Syncing GitLab Projects to AWX — My DevOps Journey

If you've been following my blog series, you already know I've set up Ansible AWX on Kubernetes using Helm. Now the next logical step for me was — how do I actually get my playbooks into AWX without manually uploading them every time?
The answer is GitLab. In this blog I'll walk through how I installed GitLab on a VM, pushed my Ansible playbooks to it, and then synced that repo into AWX as a project — in two ways:

Using an SSH key (SCM Private Key) — this is what I actually use in production
Using a Personal Access Token over HTTP — good for quick lab setups

Let's get into it.

What We're Building Here
The flow looks like this:

Ansible Server → Push Playbooks → GitLab (self-hosted VM) → Sync → AWX Project & Templates
Once this is set up, every time I update a playbook and push to GitLab, AWX syncs and picks up the latest version automatically. That's the real power of this setup.

Part 1 — Installing GitLab on a VM
I installed GitLab on a separate Ubuntu 22.04 VM. Here's exactly what I ran:
Step 1 — Install Dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl openssh-server ca-certificates tzdata perl
Step 2 — Add GitLab Repository and Install
curl https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt install gitlab-ce
Step 3 — Configure GitLab
sudo vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
Update the external URL to your VM IP:
rubyexternal_url 'http://10.*.*.**'
Then reconfigure:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Step 4 — Get the Initial Root Password
sudo cat /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password
Open http://10.*.*.* in your browser → log in with root and the password above.

Tip: Change your root password immediately after first login — User Settings → Password.

Part 2. Creating a repo and pushing playbooks

Inside GitLab, I created a new blank project called:

ansibleawx

Set it to private and moved on.

On my Ansible server, I configured Git:

git config --global user.name "Sireesha"
git config --global user.email "[e-mail]"

Then inside my playbook directory:

cd /etc/ansible

git init
git remote add origin http://ip/ansibleawx.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit - adding ansible playbooks"
git branch -M patches
git push -u origin patches

I’m using a patches branch here because that’s what I decided to track in AWX later.

That part matters more than it looks — branch mismatches will bite you.

Part3. Connecting AWX to GitLab using SSH (production way)

This is the setup I actually use properly. It’s more secure and avoids token expiry issues.

Generate SSH key (on AWX side)
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "awx@ansible"

Then grab the public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Add it to GitLab

GitLab → User Settings → SSH Keys → paste key → save

Nothing complicated here.

Create AWX credential

In AWX:

Credentials → Add

Name: gitlab-cred
Type: Source Control
Username: root
SCM Private Key: paste private key (~/.ssh/id_rsa)

Click Save.

Create AWX project

AWX → Projects → Add

Name: AnsibleAWX
SCM Type: Git
URL: http:///ansibleawx.git
Branch: patches
Credential: gitlab-cred

Once saved, AWX syncs automatically.

When it turns green, you’re good.

That’s the moment everything starts clicking.

This is exactly the gitlab-cred credential I have set up — you can see from the screenshot it shows Credential Type: Source Control and SCM Private Key: Encrypted.

Part4. Alternative: HTTP with Personal Access Token

This is the quicker setup I used in a lab environment.

Create token in GitLab

GitLab → Settings → Access Tokens

Scope: read_repository

Copy it (you only see it once).

Add to AWX

Credentials → Add

Name: gitlab-http-cred
Username: root
Password:

Save.

Create project

Same as before, but use this credential instead.

It works fine — just not as clean or durable as SSH.

Part 5 — Creating Job Templates in AWX

Once the project sync works, playbooks automatically appear in AWX.

So I created a simple job template:

AWX → Templates → Add

• Name: Linux Server Setup
• Job Type: Run
• Inventory: your inventory
• Project: AnsibleAWX
• Playbook: select from dropdown
• Credentials: your machine credentials

Save and launch.

At this point, AWX is basically running whatever is in GitLab.

No file copying. No manual updates.

Errors I Hit Along the Way
Error 1 — Git Push Branch Mismatch

error: src refspec main does not match any
Fix — rename the branch to match what you set in AWX:
git branch -M patches
git push -u origin patches
Error 2 — AWX Sync Failed on SSH Host Key

Host key verification failed
Fix — in your AWX Project settings under Source Control Options, tick:
✅ Disregard Host Checks
Error 3 — Playbook Dropdown Empty in Job Template

After syncing, the playbook dropdown was empty when creating a job template
.
Fix — go back to your Project → hit the Sync button (circular arrow) → wait for green → go back to template. Playbooks will appear.

Before this, updating a playbook meant manually copying files and hoping AWX had the latest version. Now my workflow is:

Edit playbook → git push to patches branch → AWX syncs → Launch job

Everything is version controlled, auditable, and consistent.

Drop your questions in the comments — happy to help!
— Sireesha