OmniAuth
GitLab leverages OmniAuth to allow users to sign in using Twitter, GitHub, and other popular services.
Configuring OmniAuth does not prevent standard GitLab authentication or LDAP (if configured) from continuing to work. Users can choose to sign in using any of the configured mechanisms.
- Initial OmniAuth Configuration
- Supported Providers
- Enable OmniAuth for an Existing User
- OmniAuth configuration sample when using Omnibus GitLab
Initial OmniAuth Configuration
Before configuring individual OmniAuth providers there are a few global settings that are in common for all providers that we need to consider.
- Omniauth needs to be enabled, see details below for example.
-
allow_single_sign_on
defaults tofalse
. Iffalse
users must be created manually or they will not be able to sign in via OmniAuth. -
block_auto_created_users
defaults totrue
. Iftrue
auto created users will be blocked by default and will have to be unblocked by an administrator before they are able to sign in. -
Note: If you set
allow_single_sign_on
totrue
andblock_auto_created_users
tofalse
please be aware that any user on the Internet will be able to successfully sign in to your GitLab without administrative approval.
If you want to change these settings:
-
For omnibus package
Open the configuration file:
sudo editor /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and change
gitlab_rails['omniauth_enabled'] = true gitlab_rails['omniauth_allow_single_sign_on'] = false gitlab_rails['omniauth_block_auto_created_users'] = true
-
For installations from source
Open the configuration file:
cd /home/git/gitlab sudo -u git -H editor config/gitlab.yml
and change the following section
## OmniAuth settings omniauth: # Allow login via Twitter, Google, etc. using OmniAuth providers enabled: true # CAUTION! # This allows users to login without having a user account first (default: false). # User accounts will be created automatically when authentication was successful. allow_single_sign_on: false # Locks down those users until they have been cleared by the admin (default: true). block_auto_created_users: true
Now we can choose one or more of the Supported Providers below to continue configuration.
Supported Providers
Enable OmniAuth for an Existing User
Existing users can enable OmniAuth for specific providers after the account is created. For example, if the user originally signed in with LDAP an OmniAuth provider such as Twitter can be enabled. Follow the steps below to enable an OmniAuth provider for an existing user.
- Sign in normally - whether standard sign in, LDAP, or another OmniAuth provider.
- Go to profile settings (the silhouette icon in the top right corner).
- Select the "Account" tab.
- Under "Connected Accounts" select the desired OmniAuth provider, such as Twitter.
- The user will be redirected to the provider. Once the user authorized GitLab they will be redirected back to GitLab.
The chosen OmniAuth provider is now active and can be used to sign in to GitLab from then on.
Using Custom Omniauth Providers
GitLab uses Omniauth for authentication and already ships with a few providers preinstalled (e.g. LDAP, GitHub, Twitter). But sometimes that is not enough and you need to integrate with other authentication solutions. For these cases you can use the Omniauth provider.
Steps
These steps are fairly general and you will need to figure out the exact details from the Omniauth provider's documentation.
-
Stop GitLab:
sudo service gitlab stop
-
Add the gem to your Gemfile:
gem "omniauth-your-auth-provider"
-
If you're using MySQL, install the new Omniauth provider gem by running the following command:
sudo -u git -H bundle install --without development test postgres --path vendor/bundle --no-deployment
-
If you're using PostgreSQL, install the new Omniauth provider gem by running the following command:
sudo -u git -H bundle install --without development test mysql --path vendor/bundle --no-deployment
These are the same commands you used in the Install Gems section with
--path vendor/bundle --no-deployment
instead of--deployment
. -
Start GitLab:
sudo service gitlab start
Examples
If you have successfully set up a provider that is not shipped with GitLab itself, please let us know.
You can help others by reporting successful configurations and probably share a few insights or provide warnings for common errors or pitfalls by sharing your experience in the public Wiki.
While we can't officially support every possible authentication mechanism out there, we'd like to at least help those with specific needs.