How to create a bot user for an organization in GitLab?

Question

Background: In GitLab it is possible to create bot users for projects and for groups. A project bot can only access one project by using one access token and a group bot can only access the projects that reside in a particular group.

Aim: to automate certain processes in multiple projects that reside in various groups by using one access token.

Question: Would it be possible to create a bot for an organization as well?

Note: a GitLab issue has been created.

Answer 1

It's possible to create an organization-level bot user in GitLab. This bot user will have access to all projects within the organization, regardless of the group they belong to.

To create an organization-level bot user, you will need to have owner or maintainer permissions for the organization. Then, you can follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the organization's Settings > Members page.
2. Click the "Invite member" button.
3. Select "Bot" from the "Access level" dropdown.
4. Enter the bot user's name and email address.
5. Click the "Invite" button.

Once the bot user has been created, you can use the private token of the bot user to authenticate API requests and automate processes within the organization.

Note that it is also possible to create a personal access token for an individual user, which can be used to authenticate API requests and automate processes within a single project or multiple projects that the user has access to. However, personal access tokens do not have the same level of access as bot users and are not intended for use in automation.