Aembit Server Workload Cookbooks Series | GitLab

CI/CD pipelines form the backbone of modern software delivery — but their security often hinges on how well you manage secrets.

In GitLab, one of the most widely adopted CI/CD platforms in the enterprise, credentials like API keys and tokens are often stored as static variables, environment secrets, or even hardcoded values. These practices scale poorly, widen your attack surface, and have played a role in high-profile breaches.

This free cookbook — the second in our series — serves up the technical recipe for securing your GitLab CI/CD pipeline’s access to the GitLab REST API with short-lived OAuth 2.0 tokens.

Inside, you’ll find the ingredients to:

• Authenticate GitLab jobs dynamically using workload identity and posture to reduce risk.
• Enforce least-privilege access scoped precisely to each pipeline job for tighter security.
• Replace static, long-lived credentials with short-lived, policy-backed tokens to minimize exposure and simplify auditing.

Download the Cookbook Now!