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SAML SSO for GitLab.com groups

DETAILS: Tier: Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com

Users can sign in to GitLab through their SAML identity provider.

SCIM synchronizes users with the group on GitLab.com.

  • When you add or remove a user from the SCIM app, SCIM adds or removes the user from the GitLab group.
  • If the user is not already a group member, the user is added to the group as part of the sign-in process.

You can configure SAML SSO for the top-level group only.

Set up your identity provider

The SAML standard means that you can use a wide range of identity providers with GitLab. Your identity provider might have relevant documentation. It can be generic SAML documentation or specifically targeted for GitLab.

When setting up your identity provider, use the following provider-specific documentation to help avoid common issues and as a guide for terminology used.

For identity providers not listed, you can refer to the instance SAML notes on configuring an identity provider for additional guidance on information your provider may require.

GitLab provides the following information for guidance only. If you have any questions on configuring the SAML app, contact your provider's support.

If you are having issues setting up your identity provider, see the troubleshooting documentation.

Azure

To set up SSO with Azure as your identity provider:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.

  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.

  3. Note the information on this page.

  4. Go to Azure, create a non-gallery application, and configure SSO for an application. The following GitLab settings correspond to the Azure fields.

    GitLab setting Azure field
    Identifier Identifier (Entity ID)
    Assertion consumer service URL Reply URL (Assertion Consumer Service URL)
    GitLab single sign-on URL Sign on URL
    Identity provider single sign-on URL Login URL
    Certificate fingerprint Thumbprint

  5. You should set the following attributes:

  6. Make sure the identity provider is set to have provider-initiated calls to link existing GitLab accounts.

  7. Optional. If you use Group Sync, customize the name of the group claim to match the required attribute.

View a demo of SCIM provisioning on Azure using SAML SSO for groups. The objectID mapping is outdated in this video. Follow the SCIM documentation instead.

For more information, see an example configuration page.

Google Workspace

To set up Google Workspace as your identity provider:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.

  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.

  3. Note the information on this page.

  4. Follow the instructions for setting up SSO with Google as your identity provider. The following GitLab settings correspond to the Google Workspace fields.

    GitLab setting Google Workspace field
    Identifier Entity ID
    Assertion consumer service URL ACS URL
    GitLab single sign-on URL Start URL
    Identity provider single sign-on URL SSO URL

  5. Google Workspace displays a SHA256 fingerprint. To retrieve the SHA1 fingerprint required by GitLab to configure SAML:

    1. Download the certificate.

    2. Run this command:

      openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -sha1 -inform pem -in "GoogleIDPCertificate-domain.com.pem"

  6. Set these values:

    • For Primary email: email.
    • For First name: first_name.
    • For Last name: last_name.
    • For Name ID format: EMAIL.
    • For NameID: Basic Information > Primary email. For more information, see supported attributes.

  7. Make sure the identity provider is set to have provider-initiated calls to link existing GitLab accounts.

On the GitLab SAML SSO page, when you select Verify SAML Configuration, disregard the warning that recommends setting the NameID format to persistent.

For more information, see an example configuration page.

View a demo of how to configure SAML with Google Workspaces and set up Group Sync.

Okta

To set up SSO with Okta as your identity provider:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.

  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.

  3. Note the information on this page.

  4. Follow the instructions for setting up a SAML application in Okta.

    The following GitLab settings correspond to the Okta fields.

    GitLab setting Okta field
    Identifier Audience URI
    Assertion consumer service URL Single sign-on URL
    GitLab single sign-on URL Login page URL (under Application Login Page settings)
    Identity provider single sign-on URL Identity Provider Single Sign-On URL

  5. Under the Okta Single sign-on URL field, select the Use this for Recipient URL and Destination URL checkbox.

  6. Set these values:

    • For Application username (NameID): Custom user.getInternalProperty("id").
    • For Name ID Format: Persistent. For more information, see manage user SAML identity.
    • For email: user.email or similar.
    • For additional Attribute Statements, see supported attributes.

  7. Make sure the identity provider is set to have provider-initiated calls to link existing GitLab accounts.

The Okta GitLab application available in the App Catalog only supports SCIM. Support for SAML is proposed in issue 216173.

For a demo of the Okta SAML setup including SCIM, see Demo: Okta Group SAML & SCIM setup.

For more information, see an example configuration page

OneLogin

OneLogin supports its own GitLab (SaaS) application.

To set up OneLogin as your identity provider:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.

  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.

