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User account

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{{< details >}}

  • Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
  • Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

{{< /details >}}

Each GitLab account has a user profile, which contains information about you and your GitLab activity.

Your profile also includes settings, which you use to customize your GitLab experience.

Access your user profile

{{< history >}}

  • Accessing the profile with the user ID was introduced in GitLab 17.11.

{{< /history >}}

To access your profile:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select your name or username.

You can also access a users' profile page by using the ID instead of the username at https://gitlab.example.com/-/u/<id>. For example, if your username is gitlab-user has an ID 12345, you can access the profile page either at https://gitlab.example.com/gitlab-user or https://gitlab.example.com/-/u/12345.

Find the user ID

You might need the user ID if you want to interact with it using the GitLab API.

To find the user ID:

  1. Go to the users' profile page.
  2. On the profile page, in the upper-right corner, select Actions ({{< icon name="ellipsis_v" >}}).
  3. Select Copy user ID.

Access your user settings

To access your user settings:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.

Generate or change your Support PIN

GitLab Support may ask for a personal identification number (PIN) to validate your identity. The PIN expires seven days after creation.

To generate a new Support PIN:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Account.
  4. Select Generate New PIN.

Access your Support PIN

If you've created a Support PIN previously, the PIN is accessible in your profile and expires seven days after creation.

To access your Support PIN:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Account.

Change your username

Your username has a unique namespace, which is updated when you change your username. Before you change your username, read about how redirects behave. If you do not want to update the namespace, you can create a new user or group and transfer projects to it instead.

Prerequisites:

  • Your namespace must not:
  • Your username:
    • Must be between 2 and 255 characters in length.
    • Must only include non-accented letters, digits, _, -, and ..
    • Must not:
      • Start with _, -, or ..
      • Contain emoji.
      • End with . or .<reserved file extension>, for example jon.png, jon.git or jon.atom. However, jonpng is valid.

To change your username:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Account.
  4. In the Change username section, enter a new username as the path.
  5. Select Update username.

Add emails to your user profile

To add a new email address to your account:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Emails.
  4. Select Add new email.
  5. In the Email text box, enter the new email.
  6. Select Add email address.
  7. Verify your email address with the verification email received.

The new email address is added as a secondary email address. You can use secondary email addresses to reset passwords but not to authenticate. You can update your primary email address.

[!note] Making your email non-public does not prevent it from being used for commit matching and group and project imports.

Delete email addresses from your user profile

{{< history >}}

  • Automatic deletion of unverified secondary email addresses introduced in GitLab 17.0.

{{< /history >}}

You can delete a secondary email address from your account. You cannot delete your primary email address.

If the deleted email address is used for any user emails, those user emails are sent to the primary email address instead.

Unverified secondary email addresses are automatically deleted after three days.

[!note] Because of issue 438600, group notifications are still sent to the deleted email address.

To delete an email address from your account:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Emails.
  4. Select Delete ({{< icon name="remove" >}}) and confirm you want to Remove.

You can also use the API to delete a secondary email address.

Make your user profile page private

You can make your user profile visible to only you and GitLab administrators.

[!note] A GitLab administrator can disable this setting, forcing all profiles to be made public.

To make your profile private:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. Select the Private profile checkbox.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

The following is hidden from your user profile page (https://gitlab.example.com/username):

  • Atom feed
  • Date when account was created
  • Tabs for activity, groups, contributed projects, personal projects, starred projects, snippets

[!note] Making your user profile page private does not hide all your public resources from the REST or GraphQL APIs. For example, the email address associated with your commit signature is accessible unless you use an automatically-generated private commit email.

User visibility

The public page of a user, located at /username, is always visible whether you are signed-in or not.

When visiting the public page of a user, you can only see the projects which you have privileges to.

If the public level is restricted, user profiles are only visible to authenticated users.

Add details to your profile with a README

You can add more information to your profile page with a README file. When you populate the README file with information, it's included on your profile page.

From a new project

To create a new project and add its README to your profile:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Create new ({{< icon name="plus" >}}) and New project/repository.
  2. Select Create blank project.
  3. Enter the project details:
    • In the Project name field, enter the name for your new project.
    • In the Project URL field, select your GitLab username.
    • In the Project slug field, enter your GitLab username. All of these fields are case-sensitive. If your username has capital letters, enter it into the project slug field with the capitals included.
  4. For Visibility Level, select Public.
  5. For Project Configuration, ensure Initialize repository with a README is selected.
  6. Select Create project.
  7. Create a README file inside this project. The file can be any valid README or index file.
  8. Populate the README file with Markdown, or another supported markup language.

