Feature Request: Add Gitlab as an OAuth provider for SSO

[hakeem0114]

Checks

• I have thoroughly read and understand The Odin Project Contributing Guide
• The title of this issue follows the Feature Request: brief description of feature request format, e.g. Feature Request: Add a dark mode to the website
• Would you like to work on this issue?

Description of the Feature Request

Proposal

Add GitLab as a single sign-on (SSO) option alongside the existing GitHub and Google OAuth providers.

Why?

• Many developers already use GitLab as their primary development platform. Easily available with the omniauth-gitlab gem.
• Might kick off future conversations to add passkey auth

Acceptance criteria

• TOP users can authenticate using their GitLab accounts via OAuth 2.0 with a minimal scope
• A GitLab-branded button appears on the sign-in page alongside the other SSO providers
• The new OAuth flow successfully creates or finds a user
• User avatars from their GitLab profiles are imported if not already set
• Environment variables (GITLAB_KEY, GITLAB_SECRET) are configurable in all environments
• Styling matches existing sign-in buttons and supports dark mode
• Proper test coverage
• Proper documentation

Additional Comments

No response

[KevinMulhern]

Thanks for the suggestion @hakeem0114. I've converted this to a discussion to give it some time and see if it's something a broader number of users would like.

Many developers already use GitLab as their primary development platform. Easily available with the omniauth-gitlab gem.

That makes sense, and it’s definitely a solid integration option from a technical standpoint. My main reservation is that The Odin Project is aimed at beginners rather than established developers. For many of our learners, GitHub tends to be their first and only developer account — especially since it’s so commonly used in tutorials and bootcamps our learners may have taken before TOP.

Because of that, GitHub is the more likely default for our audience. But if there’s enough interest, we’re definitely open to re-evaluating — so feel free to 👍 or chime in if others are interested too!

[hakeem0114]

How much interest is needed?

[KevinMulhern]

It’s hard to put a number on. I think all we can do is leave this open for a while and wait to see if theres any engagement with this idea.

It might be worth asking other learners what they'd think about this on our Discord server.

[hakeem0114]

I asked on Discord here and also have the PR ready locally.

Feel free to ping me if you approve the feature.