Format GitLab CI YAML Online — .gitlab-ci.yml Beautifier
Format .gitlab-ci.yml with 2 or 4 space indent. Comments are not preserved on js-yaml round-trip.
Developer notes
• Formats via js-yaml load + dump. • Comments and some quoting styles are lost. • indentWidth defaults to 2. • Pair with validate-gitlab-ci for structural job checks.
Options
When teams pick this route
• Clean up hand-edited .gitlab-ci.yml before merge. • Align indentation across copied job templates. • Format a snippet when the IDE YAML plugin is unavailable. • Compare 2 vs 4 space styles for team conventions.
Worked examples
Compact stages + job
Before
After format
Single script job
Before
After format
Navigate related CI/CD tools
Validate jobs with validate GitLab CI, format Actions workflows via format GitHub Actions, or open the CI/CD hub.
GitLab CI formatter FAQ
YAML layout only
Are comments preserved?
No. js-yaml dump drops comments. Keep a backup if annotations matter.
Does this call GitLab CI Lint API?
No — formatting is fully local. Use validate-gitlab-ci for structural checks, or GitLab’s CI Lint for runner-aware validation.
What about include: remote?
Remote includes are not fetched. The formatter only rewrites the YAML you paste.
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