Glab runner

glab runner

Manage GitLab CI/CD runners from the command line.

Added in glab v1.87.0

Quick Start

# List runners for current project
glab runner list

# Pause a runner
glab runner pause <runner-id>

# Delete a runner
glab runner delete <runner-id>

Common Workflows

List Runners

# List all runners for current project
glab runner list

# List for a specific project
glab runner list --repo owner/project

# List all runners (instance-level, admin only)
glab runner list --all

# Output as JSON
glab runner list --output json

# Paginate
glab runner list --page 2 --per-page 50

Sample JSON output parsing:

# Find all paused runners
glab runner list --output json | python3 -c "
import sys, json
runners = json.load(sys.stdin)
paused = [r for r in runners if r.get('paused')]
for r in paused:
    print(f\"{r['id']}: {r.get('description','(no description)')} — {r.get('status')}\")
"

Pause a Runner

Pausing a runner prevents it from picking up new jobs without removing it.

# Pause runner 123
glab runner pause 123

# Pause in a specific project context
glab runner pause 123 --repo owner/project

When to pause:

• Maintenance window (updates, reboots)
• Investigating a failing runner
• Temporarily reducing runner capacity
• Before decommissioning (verify no jobs are running first)

Delete a Runner

# Delete with confirmation prompt
glab runner delete 123

# Delete without confirmation
glab runner delete 123 --force

# Delete in a specific project context
glab runner delete 123 --repo owner/project

⚠️ Deletion is permanent. Pause first if unsure.

Decision Tree: Pause vs Delete

Do you need the runner gone permanently?
├─ No → Pause it (recoverable)
└─ Yes → Is it actively running jobs?
          ├─ Yes → Pause first, wait for jobs to finish, then delete
          └─ No → Delete with --force

Runner Status Reference

Status	Meaning
online	Connected and ready to accept jobs
offline	Not connected (check runner process)
paused	Connected but not accepting new jobs
stale	No contact in the last 3 months

Troubleshooting

"runner: command not found":

• Requires glab v1.87.0+. Check with glab version.

"Permission denied" on instance-level runners:

• Instance-level runner management requires GitLab admin privileges.
• Project runners can be managed by project maintainers.

Runner won't pause:

• Verify runner ID with glab runner list.
• Check permissions (must be at least Maintainer on the project).

Runner stuck "online" after pause:

• The runner process is still running on the host — it just won't accept new jobs.
• This is expected. To fully stop, SSH into the runner host and stop the process.

Cannot delete runner:

• Runner may be shared/group-level (requires higher privileges).
• Check if runner is assigned to multiple projects; removing from one project may require project-level deletion vs instance-level.

Assign / Unassign Runners to Projects (v1.88.0+)

Assign an existing runner to a project so it can pick up jobs:

# Assign a runner to the current project
glab runner assign <runner-id>

# Assign to a specific project
glab runner assign <runner-id> --repo owner/project

Remove a runner from a project (does not delete the runner):

# Unassign from current project
glab runner unassign <runner-id>

# Unassign from a specific project
glab runner unassign <runner-id> --repo owner/project

Note: Assigning/unassigning requires at least Maintainer role on the project. This is different from glab runner delete which permanently removes the runner.

Related Skills

• glab-runner-controller — Manage runner controllers and orchestration (admin-only, experimental)
• glab-ci — View and manage CI/CD pipelines and jobs
• glab-job — Retry, cancel, trace logs for individual jobs

v1.88.0 Changes

• Added glab runner assign <runner-id> — assign a runner to a project
• Added glab runner unassign <runner-id> — unassign a runner from a project

Command Reference

glab runner <command> [--flags]

Commands:
  list      Get a list of runners available to the user
  assign    Assign a runner to a project (v1.88.0+)
  unassign  Unassign a runner from a project (v1.88.0+)
  pause     Pause a runner
  delete    Delete a runner

Flags (list):
  --all          List all runners (instance-level, admin only)
  --output       Format output as: text, json
  --page         Page number
  --per-page     Number of items per page
  --repo         Select a repository
  -h, --help     Show help

Flags (pause / delete):
  --force        Skip confirmation prompt (delete only)
  --repo         Select a repository
  -h, --help     Show help