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Engineering integrationUpdated

GitLab pipelines and merge requests as an office display dashboard on Apple TV

GitLab runs the whole path from merge request to production, and the pipeline graph is what every engineer checks first. Dance Party reads it with a read_api token and builds an Apple TV dashboard for the office display: the latest pipeline on each project's default branch, merge requests still open, and how often you deploy to production.

  • Read-only
  • API key connection
  • One connection per workspace
Get StartedHow to connect GitLab
Latest pipeline on mainLive
platform/api
passed
platform/web
passed
platform/worker
running
mobile/app
failed

Popular GitLab dashboards

What teams running GitLab put on the screen, and what you would ask DJ Agent to get it.

Pipeline status wall

For developers and release engineers

A failed pipeline on the default branch blocks every merge train behind it. One tile per project, taken from GitLab's latest pipeline, turns red on the office display before the second person rebases onto a broken main.

  • Latest pipeline status per project: passed, failed, running, or canceled
  • The branch or tag it ran on and the commit SHA
  • When the pipeline last updated

Ask DJ Agent“Show the latest GitLab pipeline on the default branch for platform/api, platform/web, platform/worker, mobile/app, platform/infra, and platform/docs as status tiles.”

Default branch pipelinesLive
platform/api
passed 4 min ago
platform/web
passed 18 min ago
platform/worker
running
mobile/app
failed 9 min ago
platform/infra
passed 2 hr ago
platform/docs
passed 1 day ago

Open merge requests

For the engineering team

Merge requests age in silence. The oldest open ones, with drafts left out, give standup a concrete list to unblock instead of a vague sense that reviews are slow.

  • Open merge requests across projects, oldest first
  • Project, !iid, author, and target branch
  • Whether each merge request is a draft
  • Count of open merge requests in total

Ask DJ Agent“List open GitLab merge requests across our projects that are not drafts, oldest first, with project, !iid, and how long each has been open.”

Open merge requestsLive
Move billing jobs to Sidekiq 7
platform/api !2217
6d
Dark mode for settings
platform/web !1940
3d
Cache Terraform providers in CI
platform/infra !388
2d
Push notification opt-in screen
mobile/app !611
1d
Upgrade to Ruby 3.4
platform/worker !507
5h

GitLab production deployments per day

For engineering leadership and the platform team

Deployment frequency is the DORA metric most teams can move first. Successful deployments to the production environment, day by day, show whether small, frequent releases are actually happening.

  • Successful deployments to production per day
  • The latest production deployment's ref and finish time
  • Deployments to staging for comparison

Ask DJ Agent“Chart successful GitLab deployments to the production environment of platform/api per day for the last week, with the total.”

Deploys to productionLive
17last 7 days
Wed
Thu
Fri
Mon
Tue

Open issues by label

For product and QA

GitLab labels are how teams sort bugs from features. Open versus closed counts for the bug label, per project, show whether the backlog is shrinking or quietly growing.

  • Open issues with a label, such as bug, per project
  • Closed issues with the same label
  • All open issues in a project

Ask DJ Agent“Show open and closed GitLab issues labeled bug for platform/api and platform/web as four tiles.”

Issues labeled bugLive
api open
24
api closed
318
web open
41
web closed
506

What Dance Party reads from GitLab

Dance Party reads GitLab's REST API with a personal access token that has only the read_api scope, on GitLab.com or your own instance. Each request asks for one bounded page, and nothing is ever written back.

Merge requests

GitLab API docs ↗
  • Merge requests
    Open, merged, or closed, with title, author, source and target branch, draft flag, and created date. Up to 100 per widget.
  • Projects
    The projects the token can read, with path, visibility, and default branch.

Pipelines and deployments

GitLab API docs ↗
  • Latest pipeline
    Status, ref, commit SHA, and update time for a project's default branch or a branch you name.
  • Deployments
    Recent successful deployments, filtered by environment, with ref, SHA, and finish time.

