Migrating from GitLab to GitHub 🚚

Moving from GitLab to GitHub? Here’s a complete guide to migrating your projects!

Why migrate?

GitLab excels at:
- Powerful built-in CI/CD
- Self-hosted deployments
- DevOps tooling

GitHub is better for:
- Portfolio visibility
- Open-source community
- GitHub Actions
- Integrations

Method 1: Import via GitHub (EASIEST)

Steps:

1. Go to github.com/new/import
2. Paste the GitLab URL:
   https://gitlab.com/username/project
3. If the repo is private → enter your GitLab Personal Access Token:
   - GitLab → Settings → Access Tokens
   - Create a token with the read_repository scope
4. Choose a repository name on GitHub
5. Select Public/Private
6. Click Begin import

✅ GitHub will migrate everything automatically!

Method 2: Git mirror (full control)

Commands:

# 1. Clone from GitLab (bare mode)
git clone --bare https://gitlab.com/username/project.git

# 2. Enter the directory
cd project.git

# 3. Create the repository on GitHub.com

# 4. Mirror-push
git push --mirror https://github.com/username/project.git

# 5. Cleanup
cd ..
rm -rf project.git

Done! Full history now lives on GitHub.

Method 3: Via GitHub Desktop

1. Clone the GitLab repository:
   - File → Clone Repository → URL
   - Paste the GitLab HTTPS URL
2. After cloning: click Publish repository
3. Done!

What gets migrated automatically?

✅ Migrated

• All code
• Commit history
• All branches
• Tags
• Contributors (authors)

❌ NOT migrated

• Issues
• Merge Requests (→ Pull Requests)
• CI/CD Pipelines
• Wiki
• Milestones
• Labels

Post-migration: adapting

1. GitLab CI → GitHub Actions

Before (.gitlab-ci.yml):

test:
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm test

After (.github/workflows/ci.yml):

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test

2. Migrating Issues (if needed)

Use the tool: github.com/piceaTech/node-gitlab-2-github

npm install -g github-cli gitlab-2-github

g2g migrate \
  --gitlabUrl https://gitlab.com \
  --gitlabToken YOUR_GITLAB_TOKEN \
  --githubToken YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN \
  --gitlabProjectId 12345 \
  --githubOwner username \
  --githubRepo project

3. Update README badges

Before (GitLab):

[![pipeline status](https://gitlab.com/username/project/badges/main/pipeline.svg)]

After (GitHub):

![CI](https://github.com/username/project/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)
![Stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/username/project)

Multiple projects: bulk migration

Script for migrating several projects at once:

#!/bin/bash

GITLAB_URL="https://gitlab.com"
GITHUB_URL="https://github.com"

# Your repositories
declare -a repos=(
  "project1"
  "project2"
  "project3"
)

for repo in "${repos[@]}"; do
  echo "Migrating $repo..."

  git clone --bare $GITLAB_URL/username/$repo.git
  cd $repo.git
  git push --mirror $GITHUB_URL/username/$repo.git
  cd ..
  rm -rf $repo.git

  echo "✅ $repo done!"
done

Team migration

Notify your team:

## 📣 We're moving to GitHub!

**Old (GitLab):**
https://gitlab.com/team/project

**New (GitHub):**
https://github.com/team/project

**Instructions for the team:**

### If you already have a local clone:

\`\`\`bash
cd project
git remote set-url origin https://github.com/team/project.git
git fetch
\`\`\`

### For new clones:

\`\`\`bash
git clone https://github.com/team/project.git
\`\`\`

**Deadline:** April 15, 2026
After that, the GitLab repo will be read-only.

Preserving GitLab history

If you want to keep Issues/MRs:

1. Export the GitLab project

1. GitLab → Settings → General
2. Advanced → Export project
3. Download the archive (.tar.gz)

Keep it as a backup!

2. Make GitLab read-only

1. Settings → General → Permissions
2. Project visibility → Private
3. ✅ Disable forking
4. ✅ Disable merge requests
5. Add a banner to the README:

## ⚠️ This project moved to GitHub

**New location:**
https://github.com/username/project

CI/CD comparison

Common issues

Protected branches

GitLab → Settings → Repository → Protected Branches

Recreate them in:

GitHub → Settings → Branches → Branch protection rules

LFS (Large File Storage)

If you use Git LFS:

# Clone with LFS
git lfs clone --bare https://gitlab.com/user/repo.git

# Push with LFS
cd repo.git
git lfs push --all https://github.com/user/repo.git

Different authentication

GitLab may use Deploy Keys; GitHub uses Deploy Keys or Personal Access Tokens.

Update them in:
- CI/CD secrets
- Deployment scripts
- Webhooks

Why GitHub?

For developers:

• ✅ Greater portfolio visibility
• ✅ More job opportunities
• ✅ Easier for beginners
• ✅ GitHub Copilot
• ✅ Codespaces (cloud IDE)

For companies:

• ✅ GitHub Advanced Security
• ✅ Dependabot (automatic security updates)
• ✅ GitHub Sponsors (open-source monetization)

Why GitLab is better:

• ✅ More powerful CI/CD out of the box
• ✅ More cost-effective for large teams
• ✅ Self-hosted option
• ✅ Built-in container registry

Rolling back the migration

Changed your mind? You can reverse it:

git clone --bare https://github.com/user/repo.git
cd repo.git
git push --mirror https://gitlab.com/user/repo.git

Migration checklist

• [ ] Exported Issues/MRs (if needed)
• [ ] Created repository on GitHub
• [ ] Migrated code (git push --mirror)
• [ ] Set up GitHub Actions (replaced .gitlab-ci.yml)
• [ ] Updated README (badges, links)
• [ ] Configured branch protection
• [ ] Updated CI/CD secrets
• [ ] Notified the team
• [ ] Updated documentation
• [ ] Tested CI/CD pipelines
• [ ] Made GitLab repo read-only

Happy migrating! Welcome to GitHub! 🎉