Publish from GitLab CI/CD

A GitLab CI/CD job publishes to CloudRepo the way your laptop does: the build tool sends a repository token with the upload. What changes is where the token lives. Keep it in a masked CI/CD variable, which GitLab gives every job as an environment variable, and let a committed config file name that variable instead of holding the token.

Before you start

• A repository, and a repository token that reaches it. A token that publishes is Read + write; a job that only pulls needs Read only.
• A token you create under Repository Tokens belongs to your account. Deleting a user from your organization deletes that user’s tokens, and any job using one stops authenticating. So create the token as an account that outlives any one person: a user you make for builds (see Create Your First User), signed in to the admin portal when it mints the token. The owner can instead create a service key, which belongs to your organization rather than to a user.
• Your repository URL, https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo, and the username that Maven, Gradle, Python and Docker clients send: the email address of the account that created the token. npm sends the token alone.

Store the token as a variable

1. In your GitLab project, click Settings, then CI/CD, expand Variables, and click Add variable.
2. Set the key to CLOUDREPO_TOKEN and the value to the token. Leave the visibility on Masked, so GitLab hides the value in job logs.

GitLab makes a project variable available to a job as an environment variable named by its key, which is how the files below read it. Three GitLab rules decide whether a job sees the token:

• Protected variables. A variable marked Protected reaches only pipelines that run on a protected branch or a protected tag. If you protect it, protect the tag your publish job runs on. A pipeline on any other ref gets no CLOUDREPO_TOKEN, and the publish step cannot authenticate.
• Masking has requirements. GitLab’s include a single line with no spaces, at least 8 characters, and a value that is not the name of another variable. Masking is not encryption: a job that transforms the value before printing it can show it. GitLab’s own page covers the options for a stronger store.
• Commands print. Keep the token out of command arguments, which logs and process listings can show. The blocks on this page pass it through the environment or a file the tool reads.

See CI/CD variables in GitLab’s documentation.

Publish from a pipeline

Pick your client. The choice is remembered on every page of these docs. Each tab has the same parts: a file that names the token’s variable, the repository settings of your build, and the job in .gitlab-ci.yml. Commit them; none holds the token. Each job runs when you push a tag.

Maven

Maven reads the credential from a settings file. Commit this one as .mvn/settings.xml; ${env.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN} is replaced by the environment variable when Maven runs. Replace you@example.com with the email address of the account that created the token.

.mvn/settings.xml

<settings>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>cloudrepo</id>
      <username>you@example.com</username>
      <password>${env.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
</settings>

The <id> must match the repository’s <id> in your pom.xml. <distributionManagement> is where mvn deploy publishes:

pom.xml

<distributionManagement>
  <repository>
    <id>cloudrepo</id>
    <url>https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo</url>
  </repository>
</distributionManagement>

The job runs in a Maven image on a tag pipeline and passes the settings file with --settings:

.gitlab-ci.yml

publish:
  image: maven:3.9-eclipse-temurin-17
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  script:
    - mvn --batch-mode --settings .mvn/settings.xml deploy

Expected: the job ends with BUILD SUCCESS, and the artifact is listed in the repository in the admin portal. To resolve dependencies from the same repository in a build, add a <repositories> block with the same URL; see Maven Repositories.

Gradle

Gradle reads the token from the environment in the build script. Replace you@example.com with the email address of the account that created the token.

build.gradle.kts

publishing {
    publications {
        create<MavenPublication>("library") {
            from(components["java"])
        }
    }
    repositories {
        maven {
            url = uri("https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo")
            credentials {
                username = "you@example.com"
                password = providers.environmentVariable("CLOUDREPO_TOKEN").orNull
            }
        }
    }
}

.orNull keeps every other Gradle command working on a machine where the variable is not set; only publish needs it. Add the java-library and maven-publish plugins to the plugins block if your build does not have them.

.gitlab-ci.yml

publish:
  image: gradle:jdk17
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  script:
    - gradle publish

If your project has the Gradle wrapper, run ./gradlew publish instead. A Groovy build script takes the same maven { ... } block under publishing { repositories { ... } }, with the credential read from System.getenv("CLOUDREPO_TOKEN").

npm

npm replaces ${CLOUDREPO_TOKEN} in .npmrc with the environment variable of that name, so this file can be committed. Keep the trailing / on both lines, and keep the second line identical to the registry URL without https:.

.npmrc

registry=https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/
//your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/:_authToken=${CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}

npm sends the token on its own, so there is no username to set.

.gitlab-ci.yml

publish:
  image: node:24
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  script:
    - npm publish

The same .npmrc and variable serve npm ci and npm install in a job that only pulls. For a scoped package, or a repository that sits beside the public registry, see npm Repositories.

pip

twine uploads a built package. It reads its username and password from TWINE_USERNAME and TWINE_PASSWORD, which the job sets from the variable, and takes the repository URL without /simple/. Replace you@example.com with the email address of the account that created the token.

.gitlab-ci.yml

publish:
  image: python:3
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  script:
    - pip wheel . --no-deps -w dist
    - pip install twine
    - export TWINE_USERNAME=you@example.com
    - export TWINE_PASSWORD="$CLOUDREPO_TOKEN"
    - twine upload --repository-url https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo dist/*

To install from the repository in a job, set PIP_INDEX_URL from the variable rather than passing --index-url, which would put the token on the command line. See Repository Tokens for the URL, and write the @ in your email address as %40.

Docker

Log in to the host alone, with your email address and the token on standard input, then build and push. The image reference carries the repository after the host. The job starts its own Docker daemon with the docker:dind service (Docker-in-Docker), which needs a runner that allows privileged containers. GitLab’s Docker-in-Docker page says this TLS form is supported by its instance runners on GitLab.com, and gives the setup for a runner you host. Pin the docker and docker:dind images to the same Docker version, as that page advises.

.gitlab-ci.yml

publish-image:
  image: docker:29-cli
  services:
    - docker:29-dind
  variables:
    DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: "/certs"
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  script:
    - echo "$CLOUDREPO_TOKEN" | docker login your-org.mycloudrepo.io --username you@example.com --password-stdin
    - docker build -t your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/my-app:1.0.0 .
    - docker push your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/my-app:1.0.0

Use your own image name and tag. The password is the repository token, not a portal password. More: Docker Repositories.

When publishing fails

• 401 Unauthorized. The credential was refused. The username must be the email address of the account that created the token, and the token must not be expired or revoked. Check that the variable is named CLOUDREPO_TOKEN, that this pipeline can see it (a protected variable reaches only protected refs), and that its value is the whole token. The full list is on Repository Tokens.
• 403 Forbidden. The token does not reach this repository, or it is Read only and the job publishes. Create a Read + write token that includes the repository.
• 409 Conflict from mvn deploy. The release version you are publishing already exists, and Overwrite Protection refuses to replace it. Publish a new version, or use a -SNAPSHOT version while you iterate. See Maven Overwrite Protection. Python repositories have the same setting: Python Repositories.