external-secrets/docs/provider-gitlab-project-variables.md

## Gitlab Project Variables

External Secrets Operator integrates with [Gitlab API](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/project_level_variables.html) to sync Gitlab project variables to secrets held on the Kubernetes cluster.

### Authentication

The API requires an access token and project ID. To create a new access token, go to your user settings and select 'access tokens'. Give your token a name, expiration date, and select the permissions required (Note 'api' is required).

![token-details](./pictures/screenshot_gitlab_token.png)

Click 'Create personal access token', and your token will be generated and displayed on screen. Copy or save this token since you can't access it again.
![token-created](./pictures/screenshot_gitlab_token_created.png)



### Access Token secret

Create a secret containing your access token:

```yaml
{% include 'gitlab-credentials-secret.yaml' %}
```

### Update secret store
Be sure the `gitlab` provider is listed in the `Kind=SecretStore` and the ProjectID is set. If you are not using `https://gitlab.com`, you must set the `url` field as well.

```yaml
{% include 'gitlab-secret-store.yaml' %}
```
**NOTE:** In case of a `ClusterSecretStore`, Be sure to provide `namespace` in `accessToken` with the namespace where the secret resides.

Your project ID can be found on your project's page.
![projectID](./pictures/screenshot_gitlab_projectID.png)

### Creating external secret

To sync a Gitlab variable to a secret on the Kubernetes cluster, a `Kind=ExternalSecret` is needed.

```yaml
{% include 'gitlab-external-secret.yaml' %}
```

#### Using DataFrom

DataFrom can be used to get a variable as a JSON string and attempt to parse it.

```yaml
{% include 'gitlab-external-secret-json.yaml' %}
```

### Getting the Kubernetes secret
The operator will fetch the project variable and inject it as a `Kind=Secret`.
```
kubectl get secret gitlab-secret-to-create -o jsonpath='{.data.secretKey}' | base64 -d
```