How to enable or disable GitLab CI/CD (FREE)

To effectively use GitLab CI/CD, you need:

A valid .gitlab-ci.yml file present at the root directory of your project.
A runner properly set up.

You can read our quick start guide to get you started.

If you are using an external CI/CD server like Jenkins or Drone CI, it is advised to disable GitLab CI/CD in order to not have any conflicts with the commits status API.

GitLab CI/CD is exposed by using the /pipelines and /jobs pages of a project. Disabling GitLab CI/CD in a project does not delete any previous jobs. In fact, the /pipelines and /jobs pages can still be accessed, although it's hidden from the left sidebar menu.

GitLab CI/CD is enabled by default on new installations and can be disabled either:

Individually under each project's settings.
Site-wide by modifying the settings in gitlab.yml and gitlab.rb for source and Omnibus installations respectively.

This only applies to pipelines run as part of GitLab CI/CD. This doesn't enable or disable pipelines that are run from an external integration.

Per-project user setting

To enable or disable GitLab CI/CD pipelines in your project:

On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
Expand Visibility, project features, permissions.
In the Repository section, turn on or off CI/CD as required.

Project visibility also affects pipeline visibility. If set to:

Private: Only project members can access pipelines.
Internal or Public: Pipelines can be set to either Only Project Members or Everyone With Access by using the dropdown box.

Press Save changes for the settings to take effect.

Make GitLab CI/CD disabled by default in new projects

You can set GitLab CI/CD to be disabled by default in all new projects by modifying the settings in:

gitlab.yml for source installations.
gitlab.rb for Omnibus GitLab installations.

Existing projects that already had CI/CD enabled are unchanged. Also, this setting only changes the project default, so project owners can still enable CI/CD in the project settings.

For installations from source:

Open gitlab.yml with your editor and set builds to false:

## Default project features settings
default_projects_features:
  issues: true
  merge_requests: true
  wiki: true
  snippets: false
  builds: false

Save the gitlab.yml file.
Restart GitLab:
```
sudo service gitlab restart
```

For Omnibus GitLab installations:

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add this line:

gitlab_rails['gitlab_default_projects_features_builds'] = false

Save the /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb file.
Reconfigure GitLab:
```
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
```