Fix getEffectiveProjectId to prioritize passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID by Copilot · Pull Request #320 · zereight/gitlab-mcp

Copilot · 2026-01-18T14:02:44Z

When GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS is unset, getEffectiveProjectId was returning GITLAB_PROJECT_ID even when a different projectId was explicitly passed, preventing users from querying other projects via tools like get_project.

Changes

index.ts: Reversed priority order to check projectId parameter before GITLAB_PROJECT_ID environment variable
test/test-geteffectiveprojectid.ts: Added test coverage for all three configuration modes (no allowlist, single project, multiple projects)

Before

return GITLAB_PROJECT_ID || projectId;

After

if (projectId) {
  return projectId;
}
if (GITLAB_PROJECT_ID) {
  return GITLAB_PROJECT_ID;
}
throw new Error("No project ID provided and GITLAB_PROJECT_ID is not set");

This allows get_project and similar tools to accept any project ID/path when no allowlist is configured, while maintaining backward compatibility when projectId is omitted.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>getEffectiveProjectId cannot return projectId passed into the function when GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS is unspecified</issue_title>
<issue_description>I want to retrieve the project ID of another project (different from GITLAB_PROJECT_ID) by the project path with namespace using get_project. It's supported by Gitlab project API: https://docs.gitlab.com/18.6/api/projects/#get-a-single-project

However, getEffectiveProjectId always returns GITLAB_PROJECT_ID when GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS is unspecified. Can it have an option to return projectId passed into the function, or even let projectId have precedence over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID at https://github.com/zereight/gitlab-mcp/blob/v2.0.21/index.ts#L1307 ? Thanks.
</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes getEffectiveProjectId cannot return projectId passed into the function when GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS is unspecified #298

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Juoper

looks good to me

ricolo · 2026-03-18T14:10:57Z

Looks good and can fix the issue I raised

…PROJECT_ID - Changed the function to return projectId first if provided, then GITLAB_PROJECT_ID - Added proper error handling when neither projectId nor GITLAB_PROJECT_ID is available - Added comprehensive test suite to validate the fix Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

…checks Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes project ID resolution so an explicitly provided projectId argument takes precedence over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID when no allowlist is configured, enabling tools like get_project to query arbitrary accessible projects by ID/path.

Changes:

Updated getEffectiveProjectId to prioritize the passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID, and to throw a clearer error when neither is provided.
Added a new test suite covering project ID resolution behavior across three configuration modes (no allowlist, single allowed project, multiple allowed projects).
Ignored generated test-results*.json artifacts.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
`index.ts`	Changes `getEffectiveProjectId` precedence and adds explicit error when no project ID source exists.
`test/test-geteffectiveprojectid.ts`	Adds coverage for resolution behavior under different allowlist configurations via mock GitLab + MCP server.
`.gitignore`	Ignores JSON test result outputs.

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Copilot · 2026-03-22T12:34:35Z

+  before(async () => {
+    // Start mock GitLab server
+    const mockPort = await findMockServerPort(9100);
+    mockGitLab = new MockGitLabServer({
+      port: mockPort,
+      validTokens: [MOCK_TOKEN]
+    });
+    await mockGitLab.start();
+    const mockGitLabUrl = mockGitLab.getUrl();
+
+    // Start MCP server WITHOUT GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS
+    const mcpPort = await findAvailablePort(3100);
+    const server = await launchServer({
+      mode: TransportMode.STREAMABLE_HTTP,
+      port: mcpPort,
+      timeout: 5000,
+      env: {
+        STREAMABLE_HTTP: 'true',
+        GITLAB_API_URL: `${mockGitLabUrl}/api/v4`,
+        GITLAB_PROJECT_ID: DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID,
+        GITLAB_READ_ONLY_MODE: 'true',
+      }
+    });


This test suite is not hermetic: launchServer() reads process.env.GITLAB_TOKEN_TEST and process.env.TEST_PROJECT_ID (and passes through process.env.GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS unless explicitly overridden). As written, these tests will fail on environments where those vars aren’t set (or will behave differently if GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS is set in the parent env). Consider setting/restoring process.env.GITLAB_TOKEN_TEST + process.env.TEST_PROJECT_ID in the before/after hooks, and explicitly setting GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS: '' for the “No GITLAB_ALLOWED_PROJECT_IDS” case to override any inherited value.

