GitLab and Gitea Integration Explained for Teams That Want Real Control

Your CI pipeline just failed because a self-hosted repo token expired again. You stare at your screen, knowing this will cost you an hour of debugging permissions that nobody truly owns. There is a cleaner way, and that way starts by making GitLab and Gitea work like one system instead of two competing islands.

GitLab is the powerhouse of CI/CD, built for scale and compliance. Gitea is the light, fast, open-source answer to GitHub or Bitbucket. Together, they let teams mix deep automation with simple hosting, keeping developers productive while tightening control over access. The integration makes sense when you want GitLab’s pipelines to test or deploy code stored in Gitea, without manually juggling tokens or SSH keys.

Here is what the pairing actually does. Gitea hosts your Git repositories behind a familiar web UI. GitLab consumes them for build and deploy automation. The connection comes down to identities, permissions, and webhook triggers. You can use OAuth2 or an OpenID Connect provider like Okta or Keycloak to unify login flows, so both systems share the same RBAC logic. Once configured, GitLab runs jobs automatically whenever Gitea pushes new commits. No copy-paste tokens, no “who owns this deploy key” Slack debate.

To keep the handshake stable, map service accounts carefully. Rotate secrets often and document webhook endpoints. Gitea’s admin interface makes it easy to check who generated each access token. Combine that with GitLab’s audit logs, and you get an end-to-end trace from commit to container without wondering who pressed deploy.

Benefits of GitLab and Gitea together:

• Faster development loops with automated builds triggered by Gitea pushes
• Centralized identity and permission management via existing IAM providers
• Reduced surface area for credential leaks or forgotten deploy keys
• Easier compliance review with auditable activity across both systems
• Lower infrastructure load without losing CI depth or repo simplicity

For developers, the best part is workflow clarity. You push, GitLab runs, and results appear instantly. Fewer tabs open, no manual sync scripts. The setup reduces toil and improves developer velocity, especially when onboarding new engineers who just need code access and a working pipeline—not a maze of permission dashboards.

AI-assisted tooling adds another layer here. Copilot-style agents can read repo metadata from Gitea and trigger GitLab jobs intelligently, predicting which build stages matter. Just be sure those bots respect access boundaries. OAuth and OIDC rules act as guardrails, preventing data exposure and ensuring automated helpers do not leak secrets.

Platforms like hoop.dev turn those access rules into guardrails that enforce identity and policy automatically. Instead of chasing permissions across GitLab and Gitea, you define policies once and let the proxy enforce them in real time.

How do I connect GitLab and Gitea securely?
Use OAuth2 or OIDC identity federation. Register GitLab as an external app inside Gitea, set redirect URIs, and assign appropriate scopes for repo and workflow access. This approach avoids static keys and enables automatic token refresh under your IAM control.

The takeaway is simple. GitLab brings power, Gitea brings freedom, and the integration finally brings peace. Set up identity once, connect automation pipelines properly, and let your development flow stay focused on code, not credentials.

See an Environment Agnostic Identity-Aware Proxy in action with hoop.dev. Deploy it, connect your identity provider, and watch it protect your endpoints everywhere—live in minutes.