---
stage: Manage
group: Authentication and Authorization
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Configure GitLab as an OAuth 2.0 authentication identity provider

This document describes how you can use GitLab as an OAuth 2.0 authentication identity provider.

- OAuth 2 applications can be created and managed using the GitLab UI (described below)
  or managed using the [Applications API](../api/applications.md).
- After an application is created, external services can manage access tokens using the
  [OAuth 2 API](../api/oauth2.md).
- To allow users to sign in to GitLab using third-party OAuth 2 providers, see
  [OmniAuth documentation](omniauth.md).

## Introduction to OAuth

[OAuth 2](https://oauth.net/2/) provides to client applications a 'secure delegated
access' to server resources on behalf of a resource owner. OAuth 2 allows
authorization servers to issue access tokens to third-party clients with the approval
of the resource owner or the end-user.

OAuth 2 can be used:

- To allow users to sign in to your application with their GitLab.com account.
- To set up GitLab.com for authentication to your GitLab instance. See
  [GitLab OmniAuth](gitlab.md).

The 'GitLab Importer' feature also uses OAuth 2 to give access
to repositories without sharing user credentials to your GitLab.com account.

GitLab supports several ways of adding a new OAuth 2 application to an instance:

- [User owned applications](#user-owned-applications)
- [Group owned applications](#group-owned-applications)
- [Instance-wide applications](#instance-wide-applications)

The only difference between these methods is the [permission](../user/permissions.md)
levels. The default callback URL is `http://your-gitlab.example.com/users/auth/gitlab/callback`.

## User owned applications

To add a new application for your user:

1. In the top-right corner, select your avatar.
1. Select **Edit profile**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Applications**.
1. Enter a **Name**, **Redirect URI** and OAuth 2 scopes as defined in [Authorized Applications](#authorized-applications).
   The **Redirect URI** is the URL where users are sent after they authorize with GitLab.
1. Select **Save application**. GitLab provides:

   - The OAuth 2 Client ID in the **Application ID** field.
   - The OAuth 2 Client Secret, accessible:
     - In the **Secret** field in GitLab 14.1 and earlier.
     - Using the **Copy** button on the **Secret** field
       [in GitLab 14.2 and later](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/332844).

## Group owned applications

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/16227) in GitLab 13.11.

To add a new application for a group:

1. Navigate to the desired group.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > Applications**.
1. Enter a **Name**, **Redirect URI** and OAuth 2 scopes as defined in [Authorized Applications](#authorized-applications).
   The **Redirect URI** is the URL where users are sent after they authorize with GitLab.
1. Select **Save application**. GitLab provides:

   - The OAuth 2 Client ID in the **Application ID** field.
   - The OAuth 2 Client Secret, accessible:
     - In the **Secret** field in GitLab 14.1 and earlier.
     - Using the **Copy** button on the **Secret** field
       [in GitLab 14.2 and later](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/332844).

## Instance-wide applications

To create an application for your GitLab instance:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Admin**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Applications**.
1. Select **New application**.

When creating application in the **Admin Area** , you can mark it as _trusted_.
The user authorization step is automatically skipped for this application.

## Expiring Access Tokens

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/21745) in GitLab 14.3.

By default, all new applications expire access tokens after 2 hours. In GitLab 14.2 and
earlier, OAuth access tokens had no expiration.

All integrations should update to support access token refresh.

When creating new applications, you can opt-out of expiry for backward compatibility by clearing
**Expire access tokens** when creating them. The ability to opt-out
[is deprecated](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/340848).

Existing:

- Applications can have expiring access tokens. Edit the application and select
  **Expire access tokens** to enable them.
- Tokens must be [revoked](../api/oauth2.md#revoke-a-token) or they don't expire.

When applications are deleted, all grants and tokens associated with the application are also deleted.

## Authorized applications

Every application you authorize with your GitLab credentials is shown
in the **Authorized applications** section under **Settings > Applications**.

The GitLab OAuth 2 applications support scopes, which allow various actions that any given
application can perform. Available scopes are depicted in the following table.

| Scope              | Description |
| ------------------ | ----------- |
| `api`              | Grants complete read/write access to the API, including all groups and projects, the container registry, and the package registry. |
| `read_user`        | Grants read-only access to the authenticated user's profile through the /user API endpoint, which includes username, public email, and full name. Also grants access to read-only API endpoints under /users. |
| `read_api`         |  Grants read access to the API, including all groups and projects, the container registry, and the package registry. |
| `read_repository`  |  Grants read-only access to repositories on private projects using Git-over-HTTP or the Repository Files API. |
| `write_repository` | Grants read-write access to repositories on private projects using Git-over-HTTP (not using the API). |
| `read_registry`    |  Grants read-only access to container registry images on private projects. |
| `write_registry`   | Grants read-only access to container registry images on private projects. |
| `sudo`             | Grants permission to perform API actions as any user in the system, when authenticated as an administrator user. |
| `openid`           | Grants permission to authenticate with GitLab using [OpenID Connect](openid_connect_provider.md). Also gives read-only access to the user's profile and group memberships. |
| `profile`          |  Grants read-only access to the user's profile data using [OpenID Connect](openid_connect_provider.md). |
| `email`            |  Grants read-only access to the user's primary email address using [OpenID Connect](openid_connect_provider.md). |

At any time you can revoke any access by clicking **Revoke**.