[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":789},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/a-look-ahead-for-gitlab-cicd":3,"navigation-en-us":39,"banner-en-us":438,"footer-en-us":448,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Jason Yavorska":687,"blog-related-posts-en-us-a-look-ahead-for-gitlab-cicd":701,"assessment-promotions-en-us":740,"next-steps-en-us":779},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":26,"isFeatured":12,"meta":27,"navigation":28,"path":29,"publishedDate":20,"seo":30,"stem":34,"tagSlugs":35,"__hash__":38},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/a-look-ahead-for-gitlab-cicd.yml","A Look Ahead For Gitlab Cicd",[7],"jason-yavorska",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"a-look-ahead-for-gitlab-cicd",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"New up and coming GitLab CI/CD Features","DAG, Multi-project Pipelines, Runner Setup for Kubernetes and more.",[18],"Jason Yavorska","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666889/Blog/Hero%20Images/photo-cicd12xlookahead.jpg","2019-08-07","\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\nHey everyone, [Jason Yavorska](https://gitlab.com/jyavorska) here – product manager for CI/CD at GitLab. Back in June we\nreached the mid-point of the year and we're heading into our big 12.0 release, so I took the opportunity to\nsummarize some of the [highlights of our 11.x series of releases](/blog/look-back-on-11-11-cicd/).\nHopefully you had a chance to read it, if not, please take a moment to scan through and I bet you'll find an\ninteresting feature or two that can help improve your pipelines.\n\nWe're a couple of releases into the 12.x cycle now and I couldn't wait to share some\nof the things that we're looking forward to delivering the remainder of this year. Some of the features I am most excited about include DAG, a directed acyclic graph that makes it easy to run pipeline steps out of order, expanding our pipelines for merge requests/results feature to also work with forks, as well as making multi-project pipelines a Core feature. With about 3.44M job instances per week/13.76M per month, GitLab CI is growing at a rapid rate to help our customers and users with their deployment needs. Read on below to learn more about all of the exciting CI/CD features in the 12.0 series of releases that will help you to deploy your code quickly.\n\n## What's recent\n\nIn 12.0, we released [visual reviews](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/review_apps/index.html#visual-reviews),\nwhich allows users to provide issue feedback directly from the review apps that\nyour pipelines create. This makes it easy for all your team members to provide accurate\nfeedback on the changes you're making. We also added [collapsible job logs](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/index.html#expand-and-collapse-job-log-sections),\nmaking output of pipelines easier to use, and enabled [multiple extends](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#extends)\nfor pipeline jobs to make templatizing behaviors in your configuration even easier.\n\n![Visual Review Apps](https://about.gitlab.com/images/12_0/visual-review-apps.png \"Visual Review Apps\")\n\n[Visual Review Apps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/review_apps/index.html#visual-reviews) were released in GitLab 12.0\n\n\nIn 12.1, we delivered [parallel execution for merge trains](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/merge_trains.html),\nexpanding on our [pipelines for merged results](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.html)\nto make it very easy to automatically build and test a series of merge requests heading\ninto the same target branch in a fast, safe, and efficient way. For GitLab Pages we also\nadded [automatic HTTPS certificate renewal](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/custom_domains_ssl_tls_certification/lets_encrypt_integration.html),\nand completely refactored the GitLab Runner to be able to be [extensible for custom behaviors](http://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/custom.html),\nenabling many new kinds of operation modes for your runners including but not limited to\nsupporting any kind of proprietary virtualization environment.\n\n## What's next\n\nNow that you're up to speed with the first couple of 12.x releases, let's look ahead to what's coming next in each monthly release from 12.2 this month to 12.6 in December.\n\n## 12.2 (August 22)\n\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\n12.2 is just around the corner and it's also looking to be a big one.\n\nOne really exciting feature for this release is that we're adding a hybrid directed acyclic graph (DAG) to GitLab CI.\nThis is really just a fancy way of saying you'll be able to run pipeline steps out of order, breaking the\nstage sequencing you're familiar with in GitLab, and allowing jobs to relate to each other directly. This can\nbe valuable for monorepo situations where you have different folders in your repo that can build, test, and maybe\neven deploy independently, or in general it can provide a nice speed boost for your pipeline steps that relate to\neach other (for example, things like artifact processing or sequential test runs.) Read more in our [public issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/47063)\nabout how this great feature is going to work.