GitLab and Confluence Integration: Embed, Sync, and Display GitLab Content in Confluence
Paste a GitLab URL into any Confluence page. The file renders live — always in sync with your repository. No copy-pasting. No scheduled jobs. No stale docs.
Git for Confluence embeds GitLab files directly into Confluence pages — Markdown, Mermaid diagrams, OpenAPI specs, source code, and 30+ other formats. Content stays in GitLab. Confluence pulls it live on every page view. No storage, no sync jobs, no duplicated docs. Free for teams up to 10 users.
Why GitLab and Confluence don't connect out of the box
Developers live in GitLab. READMEs, architecture diagrams, API specs, runbooks, security policies — all of it lives in repositories, version-controlled and accurate.
Everyone else lives in Confluence. Product managers, architects, technical writers, and support teams use Confluence to stay aligned. They don't have GitLab access, and they shouldn't need it just to read a diagram.
The standard workaround is copy-paste: someone copies content from GitLab into a Confluence page. Within days, the source changes. The Confluence version doesn't. Now there are two versions of the truth — and the wrong one is the one most people are reading.
How Git for Confluence works
Git for Confluence closes the gap between GitLab and Confluence. GitLab content stays in GitLab. Confluence pages pull it live. One source of truth, accessible everywhere work happens.
Copy any file URL from GitLab. Paste it into a Confluence page. The macro appears automatically.
Markdown becomes formatted text. Mermaid becomes a diagram. OpenAPI becomes interactive docs.
Every page view fetches the current version from GitLab. Commit a change — Confluence shows it next time someone opens the page.
There's no scheduled sync, no webhook to configure, no pipeline to maintain. File content is never stored on Git for Confluence's servers. Every page view triggers a fresh fetch from your repository.
For private repositories, content is fetched via an authenticated user (OAuth) or an admin-configured access token. Viewers — including people without a GitLab account — can see embedded content as long as the token has access.
What you can embed: 30+ file formats
Git for Confluence renders files visually — not as raw text. Supported categories:
- Markdown
- AsciiDoc
- HTML
- Mermaid
- PlantUML
- Graphviz / DOT
- Structurizr (C4)
- BPMN
- Vega / Vega-Lite
- AsyncAPI
- SVG
- OpenAPI / Swagger
- Interactive rendering
- Python, Java, JS, TS
- C#, Ruby, PHP, Go
- Rust + more
- Syntax highlighting
- YAML, JSON, XML
- CSV
- Config files
- Jupyter Notebooks
- PNG, JPG, GIF
- SVG (rendered)
Diagrams from GitLab in Confluence
Most teams store architecture diagrams as images in Lucidchart or draw.io. Those diagrams drift — nobody updates them when the system changes because it's a separate task, disconnected from the development workflow.
Diagrams-as-code changes this. A Mermaid or PlantUML file lives in the same repository as the code it describes — part of the same pull request, reviewed, versioned, and traceable to a commit.
Git for Confluence renders these files visually in Confluence. A .mermaid file becomes a flowchart. A .puml file becomes a sequence diagram. A Structurizr file renders as a C4 architecture diagram.
Try it: embed a GitLab file in under 5 minutes
Public repository
Private repository
GitLab self-managed
GitLab self-managed instances (version 14.4+) are fully supported. Admins add the self-managed provider once under Manage apps → Git for Confluence Administration → Add a Self Managed Provider. After that, URLs from that instance are recognized automatically.
Access control: individual vs. managed
Individual access (OAuth 2.0)
Users connect their own GitLab accounts via OAuth. They can embed and share any content their account has access to. Best for smaller teams where everyone has GitLab accounts and direct control matters.
Managed access (token-based)
An admin configures one access token at the organization level. All content shared via managed access is served through that token. Viewers — including people without a GitLab account — can see embedded content as long as the token has access.
Admins control which Confluence user groups can embed content. There's a full activity log. Revoking the token instantly stops all sharing. Best for larger organizations with centralized governance requirements or non-technical stakeholders who need read access without GitLab accounts.
Security: SOC 2, ISO 27001, Cloud Fortified
No competitor in this category holds all of these simultaneously.
What this means in practice: file content is never stored on Git for Confluence's servers — every page view triggers a live fetch. GitLab access uses only read_api and read_repository scopes — read-only, no write access. A static egress IP (34.86.240.233) is available for firewall whitelisting in self-managed environments.
For teams in regulated industries — aerospace, defense, financial services, healthcare — these certifications are a procurement requirement, not a nice-to-have.
How Git for Confluence compares
No other app in this category covers all four Git providers while holding SOC 2, ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701, and Cloud Fortified status simultaneously.
| Feature | Git for Confluence | Other Marketplace apps | Manual / other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace rating | |||
| GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket & Azure DevOps | |||
| 30+ file & diagram formats (Mermaid, PlantUML, OpenAPI…) | |||
| Auto-sync — content updates when repo changes | |||
| OAuth & managed access tokens | |||
| Free for teams up to 10 users | |||
| SOC 2 Type II certified vendor | |||
| ISO 27001:2022 & ISO 27701 | |||
| Cloud Fortified & built on Atlassian Forge |
✓ Strong ▲ Mixed / partial ✗ Not available
Real-world use cases
Compliance documentation
Keep security policies and audit trails version-controlled in GitLab. Surface them in Confluence. When auditors ask, every version is traceable to a specific commit with timestamp and author.
API documentation
Embed your OpenAPI spec in Confluence and it renders as interactive docs — endpoints, parameters, response schemas. One file maintained by developers, readable by everyone.
Architecture diagrams
Engineers maintain Mermaid or PlantUML files alongside code. Product managers and executives always see the current system state without asking anyone for an update.
Onboarding documentation
READMEs, setup guides, and runbooks stay in the repo. New team members read them in Confluence. When engineers update the process, the docs update too.
Multi-team documentation
Build Confluence spaces that pull content from multiple repositories, all staying in sync, without anyone maintaining duplicate pages.
What Forge brings to Git for Confluence in 2026
Git for Confluence is built on Atlassian's Forge platform — Atlassian's modern, cloud-native app runtime. For users, this means:
Better performance. Forge apps run closer to Confluence's own infrastructure. Page loads with embedded Git content are faster.
Tighter Confluence integration. Forge opens access to the Teamwork Graph, Rovo AI, and Confluence's native permission model — making Git content searchable within Confluence's own search index.
Government Cloud eligibility. Forge is required for Atlassian's Government Cloud, opening Git for Confluence to defense contractors, government agencies, and regulated entities that couldn't use it before.
Security model alignment. Forge apps run within Atlassian's own infrastructure boundaries — giving security-conscious customers more assurance about where data is processed.
How to get started
Try Git for Confluence free for 30 days
Free for teams up to 10 users. No credit card required. Up and running in under 5 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
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