Issues

GitLab API docs ↗
  • Issue statistics
    Open, closed, and total issue counts for a project, optionally filtered by labels.

How to connect GitLab

Before you start

  • An owner or admin of your Dance Party workspace makes the GitLab connection.
  • A GitLab user who can see the projects you want on screen, on any GitLab tier
  • A legacy personal access token with only the read_api scope. It expires, a year at most by default.
  • For self-hosted GitLab, an instance URL that is reachable from the internet
  1. 1
    In Dance Party Integrations, click Connect GitLab on the GitLab card.
  2. 2
    Click Create a GitLab access token. In GitLab, open Edit profile, then Access, then Personal access tokens, and choose Legacy token from the Generate token menu (Add new token on older versions).Create a GitLab access token ↗
  3. 3
    Name it Dance Party, set an expiry date, tick only read_api, and click Generate token. Copy the token.
  4. 4
    Paste it into Personal access token. Fill Instance URL only if you self-host GitLab, such as https://gitlab.acme.com.
  5. 5
    Click Save. The GitLab card shows Connected.
The Connect GitLab pop-up in Dance Party with Personal access token and Instance URL fields and a link to create a GitLab access token
Captured from the Dance Party app, September 30, 2026.

One GitLab connection per workspace

A workspace connects one GitLab instance with one token, either GitLab.com or your self-hosted URL. Every group and project the token's user can see is available, so one token usually covers the whole company.

Read-only. A read_api token can read the API but cannot push code, merge, or change settings. Revoke it in GitLab under Edit profile, Access, Personal access tokens.

From GitLab to your office display

Once GitLab shows Connected, the rest happens in plain English. No code, no drag-and-drop.

  1. 1. Describe it. Tell DJ Agent what you want to see.

    New dashboard+ Widget
    Describe a widget in DJ Agent, or click + Widget
    DJ Agent
    DATA SOURCES
    GitLab logoGitLabConnected
    Show the latest GitLab pipeline on the default branch for platform/api, platform/web, platform/worker, mobile/app, platform/infra, and platform/docs as status tiles.Send

  2. 2. It gets built. The widget lands on your board with real GitLab data.

    New dashboard+ Widget
    GitLab logoDefault branch pipelinesLive
    platform/api
    passed 4 min ago
    platform/web
    passed 18 min ago
    platform/worker
    running
    mobile/app
    failed 9 min ago
    platform/infra
    passed 2 hr ago
    platform/docs
    passed 1 day ago
    DJ Agent
    DATA SOURCES
    GitLab logoGitLabConnected
    Show the latest GitLab pipeline on the default branch for platform/api, platform/web, platform/worker, mobile/app, platform/infra, and platform/docs as status tiles.Send

  3. 3. Put it on a screen. Pair an Apple TV with the six-character code it shows, then assign the dashboard.

    The Pair your Apple TV card in Dance Party, with six boxes for the code the Apple TV shows

GitLab dashboard questions

Can I show GitLab pipeline status on a TV in the office?

Yes. Connect GitLab, name the projects, and each gets a tile with its latest pipeline on the Apple TV running Dance Party. Tiles refresh as often as every 5 minutes.

Does it work with self-managed GitLab?

Yes, if the instance is reachable from the internet. Enter its address in Instance URL when you connect; an instance behind a VPN with no public address cannot be read.

Which GitLab token scope does Dance Party need?

Only read_api. It is the narrowest scope that reads projects, merge requests, pipelines, deployments, and issue counts.

Why did my GitLab dashboard stop updating?

The token most likely expired. GitLab personal access tokens always have an expiry date, so create a new read_api token and reconnect.

Can it show merge request approvals or time to merge?

No. Dance Party reads merge request titles, authors, branches, draft state, and created dates, but not approvals or merge times.

Can Dance Party trigger or retry a GitLab pipeline?

No. The read_api scope cannot run pipelines, and Dance Party only sends GET requests.

More integrations

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Put GitLab on every office display

Connect GitLab, describe the dashboard, and it runs on an Apple TV, refreshing on its own.

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