\n\n![Directed Acyclic Graph](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/dag_execution.png \"Directed Acyclic Graph\")\n\nOut of order execution using the [Directed Acyclic Graph](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/47063)\n\n\nIn addition to the DAG, we're rethinking the way that [rules can be set up for pipelines](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/60085),\nmaking it much easier to understand what a job is going to do compared with trying to figure out how a collection\nof `only/except` rules interact with each other. Another highlight is that we're adding the ability to\n[control behavior for individual users with Feature Flags](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/11459) along with\n[percentage rollout across all users](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/8240). These will give you a lot of\nflexibility to [progressively control](/direction/ops/#progressive-delivery) how changes are rolled out to your users\neven when the code is already in production.\n\n## 12.3 (September 22)\n\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\nThe individual change in the 12.3 release that I'm most excited about has got to be\n[associating a milestone with a release](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/62402). One of the greatest\nstrengths of GitLab is the connected ecosystem of features – by tying a release to a milestone, it becomes\npossible to connect all kinds of interesting data in GitLab to the release – issues, merge requests, and more, all\nat your fingertips and curated automatically by GitLab.\n\nWe're also going to be making [runner setup for Kubernetes](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/63768)\nrequire just a single click to get going, and making a key architectural change to GitLab Pages that will\n[bring initial availability time for pages site down to nearly instantaneous](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/61929).\n\n## 12.4 (October 22)\n\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\nFirst up, we're planning on adding a [Hashicorp Vault integration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/61053) that will let you tie your\nGitLab CI pipelines to your Vault instance, making it possible to keep crucial build and deployment secrets outside\nof GitLab entirely.\n\nWe're also [expanding our pipelines for merge requests/results feature to also work with forks](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/11934),\nand (building on top of the newly associated milestone) delivering an MVC for fully automated [evidence collection for releases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/56030).\nThis means that things like test results, pipeline outputs, merge requests, and issues will have a snapshot\navailable for auditing and review in the context of a release, all collected automatically from throughout GitLab\nwithout having to write a line of code.\n\n## 12.5 (November 22)\n\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\nFor 12.5, we plan to tackle Helm v3 charts by providing features in our container registry to\nmanage these. [Helm v3](https://helm.sh/blog/helm-3-preview-pt1/) changes a lot about how charts work, and\nwe want to ensure that GitLab is there with you as you start to adopt this very different, but powerful new way\nof working.\n\nWe also plan to revisit [how workspaces are defined and shared](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/62802),\nmaking it easier to build up a common staging area that can be shared by different jobs/pipelines in an easier-to-use,\nmore natural way than by using the cache or artifacts in GitLab today. Last but not least, we're improving on\nour testing parallelization features by making it possible to [leave the parallelization tuning to GitLab itself](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/12282).\n\n## 12.6 (December 22)\n\n_Since this blog post was published, we have updated our planning based on emerging priorities and customer need. For the latest on what we've got coming next, check out our [CI/CD direction page](/direction/ops/), which is always current._\n\nFor the holidays we're planning on [making multi-project pipelines a Core feature](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/63497),\nbringing this powerful capability to all of our users. More and more we're hearing that teams are using multi-project\npipelines in all kinds of interesting ways to solve unique problems, and we want to make this feature available to\neveryone who can benefit. EDIT 2020-01-02: We resolved [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/31573) back in 12.4 where the trigger keyword was not working in certain cases, which satisfied the request of the folks in that issue to open source the feature. There are potential executive dashboards for cross-project pipelines in the future which will be paid features, but using triggering is in core and working fine. If there are any use cases that are not working for you, please ping me (@jyavorska) in [gitlab#29626](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/29626) and I'd be happy to take a look.