Copilot · 2026-03-22T12:34:36Z

    description: "Get details of a specific commit",
    inputSchema: toJSONSchema(GetCommitSchema),
  },
  {
    name: "get_commit_diff",
    description: "Get changes/diffs of a specific commit",
    inputSchema: toJSONSchema(GetCommitDiffSchema),


Now that the passed projectId takes precedence, callers that pass a URL-encoded path (which is documented for many project_id params) will start flowing through this branch more often. At least the get_project tool currently passes args.project_id straight into encodeURIComponent(...) without a prior decodeURIComponent, so an input like group%2Fproj will become double-encoded (group%252Fproj) and fail. Consider normalizing/decoding projectId before returning here (or ensuring all callers decode before calling this helper) so precedence changes don’t break URL-encoded project paths.

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-22T12:35:18Z

+  // Prioritize the passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID to allow querying different projects
+  if (projectId) {
+    return projectId;


Unblock create/fork flows when GITLAB_PROJECT_ID is only a default

This helper now makes GITLAB_PROJECT_ID a fallback instead of a lock, but the fork_repository and create_repository handlers still reject whenever that env var is present (index.ts:5316-5318 and index.ts:5388-5391). In a deployment that keeps GITLAB_PROJECT_ID only to supply a default project, project-scoped tools can now target arbitrary project_ids while create/fork always fail, so the new semantics are only applied to part of the API surface.

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-22T12:35:18Z

+    const server = await launchServer({
+      mode: TransportMode.STREAMABLE_HTTP,
+      port: mcpPort,
+      timeout: 5000,
+      env: {
+        STREAMABLE_HTTP: 'true',
+        GITLAB_API_URL: `${mockGitLabUrl}/api/v4`,
+        GITLAB_PROJECT_ID: DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID,
+        GITLAB_READ_ONLY_MODE: 'true',
+      }


Seed launcher env before starting the new mock suites

These before() blocks call launchServer without first populating the parent GITLAB_TOKEN_TEST/TEST_PROJECT_ID, but test/utils/server-launcher.ts:40-57 reads both from process.env and throws if either is missing. Because this is a mock-only test, a clean local or CI run will fail before the MCP server starts unless the caller happens to have unrelated integration-test env vars exported.

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Copilot AI assigned Copilot and zereight Jan 18, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of zereight January 18, 2026 14:03 View session

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix getEffectiveProjectId to return specified projectId~~ Fix getEffectiveProjectId to prioritize passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID Jan 18, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from zereight January 18, 2026 14:15

Copilot finished work on behalf of zereight January 18, 2026 14:15

Juoper approved these changes Jan 31, 2026

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zereight closed this Mar 22, 2026

zereight reopened this Mar 22, 2026

zereight marked this pull request as ready for review March 22, 2026 12:29

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 22, 2026 12:29

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of zereight March 22, 2026 12:30 View session

Copilot AI and others added 5 commits March 22, 2026 21:32

Initial plan

f4cc963

Update test suite to work with server-launcher token handling

2279ec4

Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

Complete fix for getEffectiveProjectId issue with tests and security …

2ddb8fd

…checks Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

Remove test results file and update gitignore

096169d

Co-authored-by: zereight <42544600+zereight@users.noreply.github.com>

zereight force-pushed the copilot/fix-geteffectiveprojectid-issue branch from 132366d to 096169d Compare March 22, 2026 12:34

zereight merged commit 3e11947 into main Mar 22, 2026
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Copilot AI reviewed Mar 22, 2026

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chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Mar 22, 2026

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ichoosetoaccept mentioned this pull request Apr 7, 2026

feat: add getEffectiveProjectId with default fallback and allowed-projects validation detailobsessed/efficient-gitlab-mcp#54

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Fix getEffectiveProjectId to prioritize passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID#320

Fix getEffectiveProjectId to prioritize passed projectId over GITLAB_PROJECT_ID#320
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Copilot AI commented Jan 18, 2026 •

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