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Create a project

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  • Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

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You have different options to create a project. You can create a blank project, create a project from built-in or custom templates, or create a project with git push.

Create a blank project

To create a blank project:

  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:
    1. Project name: Enter the name of your project. For more information, see naming rules.
    2. Project slug: Enter the path to your project. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path.
    3. Project deployment target (optional): If you want to deploy your project to specific environment, select the relevant deployment target.
    4. Visibility Level: Select the appropriate visibility level. See the viewing and access rights for users.
    5. Initialize repository with a README: Select this option to initialize the Git repository, create a default branch, and enable cloning of this project's repository.
    6. Enable Static Application Security Testing (SAST): Select this option to analyze the source code for known security vulnerabilities.
    7. Enable Secret Detection: Select this option to analyze the source code for secrets and credentials to prevent unauthorized access.
  4. Select Create project.

Create a project from a built-in template

Built-in templates populate a new project with files to help you get started. These templates are sourced from the project-templates and pages groups. Anyone can contribute to built-in project templates.

To create a project from a built-in template:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Create new ({{< icon name="plus" >}}) and New project/repository.
  2. Select Create from template.
  3. Select the Built-in tab.
  4. From the list of templates:
    • To preview a template, select Preview.
    • To use a template, select Use template.
  5. Enter the project details:
    • Project name: Enter the name of your project.
    • Project slug: Enter the path to your project. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path.
    • Project description (optional) Enter a description for your project. The character limit is 500.
    • Visibility Level: Select the appropriate visibility level. See the viewing and access rights for users.
  6. Select Create project.

[!note] If a user creates a project from a template, or imports a project, they are shown as the author of the imported items, which retain the original timestamp from the template or import. This can make items appear as if they were created before the user's account existed.

Imported objects are labeled as By <username> on <timestamp>. Before GitLab 17.1, the label was suffixed with (imported from GitLab).

Create a project from the HIPAA Audit Protocol template

The HIPAA Audit Protocol template contains issues for audit inquiries in the HIPAA Audit Protocol published by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.

To create a project from the HIPAA Audit Protocol template:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Create new ({{< icon name="plus" >}}) and New project/repository.
  2. Select Create from template.
  3. Select the Built-in tab.
  4. Locate the HIPAA Audit Protocol template:
    • To preview the template, select Preview.
    • To use the template, select Use template.
  5. Enter the project details:
    • Project name: Enter the name of your project.
    • Project slug: Enter the path to your project. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path.
    • Project description (optional) Enter a description for your project. The character limit is 500.
    • Visibility Level: Select the appropriate visibility level. See the viewing and access rights for users.
  6. Select Create project.

Create a project from a custom template

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  • Group selector for browsing group templates outside a group context introduced in GitLab 18.11 with a feature flag named constrain_group_project_templates. Disabled by default.

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Custom project templates are available for your instance and group.

To create a project from a custom template:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Create new ({{< icon name="plus" >}}) and New project/repository.
  2. Select Create from template.
  3. Select the Instance or Group tab.
    • On the Group tab, if you are not in a group context and no group is pre-selected, a group dropdown list is displayed. Select a group to load its templates.
  4. From the list of templates:
    • To preview the template, select Preview.
    • To use a template, select Use template.
  5. Enter the project details:
    • Project name: Enter the name of your project.
    • Project slug: Enter the path to your project. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path.
    • Project description (optional) Enter a description for your project. The character limit is 500.
    • Visibility Level: Select the appropriate visibility level. See the viewing and access rights for users.
  6. Select Create project.

Create a project that uses SHA-256 hashing

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  • Status: Experiment

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[!flag] The availability of this feature is controlled by a feature flag. For more information, see the history. This feature is available for testing, but not ready for production use.

You can select SHA-256 hashing for a project only when you create the project. Git does not support migrating to SHA-256 later, or migrating back to SHA-1.

To create a project that uses SHA-256 hashing:

  1. In the upper-right corner, select Create new ({{< icon name="plus" >}}) and New project/repository.
  2. Enter the project details:
    • Project name: Enter the name of your project.
    • Project slug: Enter the path to your project. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path.
    • Project description (optional) Enter a description for your project. The character limit is 500.
    • Visibility Level: Select the appropriate visibility level. See the viewing and access rights for users.
  3. In the Project Configuration area, expand the Experimental settings.
  4. Select Use SHA-256 as the repository hashing algorithm.
  5. Select Create project.

Why SHA-256?

By default, Git uses the SHA-1 hashing algorithm to generate a 40-character ID for objects such as commits, blobs, trees, and tags. The SHA-1 algorithm was proven to be insecure when Google was able to produce a hash collision. The Git project is not yet impacted by these kinds of attacks because of the way Git stores objects.

In SHA-256 repositories, the algorithm generates a 64-character ID instead of a 40-character ID. The Git project determined that the SHA-256 feature is safe to use when they removed the experimental label.

Federal regulations, such as NIST and CISA guidelines, which FedRamp enforces, have set a due date in 2030 to stop using SHA-1 and encourage agencies to move away from SHA-1 earlier, if possible.