\n\nWe are also bringing in a whole new way of working with GitLab CI/CD: [child/parent pipelines](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/22972).\nUsing these you'll be able to trigger downstream pipelines from your main pipeline; these will run completely independently\nand in their own separate namespace from the main pipeline, but will provide status attribution back to the main pipeline. These\nchild pipelines are definable in YAML files anywhere in your repo, so if you have a monorepo (for example) you'll be able to organize\nthese independent pipelines separately but still orchestrate them from a central command and control module.\n\nFinally, we're looking to improve how we show the [change in pipeline duration over time](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/1806)\nas well as how [test runs are changing over time](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/1020). This trend data will make\nit easier to manage the performance of your pipelines on an ongoing basis.\n\n## In conclusion\n\nHopefully you're as excited about these features as much as we are. We'd love for you to participate\nin the public issues so we can work together to deliver these features with your input. It's\npossible some specific items may change, but overall\nthis is the direction we're headed as we continue to add iterative improvements across all of CI/CD in\nevery release.\n\nInterested in learning more about GitLab CI/CD in general, and seeing all the rest of\nthe items we plan to deliver? 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statement",{"items":677},[678,681,684],{"text":679,"config":680},"Terms",{"href":508,"dataGaName":509,"dataGaLocation":456},{"text":682,"config":683},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":518,"dataGaLocation":456,"id":519,"isOneTrustButton":28},{"text":685,"config":686},"Privacy",{"href":513,"dataGaName":514,"dataGaLocation":456},[688],{"id":689,"title":18,"body":8,"config":690,"content":692,"description":8,"extension":26,"meta":696,"navigation":28,"path":697,"seo":698,"stem":699,"__hash__":700},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska.yml",{"template":691},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":693},{"headshot":694,"ctfId":695},"","jyavorska",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska",{},"en-us/blog/authors/jason-yavorska","eFtNS4VsB5vvAsfbNZ0pGZ1cC600ZgmmRzLEDxetiGk",[702,716,729],{"content":703,"config":714},{"title":704,"description":705,"authors":706,"heroImage":708,"date":709,"body":710,"category":9,"tags":711},"How to use GitLab Container Virtual Registry with Docker Hardened Images","Learn how to simplify container image management with this step-by-step guide.",[707],"Tim Rizzi","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772111172/mwhgbjawn62kymfwrhle.png","2026-03-12","If you're a platform engineer, you've probably had this conversation:\n  \n*\"Security says we need to use hardened base images.\"*\n\n*\"Great, where do I configure credentials for yet another registry?\"*\n\n*\"Also, how do we make sure everyone actually uses them?\"*\n\nOr this one:\n\n*\"Why are our builds so slow?\"*\n\n*\"We're pulling the same 500MB image from Docker Hub in every single job.\"*\n\n*\"Can't we just cache these somewhere?\"*\n\nI've been working on [Container Virtual Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/) at GitLab specifically to solve these problems. It's a pull-through cache that sits in front of your upstream registries — Docker Hub, dhi.io (Docker Hardened Images), MCR, and Quay — and gives your teams a single endpoint to pull from. Images get cached on the first pull. Subsequent pulls come from the cache. Your developers don't need to know or care which upstream a particular image came from.\n\nThis article shows you how to set up Container Virtual Registry, specifically with Docker Hardened Images in mind, since that's a combination that makes a lot of sense for teams concerned about security and not making their developers' lives harder.\n\n## What problem are we actually solving?\n\nThe Platform teams I usually talk to manage container images across three to five registries:\n\n* **Docker Hub** for most base images\n* **dhi.io** for Docker Hardened Images (security-conscious workloads)\n* **MCR** for .NET and Azure tooling\n* **Quay.io** for Red Hat ecosystem stuff\n* **Internal registries** for proprietary images\n\nEach one has its own:\n\n* Authentication mechanism\n* Network latency characteristics\n* Way of organizing image paths\n\nYour CI/CD configs end up littered with registry-specific logic. Credential management becomes a project unto itself. And every pipeline job pulls the same base images over the network, even though they haven't changed in weeks.\n\nContainer Virtual Registry consolidates this. One registry URL. One authentication flow (GitLab's). Cached images are served from GitLab's infrastructure rather than traversing the internet each time.