Llm wiki gitlab operating model

LLM-Wiki GitLab Operating Model

Goal

Plan an LLM-Wiki operating model for a self-managed GitLab instance inside an enterprise/internal network, with GitLab-native governance, CI/CD, permissions, compliance, publishing and reliability controls.

Use references/docs/23-gitlab-self-hosted-operating-model.md as the reference model.

When to use

• The user runs GitLab Self-Managed (CE/EE) or an air-gapped/offline GitLab contour and needs an LLM-Wiki governance and delivery model on top of it.
• Groups/subgroups, CODEOWNERS, MR approval rules, protected branches/environments or GitLab CI/CD pipelines need to be designed or reviewed for LLM-Wiki content.
• Identity/RBAC (LDAP, SAML, SCIM), runner topology, audit/compliance evidence, or offline mirror strategy need mapping to GitLab primitives.
• The user asks how to move LLM-Wiki authorship and publishing off the GitLab Wiki feature onto a CI/CODEOWNERS/eval-gated workflow.
• Not for GitHub-hosted repositories (use the GitHub-specific operating-model skill instead) or for generic project-management advice unrelated to GitLab.

Starter templates

Use these local templates when available:

• references/templates/gitlab-operating-model.yaml
• references/templates/gitlab-codeowners.llm-wiki
• references/templates/gitlab-llm-wiki-ci.yml
• references/templates/gitlab-merge-request-template.md
• references/templates/gitlab-protected-branch-environment-policy.yaml
• references/templates/gitlab-raci-daci.yaml
• references/templates/gitlab-slo-scorecard.yaml

Copy only the templates that match the user's GitLab operating-model scope, then replace placeholder groups, approvers, environments and runner assumptions.

Inputs

• GitLab edition/tier if known: Free, Premium, Ultimate; CE/EE install context if relevant.
• GitLab deployment: single-node, HA, Geo, offline/air-gapped, Kubernetes, VM/bare metal.
• Organization model: team count, top-level group strategy, subgroups, tenants/domains.
• Desired LLM-Wiki surfaces: repo docs, internal portal, GitLab Pages, MCP/API, agent bundle, exports.
• Existing controls: LDAP, SAML, SCIM, CODEOWNERS, branch protection, approval rules, protected environments, runners, registries, audit events, SIEM.
• Risk profile: internal-only, sensitive, regulated, production-critical.
• Current pain: review bottleneck, runner sprawl, policy drift, stale knowledge, ungoverned agent writes, compliance evidence gaps.

Procedure

1. Classify the deployment and constraints

Record:

gitlab:
  offering: self-managed
  edition_install: CE|EE|unknown
  tier: Free|Premium|Ultimate|unknown
  deployment: single-node|ha|geo|cloud-native|hybrid|unknown
  network: internal|restricted-egress|air-gapped|internet-exposed|unknown
  identity: ldap|saml|scim|local|unknown
  kubernetes: true|false|unknown
  compliance_requirements: []

Re-check current GitLab docs before making tier-specific statements.

2. Choose operating model

Default:

central GitLab platform hub + federated domain/content pods + security/compliance guardrails + SRE-owned reliability

Use:

Model	Use when
centralized platform	early maturity, heavy compliance, few product teams.
federated teams	mature engineering org, strong local ownership.
hub-and-pod	most self-hosted GitLab enterprises.

3. Design group/subgroup topology

Recommend a top-level group with controlled subgroups:

corp/
  platform/
  security/
  knowledge/
  domains/
  delivery/
  artifacts/

Rules:

• keep top-level Owners limited;
• separate platform-owned CI components from domain-owned content;
• use delivery/ repos when GitOps promotion must be separated from authorship;
• use artifacts/ repos for governed package/container/OCI promotion;
• avoid ad hoc subgroup sprawl.

4. Map LLM-Wiki workflow to GitLab

Use:

Issue -> feature branch -> Merge Request -> CI gates -> CODEOWNERS/approval rules -> protected branch -> protected environment -> Release/evidence

Map concerns:

Concern	GitLab primitive
work intake	Issues, labels, milestones, issue boards.
review	Merge Requests and reviewer states.
ownership	CODEOWNERS.
mandatory review	MR approval rules.
branch governance	protected branches.
validation	GitLab CI/CD.
production/public export authorization	protected environments + deployment approvals.
durable evidence	Releases, artifacts, package registry, checksums.