GitLab displays the contents of your README below your contribution graph.

From an existing project

To add the README from an existing project to your profile, update the path of the project to match your username.

Add external accounts to your user profile page

You can add links to certain other external accounts you might have, like Discord and X (formerly Twitter). They can help other users connect with you on other platforms.

To add links to other accounts:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.

  2. Select Edit profile.

  3. In the Main settings section, add your:

    Your user ID or username must be 500 characters or less.

  4. Select Update profile settings.

Add a Mastodon handle

{{< history >}}

  • Mastodon user account introduced in GitLab 16.6 with a flag named mastodon_social_ui. Disabled by default.
  • Mastodon user account generally available in GitLab 16.7. Feature flag mastodon_social_ui removed.
  • Ability to verify Mastodon account using your GitLab user profile added in GitLab 17.4 with a flag named verify_mastodon_user. Disabled by default.
  • Ability to verify Mastodon account using your GitLab user profile generally available in GitLab 18.8. Feature flag verify_mastodon_user removed.

{{< /history >}}

To add a Mastodon handle:

  1. Add Mastodon handle to your GitLab profile.
    1. Sign in to GitLab.
    2. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
    3. Select Edit profile.
    4. In the Social accounts section, go to Mastodon and enter your handle. For example: @alex.garcia@exampleServer.
    5. Select Update profile settings.
  2. Get the verification URI.
    1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
    2. Select your name or username.
    3. On the right side, select your Mastodon handle.
    4. Copy the URI from the page that opens.
  3. Add verification to Mastodon.
    1. Go to your Mastodon profile settings.
    2. In the Extra fields section, enter the URI from earlier.
    3. Save your Mastodon profile changes.

Verify that a green checkmark is displayed next to your GitLab site's extra field in Mastodon. If a green checkmark is not displayed, you may need to perform additional troubleshooting.

Show private contributions on your user profile page

In the user contribution calendar graph and recent activity list, you can see your contribution actions to private projects.

To show private contributions:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Main settings section, select the Include private contributions on my profile checkbox.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Add your gender pronouns

You can add your gender pronouns to your GitLab account to be displayed next to your name in your profile.

To specify your pronouns:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Pronouns text box, enter your pronouns. The text must be 50 characters or less.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Add your name pronunciation

You can add your name pronunciation to your GitLab account. This is displayed in your profile, below your name.

To add your name pronunciation:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Pronunciation text box, enter how your name is pronounced. The pronunciation must be plain text and 255 characters or less.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Set your status

Set your status to let others know your availability. Others can see your status when they hover over your avatar, name, or username. Your status is publicly visible even if you've made your user profile page private.

Your status consists of the following elements. You can use each separately to indicate your status.

  • An emoji to indicate your status.
  • A message that describes your availability. You can include emoji codes like :palm_tree: or :bulb:. Maximum of 100 characters.
  • A checkbox that adds a Busy badge to your status.

To set your current status:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Set status. If you've previously set a status, select Edit status instead.
  3. Optional. Enter a status message.
  4. Optional. Select the Set yourself as busy checkbox.
  5. Optional. Select a value from the Clear status after dropdown list.
  6. Select Set status.

Your status is updated. You can also set your status from the user settings page or with the Users API.

Set your time zone

You can set your local time zone to:

  • Display your local time on your profile, and in places where hovering over your name shows information about you.
  • Align your contribution calendar with your local time to better reflect when your contributions were made

To set your time zone:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Time settings section, select your time zone from the dropdown list.

Change the email displayed on your commits

A commit email is an email address displayed in every Git-related action carried out through the GitLab interface.

Any of your own verified email addresses can be used as the commit email. Your primary email is used by default.

To change your commit email:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Commit email dropdown list, select an email address.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Change your primary email

Your primary email is the default email address for your login, commit email, and notification email. If your primary email changes, your original primary email is added as a secondary email. This feature allows commits made with your original primary email to remain associated with your account.

To change your primary email:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Email field, enter your new email address.
  4. Select Update profile settings.
  5. Optional. Select the confirmation email if you have not previously added this email to your GitLab.com account.

