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Account and limit settings (FREE SELF)

Default projects limit

You can configure the default maximum number of projects new users can create in their personal namespace. This limit affects only new user accounts created after you change the setting. This setting is not retroactive for existing users, but you can separately edit the project limits for existing users.

To configure the maximum number of projects in personal namespaces for new users:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Increase or decrease that Default projects limit value.

If you set Default projects limit to 0, users are not allowed to create projects in their users personal namespace. However, projects can still be created in a group.

Projects limit for a user

You can edit a specific user, and change the maximum number of projects this user can create in their personal namespace:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Overview > Users.
  4. From the list of users, select a user.
  5. Select Edit.
  6. Increase or decrease the Projects limit value.

Max attachment size

Changed from 10 MB to 100 MB in GitLab 15.7.

The maximum file size for attachments in GitLab comments and replies is 100 MB. To change the maximum attachment size:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Increase or decrease by changing the value in Maximum attachment size (MiB).

If you choose a size larger than the configured value for the web server, you may receive errors. Read the troubleshooting section for more details.

For GitLab.com repository size limits, read accounts and limit settings.

Max push size

You can change the maximum push size for your instance:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Increase or decrease by changing the value in Maximum push size (MiB).

For GitLab.com push size limits, read accounts and limit settings.

NOTE: When you add files to a repository through the web UI, the maximum attachment size is the limiting factor, because the web server must receive the file before GitLab can generate the commit. Use Git LFS to add large files to a repository.

Personal access token prefix

You can specify a prefix for personal access tokens. You might use a prefix to find tokens more quickly, or for use with automation tools.

The default prefix is glpat- but administrators can change it.

Project access tokens and group access tokens also inherit this prefix.

Set a prefix

To change the default global prefix:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand the Account and limit section.
  5. Fill in the Personal Access Token prefix field.
  6. Select Save changes.

You can also configure the prefix by using the settings API.

Repository size limit (PREMIUM SELF)

Repositories in your GitLab instance can grow quickly, especially if you are using LFS. Their size can grow exponentially, rapidly consuming available storage. To prevent this from happening, you can set a hard limit for your repositories' size. This limit can be set globally, per group, or per project, with per project limits taking the highest priority.

There are numerous use cases where you might set up a limit for repository size. For instance, consider the following workflow:

  1. Your team develops apps which require large files to be stored in the application repository.
  2. Although you have enabled Git LFS to your project, your storage has grown significantly.
  3. Before you exceed available storage, you set up a limit of 10 GB per repository.

NOTE: For GitLab.com repository size limits, read accounts and limit settings.

How it works

Only a GitLab administrator can set those limits. Setting the limit to 0 means there are no restrictions.

These settings can be found in:

  • Each project's settings:
    1. From the Project's homepage, navigate to Settings > General.
    2. Fill in the Repository size limit (MiB) field in the Naming, topics, avatar section.
    3. Select Save changes.
  • Each group's settings:
    1. From the Group's homepage, navigate to Settings > General.
    2. Fill in the Repository size limit (MiB) field in the Naming, visibility section.
    3. Select Save changes.
  • GitLab global settings:
    1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
    2. Select Admin Area.
    3. Select Settings > General.
    4. Expand the Account and limit section.
    5. Fill in the Size limit per repository (MiB) field.
    6. Select Save changes.

The first push of a new project, including LFS objects, is checked for size. If the sum of their sizes exceeds the maximum allowed repository size, the push is rejected.

NOTE: The repository size limit includes repository files and LFS, but does not include artifacts, uploads, wiki, packages, or snippets. The repository size limit applies to both private and public projects.

For details on manually purging files, see reducing the repository size using Git.

Session duration

Customize the default session duration

You can change how long users can remain signed in without activity.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit. The set duration is in Session duration (minutes).

If Remember me is enabled, users' sessions can remain active for an indefinite period of time.

For details, see cookies used for sign-in.

Turn Remember me on or off

Ability to turn the Remember me setting on and off introduced in GitLab 16.0.

Users can select the Remember me checkbox on sign-in, and their session will remain active for an indefinite period of time when accessed from that specific browser. You can turn off this setting if you need sessions to expire for security or compliance purposes. Turning off this setting will ensure users' sessions expire after the number of minutes of inactivity set when you customize your session duration.

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Select or clear the Remember me checkbox to turn this setting on or off.

Customize session duration for Git Operations when 2FA is enabled (PREMIUM SELF)

  • Introduced in GitLab 13.9.
  • It's deployed behind a feature flag, disabled by default.