\n\n## How it works\n\nThe model is straightforward:\n\n```text\nYour pipeline pulls:\n  gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/1000016/python:3.13\n\nVirtual registry checks:\n  1. Do I have this cached? → Return it\n  2. No? → Fetch from upstream, cache it, return it\n\n```\n\nYou configure upstreams in priority order. When a pull request comes in, the virtual registry checks each upstream until it finds the image. The result gets cached for a configurable period (default 24 hours).\n\n```text\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│                    CI/CD Pipeline                       │\n│                          │                              │\n│                          ▼                              │\n│   gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/\u003Cid>/image   │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n                           │\n                           ▼\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│            Container Virtual Registry                   │\n│                                                         │\n│  Upstream 1: Docker Hub ────────────────┐               │\n│  Upstream 2: dhi.io (Hardened) ────────┐│               │\n│  Upstream 3: MCR ─────────────────────┐││               │\n│  Upstream 4: Quay.io ────────────────┐│││               │\n│                                      ││││               │\n│                    ┌─────────────────┴┴┴┴──┐            │\n│                    │        Cache          │            │\n│                    │  (manifests + layers) │            │\n│                    └───────────────────────┘            │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n```\n\n## Why this matters for Docker Hardened Images\n\n[Docker Hardened Images](https://docs.docker.com/dhi/) are great because of the minimal attack surface, near-zero CVEs, proper software bills of materials (SBOMs), and SLSA provenance. If you're evaluating base images for security-sensitive workloads, they should be on your list.\n\nBut adopting them creates the same operational friction as any new registry:\n\n* **Credential distribution**: You need to get Docker credentials to every system that pulls images from dhi.io.\n* **CI/CD changes**: Every pipeline needs to be updated to authenticate with dhi.io.\n* **Developer friction**: People need to remember to use the hardened variants.\n* **Visibility gap**: It's difficulat to tell if teams are actually using hardened images vs. regular ones.\n\nVirtual registry addresses each of these:\n\n**Single credential**: Teams authenticate to GitLab. The virtual registry handles upstream authentication. You configure Docker credentials once, at the registry level, and they apply to all pulls.\n\n**No CI/CD changes per-team**: Point pipelines at your virtual registry. Done. The upstream configuration is centralized.\n\n**Gradual adoption**: Since images get cached with their full path, you can see in the cache what's being pulled. If someone's pulling `library/python:3.11` instead of the hardened variant, you'll know.\n\n**Audit trail**: The cache shows you exactly which images are in active use. Useful for compliance, useful for understanding what your fleet actually depends on.\n\n## Setting it up\n\nHere's a real setup using the Python client from this demo project.\n\n### Create the virtual registry\n\n```python\nfrom virtual_registry_client import VirtualRegistryClient\n\nclient = VirtualRegistryClient()\n\nregistry = client.create_virtual_registry(\n    group_id=\"785414\",  # Your top-level group ID\n    name=\"platform-images\",\n    description=\"Cached container images for platform teams\"\n)\n\nprint(f\"Registry ID: {registry['id']}\")\n# You'll need this ID for the pull URL\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hub as an upstream\n\nFor official images like Alpine, Python, etc.:\n\n```python\ndocker_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://registry-1.docker.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hub\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io)\n\nDocker Hardened Images are hosted on `dhi.io`, a separate registry that requires authentication:\n\n```python\ndhi_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-docker-username\",\n    password=\"your-docker-access-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add other upstreams\n\n```python\n# MCR for .NET teams\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://mcr.microsoft.com\",\n    name=\"Microsoft Container Registry\",\n    cache_validity_hours=48\n)\n\n# Quay for Red Hat stuff\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://quay.io\",\n    name=\"Quay.io\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Update your CI/CD\n\nHere's a `.gitlab-ci.yml` that pulls through the virtual registry:\n\n```yaml\nvariables:\n  VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID: \u003Cyour_virtual_registry_ID>\n\n  \nbuild:\n  image: docker:24\n  services:\n    - docker:24-dind\n  before_script:\n    # Authenticate to GitLab (which handles upstream auth for you)\n    - echo \"${CI_JOB_TOKEN}\" | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin gitlab.com\n  script:\n    # All of these go through your single virtual registry\n    \n    # Official Docker Hub images (use library/ prefix)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/library/alpine:latest\n    \n    # Docker Hardened Images from dhi.io (no prefix needed)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/python:3.13\n    \n    # .NET from MCR\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/dotnet/sdk:8.0\n```\n\n### Image path formats\n\nDifferent registries use different path conventions:\n\n| Registry | Pull URL Example |\n|----------|------------------|\n| Docker Hub (official) | `.../library/python:3.11-slim` |\n| Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io) | `.../python:3.13` |\n| MCR | `.../dotnet/sdk:8.0` |\n| Quay.io | `.../prometheus/prometheus:latest` |\n\n### Verify it's working\n\nAfter some pulls, check your cache:\n\n```python\nupstreams = client.list_registry_upstreams(registry['id'])\nfor upstream in upstreams:\n    entries = client.list_cache_entries(upstream['id'])\n    print(f\"{upstream['name']}: {len(entries)} cached entries\")\n\n```\n\n## What the numbers look like\n\nI ran tests pulling images through the virtual registry:\n\n| Metric | Without Cache | With Warm Cache |\n|--------|---------------|-----------------|\n| Pull time (Alpine) | 10.3s | 4.2s |\n| Pull time (Python 3.13 DHI) | 11.6s | ~4s |\n| Network roundtrips to upstream | Every pull | Cache misses only |\n\n\n\n\nThe first pull is the same speed (it has to fetch from upstream). Every pull after that, for the cache validity period, comes straight from GitLab's storage. No network hop to Docker Hub, dhi.io, MCR, or wherever the image lives.\n\nFor a team running hundreds of pipeline jobs per day, that's hours of cumulative build time saved.\n\n## Practical considerations\nHere are some considerations to keep in mind:\n\n### Cache validity\n\n24 hours is the default. For security-sensitive images where you want patches quickly, consider 12 hours or less:\n\n```python\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-username\",\n    password=\"your-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=12\n)\n```\n\nFor stable, infrequently-updated images (like specific version tags), longer validity is fine.\n\n### Upstream priority\n\nUpstreams are checked in order. If you have images with the same name on different registries, the first matching upstream wins.\n\n### Limits\n\n* Maximum of 20 virtual registries per group\n* Maximum of 20 upstreams per virtual registry\n\n## Configuration via UI\n\nYou can also configure virtual registries and upstreams directly from the GitLab UI—no API calls required. Navigate to your group's **Settings > Packages and registries > Virtual Registry** to:\n\n* Create and manage virtual registries\n* Add, edit, and reorder upstream registries\n* View and manage the cache\n* Monitor which images are being pulled\n\n## What's next\n\nWe're actively developing:\n\n* **Allow/deny lists**: Use regex to control which images can be pulled from specific upstreams.\n\nThis is beta software. It works, people are using it in production, but we're still iterating based on feedback.\n\n## Share your feedback\n\nIf you're a platform engineer dealing with container registry sprawl, I'd like to understand your setup:\n\n* How many upstream registries are you managing?\n* What's your biggest pain point with the current state?\n* Would something like this help, and if not, what's missing?\n\nPlease share your experiences in the [Container Virtual Registry feedback issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/589630).\n## Related resources\n- [New GitLab metrics and registry features help reduce CI/CD bottlenecks](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/new-gitlab-metrics-and-registry-features-help-reduce-ci-cd-bottlenecks/#container-virtual-registry)\n- [Container Virtual Registry documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/)\n- [Container Virtual Registry API](https://docs.gitlab.com/api/container_virtual_registries/)",[712,713,25],"tutorial","product",{"featured":12,"template":13,"slug":715},"using-gitlab-container-virtual-registry-with-docker-hardened-images",{"content":717,"config":727},{"title":718,"description":719,"authors":720,"heroImage":722,"date":723,"category":9,"tags":724,"body":726},"How IIT Bombay students are coding the future with GitLab","At GitLab, we often talk about how software accelerates innovation. But sometimes, you have to step away from the Zoom calls and stand in a crowded university hall to remember why we do this.",[721],"Nick Veenhof","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099013/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2814%29_6VTUA8mUhOZNDaRVNPeKwl_1750099012960.png","2026-01-08",[260,609,725],"open source","The GitLab team recently had the privilege of judging the **iHack Hackathon** at **IIT Bombay's E-Summit**. The energy was electric, the coffee was flowing, and the talent was undeniable. But what struck us most wasn't just the code — it was the sheer determination of students to solve real-world problems, often overcoming significant logistical and financial hurdles to simply be in the room.\n\n\nThrough our [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we aim to empower the next generation of developers with tools and opportunity. Here is a look at what the students built, and how they used GitLab to bridge the gap between idea and reality.\n\n## The challenge: Build faster, build securely\n\nThe premise for the GitLab track of the hackathon was simple: Don't just show us a product; show us how you built it. We wanted to see how students utilized GitLab's platform — from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines — to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode — Democratizing Scientific Research\n\n**Project:** FIRE (Fast Integrated Research Environment)\n\nTeam Decode took home the top prize with a solution that warms a developer's heart: a local-first, blazing-fast data processing tool built with [Rust](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/secure-rust-development-with-gitlab/) and Tauri. They identified a massive pain point for data science students: existing tools are fragmented, slow, and expensive.\n\nTheir solution, FIRE, allows researchers to visualize complex formats (like NetCDF) instantly. What impressed the judges most was their \"hacker\" ethos. They didn't just build a tool; they built it to be open and accessible.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** Since the team lived far apart, asynchronous communication was key. They utilized **GitLab Issue Boards** and **Milestones** to track progress and integrated their repo with Telegram to get real-time push notifications. As one team member noted, \"Coordinating all these technologies was really difficult, and what helped us was GitLab... the Issue Board really helped us track who was doing what.\"\n\n![Team Decode](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/epqazj1jc5c7zkgqun9h.jpg)\n\n### 2nd place: Team BichdeHueDost — Reuniting to Solve Payments\n\n**Project:** SemiPay (RFID Cashless Payment for Schools)\n\nThe team name, BichdeHueDost, translates to \"Friends who have been set apart.\" It's a fitting name for a group of friends who went to different colleges but reunited to build this project. They tackled a unique problem: handling cash in schools for young children. Their solution used RFID cards backed by a blockchain ledger to ensure secure, cashless transactions for students.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** They utilized [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/) to automate the build process for their Flutter application (APK), ensuring that every commit resulted in a testable artifact. This allowed them to iterate quickly despite the \"flaky\" nature of cross-platform mobile development.\n\n![Team BichdeHueDost](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/pkukrjgx2miukb6nrj5g.jpg)\n\n### 3rd place: Team ZenYukti — Agentic Repository Intelligence\n\n**Project:** RepoInsight AI (AI-powered, GitLab-native intelligence platform)\n\nTeam ZenYukti impressed us with a solution that tackles a universal developer pain point: understanding unfamiliar codebases. What stood out to the judges was the tool's practical approach to onboarding and code comprehension: RepoInsight-AI automatically generates documentation, visualizes repository structure, and even helps identify bugs, all while maintaining context about the entire codebase.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** The team built a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline that showcased GitLab's security and DevOps capabilities. They integrated [GitLab's Security Templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security) (SAST, Dependency Scanning, and Secret Detection), and utilized [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/container_registry/) to manage their Docker images for backend and frontend components. They created an AI auto-review bot that runs on merge requests, demonstrating an \"agentic workflow\" where AI assists in the development process itself.\n\n![Team ZenYukti](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/ymlzqoruv5al1secatba.jpg)\n\n## Beyond the code: A lesson in inclusion\n\nWhile the code was impressive, the most powerful moment of the event happened away from the keyboard.\n\nDuring the feedback session, we learned about the journey Team ZenYukti took to get to Mumbai. They traveled over 24 hours, covering nearly 1,800 kilometers. Because flights were too expensive and trains were booked, they traveled in the \"General Coach,\" a non-reserved, severely overcrowded carriage.\n\nAs one student described it:\n\n*\"You cannot even imagine something like this... there are no seats... people sit on the top of the train. This is what we have endured.\"*\n\nThis hit home. [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/) are core values at GitLab. We realized that for these students, the barrier to entry wasn't intellect or skill, it was access.