Skip to content

Topics API (FREE ALL)

Introduced in GitLab 14.5.

Interact with project topics using the REST API.

List topics

Returns a list of project topics in the GitLab instance ordered by number of associated projects.

GET /topics

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
page integer No Page to retrieve. Defaults to 1.
per_page integer No Number of records to return per page. Defaults to 20.
search string No Search topics against their name.
without_projects boolean No Limit results to topics without assigned projects.

Example request:

curl "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics?search=git"

Example response:

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "gitlab",
    "title": "GitLab",
    "description": "GitLab is an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.",
    "total_projects_count": 1000,
    "avatar_url": "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/a0d477b3ea21970ce6ffcbb817b0b435?s=80&d=identicon"
  },
  {
    "id": 3,
    "name": "git",
    "title": "Git",
    "description": "Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.",
    "total_projects_count": 900,
    "avatar_url": "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/e64c7d89f26bd1972efa854d13d7dd61?s=80&d=identicon"
  },
  {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "git-lfs",
    "title": "Git LFS",
    "description": null,
    "total_projects_count": 300,
    "avatar_url": null
  }
]

Get a topic

Get a project topic by ID.

GET /topics/:id

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
id integer Yes ID of project topic

Example request:

curl "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/1"

Example response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "gitlab",
  "title": "GitLab",
  "description": "GitLab is an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.",
  "total_projects_count": 1000,
  "avatar_url": "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/a0d477b3ea21970ce6ffcbb817b0b435?s=80&d=identicon"
}

List projects assigned to a topic

Use the Projects API to list all projects assigned to a specific topic.

GET /projects?topic=<topic_name>

Create a project topic

Create a new project topic. Only available to administrators.

POST /topics

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
name string Yes Slug (name)
title string Yes Title
avatar file No Avatar
description string No Description

Example request:

curl --request POST \
     --data "name=topic1&title=Topic 1" \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics"

Example response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "topic1",
  "title": "Topic 1",
  "description": null,
  "total_projects_count": 0,
  "avatar_url": null
}

Update a project topic

Update a project topic. Only available to administrators.

PUT /topics/:id

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
id integer Yes ID of project topic
avatar file No Avatar
description string No Description
name string No Slug (name)
title string No Title

Example request:

curl --request PUT \
     --data "name=topic1" \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/1"

Example response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "topic1",
  "title": "Topic 1",
  "description": null,
  "total_projects_count": 0,
  "avatar_url": null
}

Upload a topic avatar

To upload an avatar file from your file system, use the --form argument. This argument causes cURL to post data using the header Content-Type: multipart/form-data. The file= parameter must point to a file on your file system and be preceded by @. For example:

curl --request PUT \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/1" \
     --form "avatar=@/tmp/example.png"

Remove a topic avatar

Introduced in GitLab 14.6.

To remove a topic avatar, use a blank value for the avatar attribute.

Example request:

curl --request PUT \
     --data "avatar=" \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/1"

Delete a project topic

Introduced in GitLab 14.9.

You must be an administrator to delete a project topic. When you delete a project topic, you also delete the topic assignment for projects.

DELETE /topics/:id

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
id integer Yes ID of project topic

Example request:

curl --request DELETE \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/1"

Merge topics

Introduced in GitLab 15.4.

You must be an administrator to merge a source topic into a target topic. When you merge topics, you delete the source topic and move all assigned projects to the target topic.

POST /topics/merge

Supported attributes:

Attribute Type Required Description
source_topic_id integer Yes ID of source project topic
target_topic_id integer Yes ID of target project topic

Example request:

curl --request POST \
     --data "source_topic_id=2&target_topic_id=1" \
     --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/topics/merge"

Example response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "topic1",
  "title": "Topic 1",
  "description": null,
  "total_projects_count": 0,
  "avatar_url": null
}