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
read_repository Allows read-access to the repository files.
api Allows read-write access to the repository files.

Get file from repository

The execute_filemode field in the response was

Allows you to receive information about file in repository like name, size, 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. Ex. 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
}

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. Ex. lib%2Fclass%2Erb.
ref string yes The name of branch, tag or commit 
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'",
      ""
    ]
  },
  ...
]
note
HEAD method return 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
...

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. Ex. lib%2Fclass%2Erb.
ref string yes The name of branch, tag or commit. Default is the HEAD of the project. 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/13083/repository/files/app%2Fmodels%2Fkey%2Erb/raw?ref=master"
note
Like Get file from repository you can use HEAD to get just file metadata.

Create new file in repository

The execute_filemode parameter was

This allows you to create a single file. For creating multiple files with a single request see the commits API. 

POST /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
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. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb.
branch string yes Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
start_branch string no Name of the base branch to create the new branch from.
encoding string no Change encoding to base64. Default is text.
author_email string no The commit author’s email address.
author_name string no The commit author’s name.
content string yes The file’s content.
commit_message string yes The commit message.
execute_filemode boolean no Enables or disables the execute flag on the file. Can be true or false. 
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

This allows you to update a single file. For updating multiple files with a single request see the commits API. 

PUT /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
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. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb.
branch string yes Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
start_branch string no Name of the base branch to create the new branch from.
encoding string no Change encoding to base64. Default is text.
author_email string no The commit author’s email address.
author_name string no The commit author’s name.
content string yes The file’s content.
commit_message string yes The commit message.
last_commit_id string no Last known file commit ID.
execute_filemode boolean no Enables or disables the execute flag on the file. Can be true or false. 
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 error with a non-specific error message. Possible causes for a failed commit include:

  • the file_path contained /../ (attempted directory traversal);
  • the new file contents were identical to the current file contents. That is, the user tried to make an empty commit;
  • the branch was updated by a 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, see the commits API. 

DELETE /projects/:id/repository/files/:file_path
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. For example: lib%2Fclass%2Erb.
branch string yes Name of the new branch to create. The commit is added to this branch.
start_branch string no Name of the base branch to create the new branch from.
author_email string no The commit author’s email address.
author_name string no The commit author’s name.
commit_message string yes The commit message.
last_commit_id string no Last known file commit ID. 
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"