Repository files API (FREE)

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 introduced in GitLab 14.10.

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
}

NOTE: blob_id is the blob SHA, see repositories - Get a blob from repository

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 introduced in GitLab 14.10.

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 introduced in GitLab 14.10.

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"