GitLab 10.6: CI/CD for GitHub and Expanded Kubernetes Support

This article is based on information originally reported by jaxenter.com and the GitLab 10.6 release announcement (March 2018).

Overview

GitLab 10.6, released in March 2018, addressed one of the most-requested gaps in the GitLab ecosystem: native CI/CD pipeline support for repositories hosted on GitHub. Alongside that headline feature, the release expanded Kubernetes cluster management capabilities, improved security scanning, and added several quality-of-life improvements for development teams.

CI/CD Integration for GitHub and External Repositories

Before 10.6, GitLab’s powerful built-in CI/CD pipelines were only straightforwardly available to projects hosted directly on GitLab. Teams that kept their source code on GitHub had to rely on third-party CI services or manual workarounds. GitLab 10.6 closes that gap by allowing users to create a GitLab CI/CD project that mirrors and monitors an external repository.

The integration works as follows:

• A GitLab user creates a new CI/CD project and connects it to an external GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise repository.
• Whenever code is pushed to the connected GitHub repository, GitLab CI/CD automatically triggers the configured pipeline.
• Pipeline results — pass, fail, and individual job statuses — are posted back to both GitLab and GitHub, appearing as commit status checks on the GitHub pull request or commit view.

Support was also extended to other external repositories, including Bitbucket, giving teams a single, standardised CI/CD layer regardless of where their source code lives.

Who Benefits from This Change?

GitLab identified four groups that stand to gain the most from the GitHub CI/CD integration:

Open Source Projects

GitLab already offered all public projects access to its highest-tier features at no cost. With the GitHub integration, open source projects hosted on GitHub can leverage GitLab CI/CD — including support for hundreds of concurrent jobs and 50,000 free pipeline minutes — without migrating their codebase.

Large Enterprises

Enterprise engineering organisations frequently run multiple Git hosting platforms across different business units or acquired companies. Standardising CI/CD tooling across GitHub, GitLab, and other repositories was previously complex. GitLab 10.6 gives platform teams a single CI/CD control plane without forcing teams to migrate source code.

GitHub Users

Individual developers and small teams with existing GitHub accounts could access GitLab CI/CD for GitHub free of charge for one year from launch, with 2,000 free pipeline minutes per month included. Higher usage tiers were available through a paid upgrade.

Gemnasium Customers

GitLab had recently acquired Gemnasium, a dependency security monitoring service, and announced that the standalone Gemnasium service would shut down on 15 May 2018. Gemnasium’s dependency-scanning capabilities were folded into GitLab’s security scanning features. The GitHub CI/CD integration gave Gemnasium customers a migration path: they could point GitLab CI/CD at their existing GitHub repositories and immediately benefit from the integrated security scanning without moving their code.

Expanded Kubernetes Support

GitLab 10.4 had introduced Kubernetes Cluster Integration and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Integration, allowing developers to connect existing clusters or provision new ones directly from the GitLab UI. GitLab 10.6 built on that foundation with two notable additions:

• One-click GitLab Runner deployment: Users can install a GitLab Runner onto a connected Kubernetes cluster from within the GitLab interface, without manually configuring helm charts or kubectl commands.
• Cluster monitoring and Ingress visibility: Teams can monitor the health of connected clusters and view the IP address of an Ingress controller directly from the GitLab Clusters page, reducing the need to switch to the cloud provider’s console for routine checks.

Other Notable Improvements in 10.6

Several other improvements shipped alongside the headline features:

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST) enhancements: Improvements to the built-in SAST tooling for catching vulnerabilities earlier in the pipeline.
• Branches overview: A redesigned branch listing page giving teams a clearer picture of active, stale, and merged branches.
• Internationalisation: Added UI language support for Filipino, Indonesian, and Turkish.

For the full list of changes, refer to the official GitLab 10.6 changelog on the GitLab website.

Summary

GitLab 10.6 is a significant release for teams operating in mixed-SCM environments. The GitHub CI/CD integration removes a long-standing barrier to adopting GitLab pipelines without a full platform migration. Combined with the improved Kubernetes Runner deployment and enhanced security scanning, it represents a meaningful step toward GitLab’s goal of being a complete DevOps platform regardless of where source code is hosted.