FLAG: On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available, an administrator can enable the feature flag named two_factor_for_cli. On GitLab.com, this feature is not available. This feature is not ready for production use. This feature flag also affects 2FA for Git over SSH operations.

GitLab administrators can choose to customize the session duration (in minutes) for Git operations when 2FA is enabled. The default is 15 and this can be set to a value between 1 and 10080.

To set a limit on how long these sessions are valid:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand the Account and limit section.
  5. Fill in the Session duration for Git operations when 2FA is enabled (minutes) field.
  6. Select Save changes.

Limit the lifetime of SSH keys (ULTIMATE SELF)

Users can optionally specify a lifetime for SSH keys. This lifetime is not a requirement, and can be set to any arbitrary number of days.

SSH keys are user credentials to access GitLab. However, organizations with security requirements may want to enforce more protection by requiring the regular rotation of these keys.

Set a lifetime

Only a GitLab administrator can set a lifetime. Leaving it empty means there are no restrictions.

To set a lifetime on how long SSH keys are valid:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand the Account and limit section.
  5. Fill in the Maximum allowable lifetime for SSH keys (days) field.
  6. Select Save changes.

Once a lifetime for SSH keys is set, GitLab:

  • Requires users to set an expiration date that is no later than the allowed lifetime on new SSH keys.
  • Applies the lifetime restriction to existing SSH keys. Keys with no expiry or a lifetime greater than the maximum immediately become invalid.

NOTE: When a user's SSH key becomes invalid they can delete and re-add the same key again.

Limit the lifetime of access tokens (ULTIMATE SELF)

Introduced in GitLab 12.6.

Users can optionally specify a maximum lifetime in days for access tokens, this includes personal, group, and project access tokens. This lifetime is not a requirement, and can be set to any value greater than 0 and less than or equal to 365. If this setting is left blank, the default allowable lifetime of access tokens is 365 days.

Access tokens are the only tokens needed for programmatic access to GitLab. However, organizations with security requirements may want to enforce more protection by requiring the regular rotation of these tokens.

Set a lifetime

Only a GitLab administrator can set a lifetime. Leaving it empty means there are no restrictions.

To set a lifetime on how long access tokens are valid:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand the Account and limit section.
  5. Fill in the Maximum allowable lifetime for access tokens (days) field.
  6. Select Save changes.

Once a lifetime for access tokens is set, GitLab:

  • Applies the lifetime for new personal access tokens, and require users to set an expiration date and a date no later than the allowed lifetime.
  • After three hours, revoke old tokens with no expiration date or with a lifetime longer than the allowed lifetime. Three hours is given to allow administrators to change the allowed lifetime, or remove it, before revocation takes place.

Disable user profile name changes (PREMIUM SELF)

Introduced in GitLab 12.7.

To maintain integrity of user details in Audit Events, GitLab administrators can choose to disable a user's ability to change their profile name.

To do this:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Select the Prevent users from changing their profile name checkbox.

NOTE: When this ability is disabled, GitLab administrators can still use the Admin Area or the API to update usernames.

Prevent new users from creating top-level groups

Introduced in GitLab 15.5.

By default, new users can create top-level groups. GitLab administrators can prevent new users from creating top-level groups:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Clear the Allow new users to create top-level groups checkbox.

Set profiles of new users to private by default

Introduced in GitLab 15.8.

By default, newly created users have a public profile. GitLab administrators can set new users to have a private profile by default:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Select the Make new users' profiles private by default checkbox.

Prevent users from deleting their accounts (PREMIUM SELF)

Introduced in GitLab 16.1 with a flag named deleting_account_disabled_for_users. Enabled by default.

By default, users can delete their own accounts. GitLab administrators can prevent users from deleting their own accounts:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. Select Settings > General.
  4. Expand Account and limit.
  5. Clear the Allows users to delete their own accounts checkbox.

Troubleshooting

413 Request Entity Too Large

When attaching a file to a comment or reply in GitLab displays a 413 Request Entity Too Large error, the max attachment size is probably larger than the web server's allowed value.

To increase the max attachment size to 200 MB in a Linux package install, you may need to add the line below to /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb before increasing the max attachment size:

nginx['client_max_body_size'] = "200m"

This repository has exceeded its size limit

If you receive intermittent push errors in your Rails exceptions log, like this:

Your push has been rejected, because this repository has exceeded its size limit.

Housekeeping tasks may be causing your repository size to grow. To resolve this problem, either of these options helps in the short- to middle-term: