[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":790},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/git-happens":3,"navigation-en-us":35,"banner-en-us":435,"footer-en-us":445,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Sam Beckham":687,"blog-related-posts-en-us-git-happens":701,"assessment-promotions-en-us":741,"next-steps-en-us":780},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":24,"isFeatured":12,"meta":25,"navigation":26,"path":27,"publishedDate":20,"seo":28,"stem":32,"tagSlugs":33,"__hash__":34},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/git-happens.yml","Git Happens",[7],"sam-beckham",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"git-happens",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"Git happens! 6 Common Git mistakes and how to fix them","Whether you added the wrong file, committed directly to master, or some other mishap, we've got you covered.",[18],"Sam Beckham","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749678743/Blog/Hero%20Images/fix-common-git-mistakes.jpg","2018-08-08","We all make mistakes, especially when working with something as complex as Git. But remember, Git happens!\n\n## What is Git?\n\nGit is free and open-source software for distributed code management and version control. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License Version 2. Git tracks changes in any set of files and is usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development.\n\nGit was created and released in 2005 by Linus Torvalds, who also developed Linux. The impetus for Git (which is an altering of the word “get”) was to generate an open-source version control system that performed better for the requirements of Linux kernel development. Available open-source systems at the time were not able to meet the [large-scale collaborative performance effort](https://www.techtarget.com/searchitoperations/definition/Git) required.\n\n## Benefits of using Git\n\nBesides delivering superior performance, Git also provides support for a distributed workflow and safeguards against corruption. There are several other benefits, such as:\n\n- superior performance when it comes to version control systems\n- the ability for simultaneous development because everyone has their own local copy of code and can work on it in tandem.\n- faster releases\n- security\n- flexibility\n- built-in integration\n- strong community support\n\nIf you're brand-new to Git, you can learn [how to start using Git on the command line](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/gitlab-basics/start-using-git.html). Here's how we can fix six of the most common Git mistakes.\n\n## 1. Oops... I spelled that last commit message wrong\n\nAfter a good few hours of [coding](/solutions/source-code-management/), it's easy for a spelling error to sneak into your commit messages.\nLuckily, there's a simple fix.\n\n```bash\ngit commit --amend\n```\n\nThis will open up your editor and allow you to make a change to that last commit message.\nNo one needs to know you spelled, \"addded\" with three \"d\"s.\n\n## 2. Oops... I forgot to add a file to that last commit\n\nAnother common Git pitfall is committing too early. You missed a file, forgot to save it, or\nneed to make a minor change for the last commit to make sense. `--amend` is your friend\nonce again.\n\nAdd that missed file then run that trusty command.\n\n```bash\ngit add missed-file.txt\ngit commit --amend\n```\n\nAt this point, you can either amend the commit message or just save it to keep it the same.\n\n## 3. Oops... I added a file I didn't want in the repo\n\nBut what if you do the exact opposite? What if you added a file that you didn't want to commit?\nA rogue ENV file, a build directory, a picture of your cat that you accidentally saved to the wrong folder?\nIt's all fixable.\n\nIf all you did was stage the file and you haven't committed it yet, it's as simple as resetting that staged file:\n\n```bash\ngit reset /assets/img/misty-and-pepper.jpg\n```\n\nIf you've gone as far as committing that change, you need to run an extra step before:\n\n```bash\ngit reset --soft HEAD~1\ngit reset /assets/img/misty-and-pepper.jpg\nrm /assets/img/misty-and-pepper.jpg\ngit commit\n```\n\nThis will undo the commit, remove the image, then add a new commit in its place.\n\n## 4. Oops... I committed all those changes to the master branch\n\nSo you're working on a new feature and in your haste, you forgot to open a new branch for it.\nYou've already committed a load of files and now them commits are all sitting on the master branch.\nLuckily, [GitLab can prevent you from pushing directly to master](/blog/keeping-your-code-protected/).\nSo we can roll back all these changes to a new branch with the following three commands:\n\n*Note: Make sure you commit or stash your changes first, or all will be lost!*\n\n```bash\ngit branch future-brunch\ngit reset HEAD~ --hard\ngit checkout future-brunch\n```\n\nThis creates a new branch, then rolls back the master branch to where it was before you made\n changes, before finally checking out your new branch with all your previous changes intact.\n\n## 5. Oops... I made a spelling mistake in my branch name\n\nThe keen-eyed among you will notice a slight spelling error in my last example. It's almost\n3:00 PM and I haven't had lunch yet, so in my hunger, I've named our new branch `future-brunch`.\nDelicious.\n\nWe rename this branch in a similar way to how we rename a file with the `mv` command: by\n moving it to a new location with the correct name.\n\n```bash\ngit branch -m future-brunch feature-branch\n```\n\nIf you've already pushed this branch, there are a couple of extra steps required. We need to\ndelete the old branch from the remote and push up the new one:\n\n```bash\ngit push origin --delete future-brunch\ngit push origin feature-branch\n```\n\n## 6. Oops... I did it again\n\nThis command is for when everything has gone wrong. When you've copy-pasted one too\nmany solutions from Stack Overflow and your repo is in a worse state than it was when you started.\nWe've all been there.\n\n`git reflog` shows you a list of all the things you've done.\nIt then allows you to use Git's magical time-traveling skills to go back to any point in the past.\nI should note, this is a last resort thing and should not be used lightly.\nTo get this list, type:\n\n```bash\ngit reflog\n```\n\nEvery step we took, every move we made, Git was watching us.\nRunning that on our project gives us this:\n\n```bash\n3ff8691 (HEAD -> feature-branch) HEAD@{0}: Branch: renamed refs/heads/future-brunch to refs/heads/feature-branch\n3ff8691 (HEAD -> feature-branch) HEAD@{2}: checkout: moving from master to future-brunch\n2b7e508 (master) HEAD@{3}: reset: moving to HEAD~\n3ff8691 (HEAD -> feature-branch) HEAD@{4}: commit: Adds the client logo\n2b7e508 (master) HEAD@{5}: reset: moving to HEAD~1\n37a632d HEAD@{6}: commit: Adds the client logo to the project\n2b7e508 (master) HEAD@{7}: reset: moving to HEAD\n2b7e508 (master) HEAD@{8}: commit (amend): Added contributing info to the site\ndfa27a2 HEAD@{9}: reset: moving to HEAD\ndfa27a2 HEAD@{10}: commit (amend): Added contributing info to the site\n700d0b5 HEAD@{11}: commit: Addded contributing info to the site\nefba795 HEAD@{12}: commit (initial): Initial commit\n```\n\nTake note of the left-most column, as this is the index.\nIf you want to go back to any point in the history, run the below command, replacing `{index}` with that reference, e.g. `dfa27a2`.\n\n```bash\ngit reset HEAD@{index}\n```\n\nSo there you have six ways to get out of the most common Gitfalls.\n\n## More common Git problems\n\nThere are a number of tips for fixing common git problems. For starters, here are a couple of common ones: to indicate the end of command options for command line utilities, try using the double dash (--). If you want to undo a change, use git reset.\n\n- If you have a commit that is only in your local repository, you can amend it with the git commit — amend command.\n- Sometimes, you might find yourself adding files that you didn’t mean to commit. Git rm will remove it from both your staging area, as well as your file system. However, if that’s not the solution you were looking for, make sure you only remove the staged version and add the file to your .gitignore so you don’t make the same mistake again.\n- To fix a typo in a commit message or to add a file, use: git - amend.\n- If you want to remove files from staging before committing, use [“git restore”](https://medium.com/@basitalkaff/common-git-problems-and-how-to-fix-them-878ef750a015) to reset the pointer back to the last commit ID.\n- If you have a change of heart and want to remove changes from a commit before pushing and reverting back, use “git reset \u003Cspecific commit ID we want to go back>.”\n- Faulty commits sometimes make their way into the central repository. When that happens, instead of creating additional revert commits, just apply the necessary changes and use the --no-commit/-n option.\nInstead of having to reinvent the wheel, use the reuse recorded resolution feature to fix repetitive merge conflicts. Add \"git config --global rerere.enabled true\" to your global config to enable it for all projects.\n\nIf you prefer, you can manually create the directory:\n\n.git/rr-cache to enable it for each project.\n\n## How to prevent problems with your git repository\n\nIt’s important to consider git repository security for web projects. Why? When you deploy a [web page from a git repository](https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/answer/How-can-developers-avoid-a-Git-repository-security-risk), you could also make the directory and its contents accessible. This gives an attacker the ability to access the metadata from URLs such as https://example.org/git/config.\n\nIf a git repository is checked out using HTTP authentication where the username and password to access the repository are incorporated as part of the URL, that can create an especially unsafe situation. Because this information is stored in the .git/config file, an attacker has direct access to credentials for the repository.\n\nTo avoid these risks and improve the security of a git repository, developers should refrain from using direct git checkouts on web deployments. Instead, they should copy files to the web root directory without the .git directory metadata. Alternatively, access to the .git directory can be bypassed in the server configuration. It's also a good idea to avoid storing passwords and secret tokens right in repositories.\n\nSome suggestions to [stop git repositories from getting too big](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58679210/how-to-stop-git-repositories-from-getting-too-big): avoid cluttering the repository with large numbers of files, don’t include binary or office files that require huge commits in the number of lines edited, and from time to time, use commands like\ngit reflog expire --all --expire=now git gc --prune=now --aggressive.\n\nHere is an approach for [fixing a corrupted git repository](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18678853/how-can-i-fix-a-corrupted-git-repository).\n\n## Some common git commands\n\nThere are hundreds of git commands programmers can use to change and track projects. Some of the [more common ones](https://shortcut.com/blog/common-git-commands-that-you-should-memorize#:~:text=13%20common%20Git%20commands%20that%20you%20should%20consider,compare%20unstaged%20files%20before%20committing%20...%20More%20items) are:\n\n**Create a new repository for storing code/making changes:**\n\nA new project requires a repository where your code is stored and changes can be made.\nCommand:\n\ngit init\n\nOr change a current directory into a Git repo using:\n\ngit init \u003Cdirectory>\n\n**Configure local and global values:**\n\nCommand:\n\ngit config --global user.email \u003Cyour-email> or git config -\n\n**Use cloning to get source code from your remote repo**\n\nWhen working on an existing project, you can use the clone command to create a copy of your remote rep in GitLab and make changes without overwriting the master version.\n\nWhen this command is used, you will get access to a copy of the source code on your local machine and make changes to it without compromising the master.\n\nTo download your project, use this:\n\ngit clone \u003Crepo URL>\n\n**Create a local workspace:**\n\nWhen collaborating with other developers on a project, using branches lets you modify and reference copies of the same portions of source code and merge them at a later point. This avoids a situation where developers are making changes to the same code at the same time, creating errors and broken code/features.\n\n[To create a new local branch](https://shortcut.com/blog/common-git-commands-that-you-should-memorize#:~:text=13%20common%20Git%20commands%20that%20you%20should%20consider,compare%20unstaged%20files%20before%20committing%20...%20More%20items):\n\ngit branch \u003Cbranch-name>\n\nPush this local branch to the remote repo with the following:\n\ngit push -u \u003Cremote> \u003Cbranch name>\n\nView existing branches on the remote repo with the following:\n\ngit branch or git branch—list\n\nAnd delete a branch with:\n\ngit branch -d \u003Cbranch-name>\n\n**Switch branches, inspect files and commits:**\n\nWith git checkout, you can move between the master branch and your copies locally, and it can be used to inspect the file and [commit history](/blog/keeping-git-commit-history-clean/). You will start out with the local clone of your master branch by default. You’ll need to run the command to switch between branches to make changes to a different local branch. One thing to note: make sure that you commit or stash any in-progress changes before switching; otherwise, you could encounter errors.