Set your public email

You can select one of your configured email addresses to be displayed on your public profile:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Public email field, select one of the available email addresses.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Use an automatically-generated private commit email

GitLab provides an automatically-generated private commit email address, so you can keep your email information private.

To use a private commit email:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the Commit email dropdown list, select Use a private email.
  4. Select Update profile settings.

Every Git-related action uses the private commit email.

To stay fully anonymous, you can also copy the private commit email and configure it on your local machine by using the following command:

shell
git config --global user.email <your email address>

Follow users

You can follow or unfollow users from either:

  • Their user profiles.
  • The small popover that appears when you hover over a user's name (introduced in GitLab 15.0).

In GitLab 15.5 and later, the maximum number of users you can follow is 300.

In GitLab 16.10 and later, blocked users don't appear in the followers list on user profiles.

Disable following and being followed by other users

{{< history >}}

{{< /history >}}

You can disable following and being followed by other users.

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. Select Preferences.
  4. Clear the Enable follow users checkbox.
  5. Select Save changes.

[!note] When this feature is being disabled, all current followed/following connections are deleted.

View a user's activity

GitLab tracks user contribution activity. To view a user's activity:

  1. Go to the user's profile.
  2. In the GitLab menu, select Activity.

A list of Most Recent Activity contributions is displayed.

View your activity

To view your activity:

  1. In the top bar, select Search or go to.

  2. Select Your work.

  3. Select Activity.

  4. Optional. To filter your activity by contribution type, in the Your Activity tab, select a tab:

    • All: All contributions you made in your groups and projects.
    • Push events: Push events you made in your projects.
    • Merge events: Merge requests you accepted in your projects.
    • Issue events: Issues you opened and closed in your projects.
    • Comments: Comments you posted in your projects.
    • Wiki: Wiki pages you created and updated in your projects.
    • Designs: Designs you added, updated, and removed in your projects.
    • Team: Projects you joined and left.

Sign-in services

Instead of using a regular username and password to sign in to GitLab, you can use a sign-in service instead.

Connect a sign-in service

To connect a sign-in service to use for signing in to GitLab:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Access > Password and authentication.
  4. Locate the Service sign-in section.
  5. Under the Connected Accounts section, select the button that corresponds with the service you want to sign in with.
  6. Follow the instructions for the selected service to start signing in with it.

Disconnect a sign-in service

To disconnect a sign-in service used for signing in to GitLab:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. In the left sidebar, select Access > Password and authentication.
  4. Locate the Service sign-in section.
  5. Under the Connected Accounts section, select Disconnect next to the button that corresponds with the service you no longer want to sign in with.

Session duration

Stay signed in for one week

By default, you are signed out of GitLab after seven days (10080 minutes) of inactivity or until you close your browser window, whichever comes first.

GitLab administrators can change this default.

Stay signed in indefinitely

{{< history >}}

  • Ability to turn the Remember me setting on and off introduced in GitLab 16.0.

{{< /history >}}

To remain signed in indefinitely, select the Remember me checkbox on the GitLab sign-in page.

You remain signed in because, although the server sets a session time of one week, your browser stores a secure token that enables automatic reauthentication.

GitLab administrators can turn off the Remember me setting for environments that require sessions to expire periodically for security or compliance purposes.

Cookies used for sign-in

When you sign in, three cookies are set:

  • A session cookie called _gitlab_session. This cookie has no set expiration date. However, it expires based on its session_expire_delay.
  • A session cookie called gitlab_user. This cookie is used by the marketing site to determine if a user has an active GitLab session. No user information is passed to the cookie and it expires two weeks from login.
  • A persistent cookie called remember_user_token, which is set only if you selected Remember me on the sign-in page.

When you close your browser, the _gitlab_session and gitlab_user cookies are usually cleared client-side. When it expires or isn't available, GitLab:

  • Uses the remember_user_token cookie to get you a new _gitlab_session cookie and keep you signed in, even if you close your browser.
  • Sets the gitlab_user to true.

When both the remember_user_token and _gitlab_session cookies are gone or expired, you must sign in again.

[!note] When any session is signed out, or when a session is revoked from the active sessions list, all Remember me tokens are revoked. While other sessions remain active, the Remember me feature doesn't restore a session if the browser is closed or the existing session expires.