5. Define CODEOWNERS and approval rules

Protect:

• .gitlab-ci.yml;
• .gitlab/**;
• skills/**;
• references/templates/**;
• references/policies/**;
• api/**;
• mcp/**;
• exports/profiles/**;
• evals/**;
• wiki/policies/**;
• wiki/security/**;
• wiki/architecture/**;
• raw/manifests/**.

Risk-tier approvals:

Change type	Approvals
low-risk content update	domain owner or knowledge engineer.
page promotion	domain owner plus knowledge engineer when provenance matters.
ingestion/retrieval/eval change	technical lead plus workflow owner.
security/model/data policy	security plus product/risk owner.
CI/runners/protected branch/environment	platform plus security.
public/internal/agent export profile	publishing plus security plus domain owner.
MCP/API permission/tool change	platform plus security plus technical lead.

6. Design GitLab CI/CD and runner model

Use a split model:

central CI components + group/project extension points + scoped runners + protected deployments + release artifacts

Runner defaults:

Runner scope	Recommendation
group runners	default enterprise runner scope.
project runners	sensitive/high-privilege/special-case jobs.
instance runners	low-risk shared jobs only with segmentation and trust assumptions.
offline runners	internal images/mirrors/scanner feeds only.

CI stages:

stages:
  - validate
  - lint
  - eval
  - security
  - package
  - preview
  - deploy
  - release

7. Protect environments and publishing

Use protected environments for:

• production;
• public export;
• agent bundle;
• internal MCP/API;
• compliance evidence publication.

Public/internal/agent exports should produce release artifacts:

• export manifest;
• checksums;
• redaction report;
• citation report;
• scorecard;
• changelog;
• rollback artifact.

8. Define identity, RBAC and internal perimeter controls

Recommend:

• LDAP or SAML SSO;
• SAML group sync, SCIM or LDAP group sync where available;
• least-privilege GitLab roles;
• small top-level Owner set;
• external secrets provider for sensitive CI secrets;
• protected variables only for protected branches/tags/environments;
• protected runners for privileged jobs;
• audit events into SIEM where tier permits;
• segmented network zones for GitLab app, database/cache, runners, registries, object storage, secrets backend, Kubernetes agents and MCP/API services.

Internal network is not a sufficient security boundary.

9. Plan offline/air-gapped operations

If egress is restricted, design internal substitutes:

Need	Internal substitute
runner images	internal container registry mirror.
package dependencies	internal package registry/proxy.
security analyzers	mirrored analyzer images and offline data.
CI components	versioned platform/ci-components project.
docs/export tooling	pinned internal packages/images.
MCP/API images	signed internal OCI images.

10. Define SLOs and dashboards

Track:

• GitLab UI/API availability;
• backup success and restore drill status;
• runner queue time and utilization;
• CI success/failure by group;
• package/container registry health;
• audit stream delivery;
• review backlog;
• stale pages;
• index freshness;
• protected environment approval latency;
• export/publish pipeline status;
• patch/upgrade compliance.

11. Recommend rollout

Use phases:

1. GitLab admin ownership, SSO, top-level group structure, runner MVP, backup, base CI components.
2. Protected branch baseline, MR approval rules, CODEOWNERS, issue boards, audit collection.
3. Protected environments, deployment approvals, release evidence, SIEM forwarding, restore rehearsal, dashboards, HA/Geo decision.
4. Offline mirrors, GitOps delivery repos, runner fleet tuning, compliance framework mapping, SLO/error budget review.

Output

## GitLab self-hosted operating model

## Scope and assumptions

## Edition/tier implications

## Group/subgroup topology

## Workflow mapping

## CODEOWNERS and approval rules

## CI/CD and runner model

## Protected branches and environments

## Identity, RBAC and internal perimeter controls

## Offline/air-gapped design

## Publishing/export/MCP/API model

## SLOs and dashboards

## Rollout plan

## Risks and open decisions

Safety gates

• Do not assume GitLab feature availability without checking current tier/version docs.
• Do not treat internal network placement as a substitute for RBAC, segmentation, audit and secrets controls.
• Do not recommend broad instance runners for sensitive jobs without segmentation and runner trust review.
• Do not recommend GitLab Wiki for production LLM-Wiki knowledge that needs CI, CODEOWNERS, evals and export gates.
• Do not enable public/internal agent bundles without export profiles, redaction and protected-environment approvals.
• Do not treat Geo as high availability; evaluate HA and DR separately.