path: root/docs/api-usage.rst

############################
Getting started with the API
############################

python-gitlab supports both GitLab v3 and v4 APIs.

v3 being deprecated by GitLab, its support in python-gitlab will be minimal.
The development team will focus on v4.

v3 is still the default API used by python-gitlab, for compatibility reasons.


``gitlab.Gitlab`` class
=======================

To connect to a GitLab server, create a ``gitlab.Gitlab`` object:

.. code-block:: python

   import gitlab

   # private token or personal token authentication
   gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', private_token='JVNSESs8EwWRx5yDxM5q')

   # oauth token authentication
   gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', oauth_token='my_long_token_here')

   # username/password authentication (for GitLab << 10.2)
   gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', email='jdoe', password='s3cr3t')

   # anonymous gitlab instance, read-only for public resources
   gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1')

   # make an API request to create the gl.user object. This is mandatory if you
   # use the username/password authentication.
   gl.auth()

You can also use configuration files to create ``gitlab.Gitlab`` objects:

.. code-block:: python

   gl = gitlab.Gitlab.from_config('somewhere', ['/tmp/gl.cfg'])

See the :ref:`cli_configuration` section for more information about
configuration files.

Note on password authentication
-------------------------------

The ``/session`` API endpoint used for username/password authentication has
been removed from GitLab in version 10.2, and is not available on gitlab.com
anymore. Personal token authentication is the prefered authentication method.

If you need username/password authentication, you can use cookie-based
authentication. You can use the web UI form to authenticate, retrieve cookies,
and then use a custom ``requests.Session`` object to connect to the GitLab API.
The following code snippet demonstrates how to automate this:
https://gist.github.com/gpocentek/bd4c3fbf8a6ce226ebddc4aad6b46c0a.

See `issue 380 <https://github.com/python-gitlab/python-gitlab/issues/380>`_
for a detailed discussion.

API version
===========

``python-gitlab`` uses the v3 GitLab API by default. Use the ``api_version``
parameter to switch to v4:

.. code-block:: python

   import gitlab

   gl = gitlab.Gitlab('http://10.0.0.1', 'JVNSESs8EwWRx5yDxM5q', api_version=4)

.. warning::

   The python-gitlab API is not the same for v3 and v4. Make sure to read
   :ref:`switching_to_v4` before upgrading.

   v4 will become the default in python-gitlab.

Managers
========

The ``gitlab.Gitlab`` class provides managers to access the GitLab resources.
Each manager provides a set of methods to act on the resources. The available
methods depend on the resource type.

Examples:

.. code-block:: python

   # list all the projects
   projects = gl.projects.list()
   for project in projects:
       print(project)

   # get the group with id == 2
   group = gl.groups.get(2)
   for group in groups:
       print()

   # create a new user
   user_data = {'email': 'jen@foo.com', 'username': 'jen', 'name': 'Jen'}
   user = gl.users.create(user_data)
   print(user)

You can list the mandatory and optional attributes for object creation
with the manager's ``get_create_attrs()`` method. It returns 2 tuples, the
first one is the list of mandatory attributes, the second one the list of
optional attribute:

.. code-block:: python

   # v4 only
   print(gl.projects.get_create_attrs())
   (('name',), ('path', 'namespace_id', ...))

The attributes of objects are defined upon object creation, and depend on the
GitLab API itself. To list the available information associated with an object
use the python introspection tools for v3, or the ``attributes`` attribute for
v4:

.. code-block:: python

   project = gl.projects.get(1)

   # v3
   print(vars(project))
   # or
   print(project.__dict__)

   # v4
   print(project.attributes)

Some objects also provide managers to access related GitLab resources:

.. code-block:: python

   # list the issues for a project
   project = gl.projects.get(1)
   issues = project.issues.list()

Gitlab Objects
==============

You can update or delete a remote object when it exists locally:

.. code-block:: python

   # update the attributes of a resource
   project = gl.projects.get(1)
   project.wall_enabled = False
   # don't forget to apply your changes on the server:
   project.save()

   # delete the resource
   project.delete()

Some classes provide additional methods, allowing more actions on the GitLab
resources. For example:

.. code-block:: python

   # star a git repository
   project = gl.projects.get(1)
   project.star()

Base types
==========

The ``gitlab`` package provides some base types.