\n\nCommand:\n\ngit checkout \u003Cname of your branch>\n\nOr create a new branch and switch to it with one command:\n\ngit checkout -b \u003Cname-of-your-branch>\n\nHave some Git tips of your own? Let us know in the comments below, we'd love to hear them.\n\nPhoto by [Pawel Janiak](https://unsplash.com/photos/WtRuYJ2EPMA?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/search/photos/mistake?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)\n",[23],"git","yml",{},true,"/en-us/blog/git-happens",{"title":15,"description":16,"ogTitle":15,"ogDescription":16,"noIndex":12,"ogImage":19,"ogUrl":29,"ogSiteName":30,"ogType":31,"canonicalUrls":29},"https://about.gitlab.com/blog/git-happens","https://about.gitlab.com","article","en-us/blog/git-happens",[23],"f8cmP8TAegRyvLq8P_ajCR3qL1wDdbtZ9iJ07rJiMMI",{"data":36},{"logo":37,"freeTrial":42,"sales":47,"login":52,"items":57,"search":365,"minimal":396,"duo":415,"pricingDeployment":425},{"config":38},{"href":39,"dataGaName":40,"dataGaLocation":41},"/","gitlab logo","header",{"text":43,"config":44},"Get free 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statement",{"items":677},[678,681,684],{"text":679,"config":680},"Terms",{"href":505,"dataGaName":506,"dataGaLocation":453},{"text":682,"config":683},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":515,"dataGaLocation":453,"id":516,"isOneTrustButton":26},{"text":685,"config":686},"Privacy",{"href":510,"dataGaName":511,"dataGaLocation":453},[688],{"id":689,"title":18,"body":8,"config":690,"content":692,"description":8,"extension":24,"meta":696,"navigation":26,"path":697,"seo":698,"stem":699,"__hash__":700},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/sam-beckham.yml",{"template":691},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":693},{"headshot":694,"ctfId":695},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749678740/Blog/Author%20Headshots/samdbeckham-headshot.jpg","samdbeckham",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/sam-beckham",{},"en-us/blog/authors/sam-beckham","Lqtc4A7WNFET0xbcui4NaPIAvsEm_cWvi0BR-a2Ri04",[702,717,730],{"content":703,"config":715},{"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/)",[712,713,714],"tutorial","product","features",{"featured":12,"template":13,"slug":716},"using-gitlab-container-virtual-registry-with-docker-hardened-images",{"content":718,"config":728},{"title":719,"description":720,"authors":721,"heroImage":723,"date":724,"category":9,"tags":725,"body":727},"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.",[722],"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",[257,609,726],"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":729,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":731,"config":739},{"title":732,"description":733,"authors":734,"heroImage":735,"date":736,"category":9,"tags":737,"body":738},"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.",[722],"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",[609,257,713],"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":740,"featured":26,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"promotions":742},[743,757,768],{"id":744,"categories":745,"header":747,"text":748,"button":749,"image":754},"ai-modernization",[746],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":750,"config":751},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":752,"dataGaName":753,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":755},{"src":756},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":758,"categories":759,"header":760,"text":748,"button":761,"image":765},"devops-modernization",[713,555],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":762,"config":763},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":764,"dataGaName":753,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":766},{"src":767},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":769,"categories":770,"header":772,"text":748,"button":773,"image":777},"security-modernization",[771],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":774,"config":775},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":776,"dataGaName":753,"dataGaLocation":239},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":778},{"src":779},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":781,"blurb":782,"button":783,"secondaryButton":788},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":784,"config":785},"Get your free trial",{"href":786,"dataGaName":46,"dataGaLocation":787},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":491,"config":789},{"href":50,"dataGaName":51,"dataGaLocation":787},1773350812308]