GitLab Runner: Step 2: Create a runner in GitLab

This documentation is part of the Getting started guide. View the full guide here: Connect your Stackhero GitLab Runner to GitLab.com, Stackhero for GitLab, or your own GitLab server and run your first pipeline in minutes.

👋 Welcome to the Stackhero documentation!

Stackhero provides a straightforward GitLab Runner cloud solution that makes running your GitLab CI/CD jobs efficient and hassle-free. Here is what you can expect:

  • Unlimited CI/CD minutes: run your pipelines as often as you need, with no per-minute billing or unexpected charges.
  • Multiple concurrent jobs: accelerate your development by running several jobs in parallel.
  • The Docker executor with Docker-in-Docker support: easily build and push container images as part of your CI/CD process.
  • Works seamlessly with both GitLab.com and self-managed GitLab instances.
  • A private, dedicated infrastructure with fast NVMe/SSD storage ensures stable and predictable build performance.
  • Available in 🇪🇺 Europe and 🇺🇸 USA regions to suit your team's needs.

Save time: you can connect your first GitLab Runner and start running pipelines in just a few minutes!

Your runner connects to GitLab using a runner authentication token. You generate this token in GitLab, and you also choose the runner's scope:

  • Project runner: Open your project, then go to Settings > CI/CD > Runners > New project runner.
  • Group runner: Open your group, then go to Settings > CI/CD > Runners > New group runner.
  • Instance runner (for self-managed GitLab only): Go to the Admin area > CI/CD > Runners > New instance runner.

When creating the runner, you can:

  • Add tags (such as docker or stackhero) to target this runner from your jobs.
  • Allow it to run untagged jobs if you want it to process all jobs, even those without tags.

GitLab will provide a runner authentication token that starts with glrt-. Keep this token secure, as your runner uses it to authenticate with GitLab.

The previous registration token flow is deprecated. Please use the runner authentication token (glrt-...) created when you add the runner, as described above.

You can find more details in the official GitLab runner registration documentation.