managers to access the GitLab resources. Each manager provides a set of methods to act on the resources. The available methods depend on the resource type.

Examples:

    # list all the projects
    projects = gl.projects.list()
    for project in projects:
        print(project)

    # get the group with id == 2
    group = gl.groups.get(2)
    for group in groups:
        print()

    # create a new user
    user_data = {'email': 'jen@foo.com', 'username': 'jen', 'name': 'Jen'}
    user = gl.users.create(user_data)
    print(user)

You can list the mandatory and optional attributes for object creation with the manager’s `get_create_attrs()` method. It returns 2 tuples, the first one is the list of mandatory attributes, the second one the list of optional attribute:

    # v4 only
    print(gl.projects.get_create_attrs())
    (('name',), ('path', 'namespace_id', ...))

The attributes of objects are defined upon object creation, and depend on the GitLab API itself. To list the available information associated with an object use the python introspection tools for v3, or the `attributes` attribute for v4:

    project = gl.projects.get(1)

    # v3
    print(vars(project))
    # or
    print(project.__dict__)

    # v4
    print(project.attributes)

Some objects also provide managers to access related GitLab resources:

    # list the issues for a project
    project = gl.projects.get(1)
    issues = project.issues.list()

## Gitlab Objects

You can update or delete a remote object when it exists locally:

    # update the attributes of a resource
    project = gl.projects.get(1)
    project.wall_enabled = False
    # don't forget to apply your changes on the server:
    project.save()

    # delete the resource
    project.delete()

Some classes provide additional methods, allowing more actions on the GitLab resources. For example:

    # star a git repository
    project = gl.projects.get(1)
    project.star()

## Base types

The `gitlab` package provides some base types.

- `gitlab.Gitlab` is the primary class, handling the HTTP requests. It holds the GitLab URL and authentication information.

For v4 the following types are defined:

- `gitlab.base.RESTObject` is the base class for all the GitLab v4 objects. These objects provide an abstraction for GitLab resources (projects, groups, and so on).
- `gitlab.base.RESTManager` is the base class for v4 objects managers, providing the API to manipulate the resources and their attributes.

For v3 the following types are defined:

- `gitlab.base.GitlabObject` is the base class for all the GitLab v3 objects. These objects provide an abstraction for GitLab resources (projects, groups, and so on).
- `gitlab.base.BaseManager` is the base class for v3 objects managers, providing the API to manipulate the resources and their attributes.

## Lazy objects (v4 only)

To avoid useless calls to the server API, you can create lazy objects. These objects are created locally using a known ID, and give access to other managers and methods.

The following exemple will only make one API call to the GitLab server to star a project:

    # star a git repository
    project = gl.projects.get(1, lazy=True)  # no API call
    project.star()  # API call

## Pagination

You can use pagination to iterate over long lists. All the Gitlab objects listing methods support the `page` and `per_page` parameters:

    ten_first_groups = gl.groups.list(page=1, per_page=10)

Note

The first page is page 1, not page 0, except for project commits in v3 API.

By default GitLab does not return the complete list of items. Use the `all` parameter to get all the items when using listing methods:

    all_groups = gl.groups.list(all=True)
    all_owned_projects = gl.projects.owned(all=True)

Warning

python-gitlab will iterate over the list by calling the corresponding API multiple times. This might take some time if you have a lot of items to retrieve. This might also consume a lot of memory as all the items will be stored in RAM. If you’re encountering the python recursion limit exception, use `safe_all=True` instead to stop pagination automatically if the recursion limit is hit.

With v4, `list()` methods can also return a generator object which will handle the next calls to the API when required:

    items = gl.groups.list(as_list=False)
    for item in items:
        print(item.attributes)

The generator exposes extra listing information as received by the server:

- `current_page`: current page number (first page is 1)
- `prev_page`: if `None` the current page is the first one
- `next_page`: if `None` the current page is the last one
- `per_page`: number of items per page
- `total_pages`: total number of pages available
- `total`: total number of items in the list

## Sudo

If you have the administrator status, you can use `sudo` to act as another user. For example:

    p = gl.projects.create({'name': 'awesome_project'}, sudo='user1')

## Advanced HTTP configuration

python-gitlab relies on `requests` `Session` objects to perform all the HTTP requests to the Gitlab servers.

You can provide your own `Session` object with custom configuration when you create a `Gitlab` object.

### Context manager

You can use `Gitlab` objects as context managers. This makes sure that the `requests.Session` object associated with a `Gitlab` instance is always properly closed when you exit a `with` block:

    with gitlab.Gitlab(host, token) as gl:
        gl.projects.list()

Warning

The context manager will also close the custom `Session` object you might have used to build a `Gitlab` instance.

### Proxy configuration

The following sample illustrates how to define a proxy configuration when using python-gitlab:

    import gitlab
    import requests

    session = requests.Session()
    session.proxies = {
        'https': os.environ.get('https_proxy'),
        'http': os.environ.get('http_proxy'),
    }
    gl = gitlab.gitlab(url, token, api_version=4, session=session)

Reference: http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#proxies

### Client side certificate

The following sample illustrates how to use a client-side certificate:

    import gitlab
    import requests

    session = requests.Session()
    s.cert = ('/path/to/client.cert', '/path/to/client.key')
    gl = gitlab.gitlab(url, token, api_version=4, session=session)

Reference: http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#client-side-certificates