  3. Note the information on this page.

  4. If you use the OneLogin generic SAML Test Connector (Advanced), you should use the OneLogin SAML Test Connector. The following GitLab settings correspond to the OneLogin fields:

    GitLab setting OneLogin field
    Identifier Audience
    Assertion consumer service URL Recipient
    Assertion consumer service URL ACS (Consumer) URL
    Assertion consumer service URL (escaped version) ACS (Consumer) URL Validator
    GitLab single sign-on URL Login URL
    Identity provider single sign-on URL SAML 2.0 Endpoint

  5. For NameID, use OneLogin ID. For more information, see manage user SAML identity.

  6. Configure required and supported attributes.

  7. Make sure the identity provider is set to have provider-initiated calls to link existing GitLab accounts.

Configure assertions

NOTE: The attributes are case-insensitive.

At minimum, you must configure the following assertions:

  1. NameID.
  2. Email.

Optionally, you can pass user information to GitLab as attributes in the SAML assertion.

  • The user's email address can be an email or mail attribute.
  • The username can be either a username or nickname attribute. You should specify only one of these.

For more information, see the attributes available for self-managed GitLab instances.

Use metadata

To configure some identity providers, you need a GitLab metadata URL. To find this URL:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.
  3. Copy the provided GitLab metadata URL.
  4. Follow your identity provider's documentation and paste the metadata URL when it's requested.

Check your identity provider's documentation to see if it supports the GitLab metadata URL.

Manage the identity provider

After you have set up your identity provider, you can:

  • Change the identity provider.
  • Change email domains.

Change the identity provider

You can change to a different identity provider. During the change process, users cannot access any of the SAML groups. To mitigate this, you can disable SSO enforcement.

To change identity providers:

  1. Configure the group with the new identity provider.
  2. Optional. If the NameID is not identical, change the NameID for users.

Change email domains

To migrate users to a new email domain, tell users to:

  1. Add their new email as the primary email to their accounts and verify it.
  2. Optional. Remove their old email from the account.

If the NameID is configured with the email address, change the NameID for users.

Configure GitLab

  • Ability to set a custom role as the default membership role introduced in GitLab 16.7.

After you set up your identity provider to work with GitLab, you must configure GitLab to use it for authentication:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.
  3. Complete the fields:
    • In the Identity provider single sign-on URL field, enter the SSO URL from your identity provider.
    • In the Certificate fingerprint field, enter the fingerprint for the SAML token signing certificate.
  4. For groups on GitLab.com: in the Default membership role field, select:
    1. The role to assign to new users.
    2. The role to assign to users who are not members of a mapped SAML group when SAML Group Links is configured for the group.
  5. For groups on self-managed instances: in the Default membership role field, select the role to assign to new users. The default role is Guest. That role becomes the starting role of all users added to the group:
    • In GitLab 16.7 and later, group Owners can set a custom role
    • In GitLab 16.6 and earlier, group Owners can set a default membership role other than Guest. as the default membership role.
  6. Select the Enable SAML authentication for this group checkbox.
  7. Optional. Select:
  8. Select Save changes.

NOTE: The certificate fingerprint algorithm must be in SHA1. When configuring the identity provider (such as Google Workspace), use a secure signature algorithm.

If you are having issues configuring GitLab, see the troubleshooting documentation.

User access and management

After group SSO is configured and enabled, users can access the GitLab.com group through the identity provider's dashboard. If SCIM is configured, see user access on the SCIM page.

When a user tries to sign in with Group SSO, GitLab attempts to find or create a user based on the following:

  • Find an existing user with a matching SAML identity. This would mean the user either had their account created by SCIM or they have previously signed in with the group's SAML IdP.
  • If there is no conflicting user with the same email address, create a new account automatically.
  • If there is a conflicting user with the same email address, redirect the user to the sign-in page to:
    • Create a new account with another email address.
    • Sign-in to their existing account to link the SAML identity.

Link SAML to your existing GitLab.com account

NOTE: If the user is an enterprise user of that group, the following steps do not apply. The enterprise user must instead sign in with a SAML account that has the same email as the GitLab account. This allows GitLab to link the SAML account to the existing account.

To link SAML to your existing GitLab.com account:

  1. Sign in to your GitLab.com account. Reset your password if necessary.
  2. Locate and visit the GitLab single sign-on URL for the group you're signing in to. A group owner can find this on the group's Settings > SAML SSO page. If the sign-in URL is configured, users can connect to the GitLab app from the identity provider.
  3. Optional. Select the Remember me checkbox to stay signed in to GitLab for 2 weeks. You may still be asked to re-authenticate with your SAML provider more frequently.
  4. Select Authorize.
  5. Enter your credentials on the identity provider if prompted.
  6. You are then redirected back to GitLab.com and should now have access to the group. In the future, you can use SAML to sign in to GitLab.com.

If a user is already a member of the group, linking the SAML identity does not change their role.

On subsequent visits, you should be able to sign in to GitLab.com with SAML or by visiting links directly. If the enforce SSO option is turned on, you are then redirected to sign in through the identity provider.