\n\nIn that moment, we decided to break that barrier. We committed to reimbursing the travel expenses for the participants who struggled to get there. It's a small step, but it underlines a massive truth: **talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.**\n\n![hackathon class together](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380252/o5aqmboquz8ehusxvgom.jpg)\n\n### The future is bright (and automated)\n\nWe also saw incredible potential in teams like Prometheus, who attempted to build an autonomous patch remediation tool (DevGuardian), and Team Arrakis, who built a voice-first job portal for blue-collar workers using [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo/) to troubleshoot their pipelines.\n\nTo all the students who participated: You are the future. Through [GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we are committed to providing you with the top-tier tools (like GitLab Ultimate) you need to learn, collaborate, and change the world — whether you are coding from a dorm room, a lab, or a train carriage. **Keep shipping.**\n\n> :bulb: Learn more about the [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/).\n",{"slug":728,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":730,"config":738},{"title":731,"description":732,"authors":733,"heroImage":734,"date":735,"category":9,"tags":736,"body":737},"Artois University elevates research and curriculum with GitLab Ultimate for Education","Artois University's CRIL leveraged the GitLab for Education program to gain free access to Ultimate, transforming advanced research and computer science curricula.",[721],"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099203/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2820%29_2bJGC5ZP3WheoqzlLT05C5_1750099203484.png","2025-12-10",[609,260,713],"Leading academic institutions face a critical challenge: how to provide thousands of students and researchers with industry-standard, **full-featured DevSecOps tools** without compromising institutional control. Many start with basic version control, but the modern curriculum demands integrated capabilities for planning, security, and advanced CI/CD.\n\nThe **GitLab for Education program** is designed to solve this by providing access to **GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying institutions, allowing them to scale their operations and elevate their academic offerings. \n\nThis article showcases a powerful success story from the **Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Lens (CRIL)**, a joint laboratory of **Artois University** and CNRS in France. After years of relying solely on GitLab Community Edition (CE), the university's move to GitLab Ultimate through the GitLab for Education program immediately unlocked advanced capabilities, transforming their teaching, research, and contribution workflows virtually overnight. This story demonstrates why GitLab Ultimate is essential for institutions seeking to deliver advanced computer science and research curricula.\n\n## GitLab Ultimate unlocked: Managing scale and driving academic value\n\n**Artois University's** self-managed GitLab instance is a large-scale operation, supporting nearly **3,000 users** across approximately **19,000 projects**, primarily serving computer science students and researchers. While GitLab Community Edition was robust, the upgrade to GitLab Ultimate provided the sophisticated tooling necessary for managing this scale and facilitating advanced university-level work.\n\n***\"We can see the difference,\" says Daniel Le Berre, head of research at CRIL and the instance maintainer. \"It's a completely different product. Each week reveals new features that directly enhance our productivity and teaching.\"***\n\nThe institution joined the GitLab for Education program specifically because it covers both **instructional and non-commercial research use cases** and offers full access to Ultimate's features, removing significant cost barriers.\n\n### Key GitLab Ultimate benefits for students and researchers\n\n* **Advanced project management at scale:** Master's students now benefit from **GitLab Ultimate's project planning features**. This enables them to structure, track, and manage complex, long-term research projects using professional methodologies like portfolio management and advanced issue tracking that seamlessly roll up across their thousands of projects.\n\n* **Enhanced visibility:** Features like improved dashboards and code previews directly in Markdown files dramatically streamline tracking and documentation review, reducing administrative friction for both instructors and students managing large project loads.\n\n## Comprehensive curriculum: From concepts to continuous delivery\n\nGitLab Ultimate is deeply integrated into the computer science curriculum, moving students beyond simple `git` commands to practical **DevSecOps implementation**.\n\n* **Git fundamentals:** Students begin by visualizing concepts using open-source tools to master Git concepts.\n\n* **Full CI/CD implementation:** Students use GitLab CI for rigorous **Test-Driven Development (TDD)** in their software projects. They learn to build, test, and perform quality assurance using unit and integration testing pipelines—core competency made seamless by the integrated platform.