Namespaces

Namespaces organize projects in GitLab. Because each namespace is separate, you can use the same project name in multiple namespaces.

When you choose a name for your namespace, keep in mind:

• Naming rules
• Reserved group names

[!note] Namespaces with a period (.) cause issues with SSL certificate validation and the source path when publishing Terraform modules.

Types of namespaces

GitLab has two types of namespaces:

• User: Your personal namespace is based on your username. In a personal namespace:

  • You cannot create subgroups.
  • Groups you belong to do not inherit your personal namespace permissions or features.
  • All the projects you create are under the scope of this namespace.
  • Changes to your username also change project and namespace URLs. Before you change your username, read about repository redirects.

• Group: A group or subgroup namespace is based on the group or subgroup name. In group and subgroup namespaces:

  • You can create multiple subgroups to manage multiple projects.
  • Subgroups inherit some of the parent group settings. You can view these in the subgroup Settings.
  • You can configure settings specifically for each subgroup and project.
  • You can manage the group or subgroup URL independently of the name.

Determine which type of namespace you're in

To determine whether you're in a group or personal namespace, you can view the URL. For example:

Namespace for	URL	Namespace
A user named alex.	https://gitlab.example.com/alex	alex
A group named alex-team.	https://gitlab.example.com/alex-team	alex-team
A group named alex-team with a subgroup named marketing.	https://gitlab.example.com/alex-team/marketing	alex-team/marketing

Determine the namespace ID

The namespace ID is the group ID or project ID. Use the group ID to interact with groups and the project ID to interact with projects.

You can find the group and project ID in the UI:

• Find the group ID.
• Find the project ID.