Sign in to GitLab.com with SAML

  1. Sign in to your identity provider.
  2. From the list of apps, select the "GitLab.com" app. (The name is set by the administrator of the identity provider.)
  3. You are then signed in to GitLab.com and redirected to the group.

Manage user SAML identity

  • Update of SAML identities using the SAML API introduced in GitLab 15.5.

GitLab.com uses the SAML NameID to identify users. The NameID is:

  • A required field in the SAML response.
  • Case sensitive.

The NameID must:

  • Be unique to each user.
  • Be a persistent value that never changes, such as a randomly generated unique user ID.
  • Match exactly on subsequent sign-in attempts, so it should not rely on user input that could change between upper and lower case.

The NameID should not be an email address or username because:

  • Email addresses and usernames are more likely to change over time. For example, when a person's name changes.
  • Email addresses are case-insensitive, which can result in users being unable to sign in.

The NameID format must be Persistent, unless you are using a field, like email, that requires a different format. You can use any format except Transient.

Change user NameID

Group owners can use the SAML API to change their group members' NameID and update their SAML identities.

If SCIM is configured, group owners can update the SCIM identities using the SCIM API.

Alternatively, ask the users to reconnect their SAML account.

  1. Ask relevant users to unlink their account from the group.
  2. Ask relevant users to link their account to the new SAML app.

WARNING: After users have signed into GitLab using SSO SAML, changing the NameID value breaks the configuration and could lock users out of the GitLab group.

For more information on the recommended value and format for specific identity providers, see set up your identity provider.

Configure enterprise user settings from SAML response

  • Changed to configure only enterprise user settings in GitLab 16.7.

GitLab allows setting certain user attributes based on values from the SAML response. An existing user's attributes are updated from the SAML response values if that user is an enterprise user of the group.

Supported user attributes

  • can_create_group - true or false to indicate whether an enterprise user can create new top-level groups. Default is true.
  • projects_limit - The total number of personal projects an enterprise user can create. A value of 0 means the user cannot create new projects in their personal namespace. Default is 100000.

Example SAML response

You can find SAML responses in the developer tools or console of your browser, in base64-encoded format. Use the base64 decoding tool of your choice to convert the information to XML. An example SAML response is shown here.

   <saml2:AttributeStatement>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="email" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:basic">
         <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">user.email</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="username" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:basic">
        <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">user.nickName</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="first_name" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:unspecified">
         <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">user.firstName</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="last_name" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:unspecified">
         <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">user.lastName</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="can_create_group" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:unspecified">
         <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">true</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
      <saml2:Attribute Name="projects_limit" NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:unspecified">
         <saml2:AttributeValue xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="xs:string">10</saml2:AttributeValue>
      </saml2:Attribute>
   </saml2:AttributeStatement>

Bypass user email confirmation with verified domains

By default, users provisioned with SAML or SCIM are sent a verification email to verify their identity. Instead, you can configure GitLab with a custom domain and GitLab automatically confirms user accounts. Users still receive an enterprise user welcome email. Confirmation is bypassed if both of the following are true:

  • The user is provisioned with SAML or SCIM.
  • The user has an email address that belongs to the verified domain.

Disable password authentication for enterprise users

Prerequisites:

  • You must have the Owner role for the group that the enterprise user belongs to.
  • Group SSO must be enabled.

You can disable password authentication for the group's enterprise users. This stops enterprise users from using their username and password to authenticate. Instead, these users can do either of the following:

This applies even if an enterprise user is also an administrator of the group.

To disable password authentication for enterprise users:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
  2. Select Settings > SAML SSO.
  3. Under Configuration, select Disable password authentication for enterprise users.
  4. Select Save changes.

Returning users (Automatic Identity Relinking)

If an enterprise user is removed from the group and then returns, they can sign in with their enterprise SSO account. As long as the user's email address in the identity provider remains the same as the email address on the existing GitLab account, the SSO identity is automatically linked to the account and the user can sign in without any issues.

Block user access

To rescind a user's access to the group when only SAML SSO is configured, either:

  • Remove (in order) the user from:
    1. The user data store on the identity provider or the list of users on the specific app.
    2. The GitLab.com group.
  • Use Group Sync at the top-level of your group with the default role set to minimal access to automatically block access to all resources in the group.

To rescind a user's access to the group when also using SCIM, refer to Remove access.

Unlink accounts

Users can unlink SAML for a group from their profile page. This can be helpful if:

  • You no longer want a group to be able to sign you in to GitLab.com.
  • Your SAML NameID has changed and so GitLab can no longer find your user.

WARNING: Unlinking an account removes all roles assigned to that user in the group. If a user re-links their account, roles need to be reassigned.