\n\n* **DevSecOps for research and documentation:** The university teaches students that DevSecOps principles are vital for all collaborative work. Inspired by earlier work in Delft, students manage and produce critical research documentation (PDFs from Markdown files) using GitLab, incorporating quality checks like linters and spell checks directly in the CI pipeline. This ensures high-quality, reproducible research output.\n\n* **Future-proofing security skills:** The GitLab Ultimate platform immediately positions the institution to incorporate advanced DevSecOps features like SAST and DAST scanning as their research and development code projects grow, ensuring students are prepared for industry security standards.\n\n## Accelerating open source contributions with GitLab Duo\n\nAccess to the full GitLab platform, including our AI capabilities, has empowered students to make impactful contributions to the wider open source community faster than ever before.\n\nTwo Master's students recently completed direct contributions to the GitLab product, adding the **ORCID identifier** into user profiles. Working on GitLab.com, they leveraged **GitLab Duo's AI chat and code suggestions** to navigate the codebase efficiently.\n\n***\"This would not have been possible without GitLab Duo,\" Daniel Le Berre notes. \"The AI features helped students, who might have lacked deep codebase knowledge, deliver meaningful contributions in just two weeks.\"***\n\nThis demonstrates how providing students with cutting-edge tools **accelerates their learning and impact**, allowing them to translate classroom knowledge into real-world contributions immediately.\n\n## Empowering open research and institutional control\n\nThe stability of the self-managed instance at Artois University is key to its success. This model guarantees **institutional control and stability** — a critical factor for long-term research preservation.\n\nThe institution's expertise in this area was recently highlighted in a major 2024 study led by CRIL, titled: \"[Higher Education and Research Forges in France - Definition, uses, limitations encountered and needs analysis](https://hal.science/hal-04208924v4)\" ([Project on GitLab](https://gitlab.in2p3.fr/coso-college-codes-sources-et-logiciels/forges-esr-en)). The research found that the vast majority of public forges in French Higher Education and Research relied on **GitLab**. This finding underscores the consensus among academic leaders that self-hosted solutions are essential for **data control and longevity**, especially when compared to relying on external, commercial forges.\n\n## Unlock GitLab Ultimate for your institution today\n\nThe success story of **Artois University's CRIL** proves the transformative power of the GitLab for Education program. By providing **free access to GitLab Ultimate**, we enable large-scale institutions to:\n\n1.  **Deliver a modern, integrated DevSecOps curriculum.**\n\n2.  **Support advanced, collaborative research projects with Ultimate planning features.**\n\n3.  **Empower students to make AI-assisted open source contributions.**\n\n4.  **Maintain institutional control and data longevity.**\n\nIf your academic institution is ready to equip its students and researchers with the complete DevSecOps platform and its most advanced features, we invite you to join the program.\n\nThe program provides **free access to GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying instructional and non-commercial research use cases.\n\n**Apply now [online](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/).**\n",{"slug":739,"featured":28,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"promotions":741},[742,756,767],{"id":743,"categories":744,"header":746,"text":747,"button":748,"image":753},"ai-modernization",[745],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":749,"config":750},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":751,"dataGaName":752,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":754},{"src":755},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":757,"categories":758,"header":759,"text":747,"button":760,"image":764},"devops-modernization",[713,555],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":761,"config":762},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":763,"dataGaName":752,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":765},{"src":766},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":768,"categories":769,"header":771,"text":747,"button":772,"image":776},"security-modernization",[770],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":773,"config":774},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":775,"dataGaName":752,"dataGaLocation":242},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":777},{"src":778},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":780,"blurb":781,"button":782,"secondaryButton":787},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":783,"config":784},"Get your free trial",{"href":785,"dataGaName":50,"dataGaLocation":786},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":494,"config":788},{"href":54,"dataGaName":55,"dataGaLocation":786},1773350819695]