* ``gitlab.Gitlab`` is the primary class, handling the HTTP requests. It holds
  the GitLab URL and authentication information.

For v4 the following types are defined:

* ``gitlab.base.RESTObject`` is the base class for all the GitLab v4 objects.
  These objects provide an abstraction for GitLab resources (projects, groups,
  and so on).
* ``gitlab.base.RESTManager`` is the base class for v4 objects managers,
  providing the API to manipulate the resources and their attributes.

For v3 the following types are defined:

* ``gitlab.base.GitlabObject`` is the base class for all the GitLab v3 objects.
  These objects provide an abstraction for GitLab resources (projects, groups,
  and so on).
* ``gitlab.base.BaseManager`` is the base class for v3 objects managers,
  providing the API to manipulate the resources and their attributes.

Lazy objects (v4 only)
======================

To avoid useless calls to the server API, you can create lazy objects. These
objects are created locally using a known ID, and give access to other managers
and methods.

The following exemple will only make one API call to the GitLab server to star
a project:

.. code-block:: python

   # star a git repository
   project = gl.projects.get(1, lazy=True)  # no API call
   project.star()  # API call

Pagination
==========

You can use pagination to iterate over long lists. All the Gitlab objects
listing methods support the ``page`` and ``per_page`` parameters:

.. code-block:: python

   ten_first_groups = gl.groups.list(page=1, per_page=10)

.. note::

   The first page is page 1, not page 0, except for project commits in v3 API.

By default GitLab does not return the complete list of items. Use the ``all``
parameter to get all the items when using listing methods:

.. code-block:: python

   all_groups = gl.groups.list(all=True)
   all_owned_projects = gl.projects.owned(all=True)

.. warning::

   python-gitlab will iterate over the list by calling the corresponding API
   multiple times. This might take some time if you have a lot of items to
   retrieve. This might also consume a lot of memory as all the items will be
   stored in RAM. If you're encountering the python recursion limit exception,
   use ``safe_all=True`` instead to stop pagination automatically if the
   recursion limit is hit.

With v4, ``list()`` methods can also return a generator object which will
handle the next calls to the API when required:

.. code-block:: python

   items = gl.groups.list(as_list=False)
   for item in items:
       print(item.attributes)

The generator exposes extra listing information as received by the server:

* ``current_page``: current page number (first page is 1)
* ``prev_page``: if ``None`` the current page is the first one
* ``next_page``: if ``None`` the current page is the last one
* ``per_page``: number of items per page
* ``total_pages``: total number of pages available
* ``total``: total number of items in the list

Sudo
====

If you have the administrator status, you can use ``sudo`` to act as another
user. For example:

.. code-block:: python

   p = gl.projects.create({'name': 'awesome_project'}, sudo='user1')

Advanced HTTP configuration
===========================

python-gitlab relies on ``requests`` ``Session`` objects to perform all the
HTTP requests to the Gitlab servers.

You can provide your own ``Session`` object with custom configuration when
you create a ``Gitlab`` object.

Context manager
---------------

You can use ``Gitlab`` objects as context managers. This makes sure that the
``requests.Session`` object associated with a ``Gitlab`` instance is always
properly closed when you exit a ``with`` block:

.. code-block:: python

   with gitlab.Gitlab(host, token) as gl:
       gl.projects.list()

.. warning::

   The context manager will also close the custom ``Session`` object you might
   have used to build a ``Gitlab`` instance.

Proxy configuration
-------------------

The following sample illustrates how to define a proxy configuration when using
python-gitlab:

.. code-block:: python

   import gitlab
   import requests

   session = requests.Session()
   session.proxies = {
       'https': os.environ.get('https_proxy'),
       'http': os.environ.get('http_proxy'),
   }
   gl = gitlab.gitlab(url, token, api_version=4, session=session)

Reference:
http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#proxies

Client side certificate
-----------------------

The following sample illustrates how to use a client-side certificate:

.. code-block:: python

   import gitlab
   import requests

   session = requests.Session()
   s.cert = ('/path/to/client.cert', '/path/to/client.key')
   gl = gitlab.gitlab(url, token, api_version=4, session=session)

Reference:
http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#client-side-certificates