Groups require at least one owner. If your account is the only owner in the group, you are not allowed to unlink the account. In that case, set up another user as a group owner, and then you can unlink the account.

For example, to unlink the MyOrg account:

  1. On the left sidebar, select your avatar.
  2. Select Edit profile.
  3. On the left sidebar, select Account.
  4. In the Service sign-in section, select Disconnect next to the connected account.

SSO enforcement

  • Improved in GitLab 15.5 with a flag named transparent_sso_enforcement to include transparent enforcement even when SSO enforcement is not enabled. Disabled on GitLab.com.
  • Improved in GitLab 15.8 by enabling transparent SSO by default on GitLab.com.
  • Generally available in GitLab 15.10. Feature flag transparent_sso_enforcement removed.

On GitLab.com, SSO is enforced:

  • When SAML SSO is enabled.
  • For users with an existing SAML identity when accessing groups and projects in the organization's group hierarchy. By using their GitLab.com credentials, users can view other groups and projects outside their organization, as well as their user settings, without signing in through SAML SSO.

A user has a SAML identity if one or both of the following are true:

  • They have signed in to GitLab by using their GitLab group's single sign-on URL.
  • They were provisioned by SCIM.

Users are not prompted to sign in through SSO on each visit. GitLab checks whether a user has authenticated through SSO. If the user last signed in more than 24 hours ago, GitLab prompts the user to sign in again through SSO.

SSO is enforced as follows:

Project/Group visibility Enforce SSO setting Member with identity Member without identity Non-member or not signed in
Private Off Enforced Not enforced Not enforced
Private On Enforced Enforced Enforced
Public Off Enforced Not enforced Not enforced
Public On Enforced Enforced Not enforced

An issue exists to add a similar SSO requirement for API activity. Until this requirement is added, you can use features that rely on APIs without an active SSO session.

SSO-only for web activity enforcement

When the Enforce SSO-only authentication for web activity for this group option is enabled:

  • All members must access GitLab by using their GitLab group's single sign-on URL to access group resources, regardless of whether they have an existing SAML identity.
  • SSO is enforced when users access groups and projects in the organization's group hierarchy. Users can view other groups and projects outside their organization without signing in through SAML SSO.
  • Users cannot be added as new members manually.
  • Users with the Owner role can use the standard sign in process to make necessary changes to top-level group settings.
  • For non-members or users who are not signed in:
    • SSO is not enforced when they access public group resources.
    • SSO is enforced when they access private group resources.
  • For items in the organization's group hierarchy, dashboard visibility is as follows:
    • SSO is enforced when viewing your To-Do List. Your to-do items are hidden if your SSO session has expired, and an alert is shown.
    • SSO is enforced when viewing your list of assigned issues. Your issues are hidden if your SSO session has expired. Issue 414475 proposes to change this behavior so that issues are visible.
    • SSO is not enforced when viewing lists of merge requests where you are the assignee or your review is requested. You can see merge requests even if your SSO session has expired.

SSO enforcement for web activity has the following effects when enabled:

  • For groups, users cannot share a project in the group outside the top-level group, even if the project is forked.
  • Git activity originating from CI/CD jobs do not have the SSO check enforced.
  • Credentials that are not tied to regular users (for example, project and group access tokens, and deploy keys) do not have the SSO check enforced.
  • Users must be signed-in through SSO before they can pull images using the Dependency Proxy.
  • When the Enforce SSO-only authentication for Git and Dependency Proxy activity for this group option is enabled, any API endpoint that involves Git activity is under SSO enforcement. For example, creating or deleting a branch, commit, or tag. For Git activity over SSH and HTTPS, users must have at least one active session signed-in through SSO before they can push to or pull from a GitLab repository. The active session can be on a different device.

When SSO for web activity is enforced, non-SSO group members do not lose access immediately. If the user:

  • Has an active session, they can continue accessing the group for up to 24 hours until the identity provider session times out.
  • Is signed out, they cannot access the group after being removed from the identity provider.

Migrate to a new identity provider

To migrate to a new identity provider, use the SAML API to update all of your group member's identities.

For example:

  1. Set a maintenance window to ensure that no users are active at that time.
  2. Use the SAML API to update each user's identity.
  3. Configure the new identity provider.
  4. Test that sign in works.

Related topics

Troubleshooting

If you find it difficult to match the different SAML terms between GitLab and the identity provider:

  1. Check your identity provider's documentation. Look at their example SAML configurations for information on the terms they use.
  2. Check the SAML SSO for self-managed GitLab instances documentation. The self-managed GitLab instance SAML configuration file supports more options than the GitLab.com file. You can find information on the self-managed instance file in the:
  3. Compare the XML response from your provider with our example XML used for internal testing.

For other troubleshooting information, see the troubleshooting SAML guide.