diff --git a/bin/hedgedoc b/bin/hedgedoc
index b6b8173..7f8e76e 100755
--- a/bin/hedgedoc
+++ b/bin/hedgedoc
@@ -14,15 +14,19 @@ IFS=$'\n'
 
 ### Load config
 SCRIPTNAME="$(basename "$0")"
+
+# the extra helpers will be located in the same directory
+HELPER_SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname $(readlink -e $0 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null)
+
 XDG_CONFIG_HOME="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"
 
-HEDGEDOC_SERVER="${HEDGEDOC_SERVER:-http://127.0.0.1:3000}"
+export HEDGEDOC_SERVER="${HEDGEDOC_SERVER:-http://127.0.0.1:3000}"
 
 OLD_CODIMD_CONFIG_DIR="${HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR:-$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/codimd}"
 HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR="${HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR:-$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/$SCRIPTNAME}"
 [ -e "$OLD_CODIMD_CONFIG_DIR" ] && [ ! -e "$HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR" ] && mv "$OLD_CODIMD_CONFIG_DIR" "$HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR"
 
-HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE="${HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE:-$HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR/key.conf}"
+export HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE="${HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE:-$HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR/key.conf}"
 
 # Auto-create XDG compliant config dir (https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/xdg-basedir-scripting)
 mkdir -p "$HEDGEDOC_CONFIG_DIR"
@@ -56,7 +60,7 @@ Commands:
         Delete the given note from the server.
 
 
-    login --email|--ldap [username] [password]
+    login --email|--ldap|--gitlab [username] [password]
         Authenticate the CLI with the server.
         (If not passed as args, user & passsword will be asked for via stdin)
         Stores session key in \$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE=$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE/
@@ -259,6 +263,31 @@ function export_note() {
     esac
 }
 
+function user_login_helper_common() {
+    local login_url=$1; shift
+    local username_arg=$1; shift
+    local username=$1; shift
+    local password=$1; shift
+    curl \
+        --request POST \
+        --silent \
+        --cookie-jar "$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE" \
+        --data-urlencode "$username_arg=$username" \
+        --data-urlencode "password=$password" \
+        "${HEDGEDOC_SERVER}/${login_url}" > /dev/null
+
+}
+
+function user_login_helper_gitlab() {
+    local login_url=$1; shift
+    local username_arg=$1; shift
+    local username=$1; shift
+    local password=$1; shift
+
+    bash ${HELPER_SCRIPT_DIR}/login-hedgedoc-via-gitlab.sh $username $password >& /dev/null
+
+}
+
 function backup_all_notes() {
     output_path="${1:-archive.zip}"
 
@@ -275,6 +304,7 @@ function user_login() {
     case "$method" in
         email) local username_arg="email" login_url="login";;
         ldap) local username_arg="username" login_url="auth/ldap";;
+        gitlab) local username_arg="username" login_url="auth/gitlab";;
         *)
             echo "Error: Unrecognized login method '--$method'."
             echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME login --email|--ldap [username] [password]"
@@ -287,13 +317,16 @@ function user_login() {
     [[ ! "$password" ]] && password="$(read_password "Please enter your password: ")"
     echo "" >&2
 
-    curl \
-        --request POST \
-        --silent \
-        --cookie-jar "$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE" \
-        --data-urlencode "$username_arg=$username" \
-        --data-urlencode "password=$password" \
-        "${HEDGEDOC_SERVER}/${login_url}" > /dev/null
+    case "$method" in
+        email)
+            user_login_helper_common ${login_url} ${username_arg} ${username} ${password};;
+        ldap)
+            user_login_helper_common ${login_url} ${username_arg} ${username} ${password};;
+        gitlab)
+            user_login_helper_gitlab ${login_url} ${username_arg} ${username} ${password};;
+        *)
+            user_login_helper_common ${login_url} ${username_arg} ${username} ${password};;
+    esac
 
     if is_authenticated; then
         echo "Logged in to $HEDGEDOC_SERVER as $username using $method auth."
diff --git a/bin/login-hedgedoc-via-gitlab.sh b/bin/login-hedgedoc-via-gitlab.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d4b8214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/login-hedgedoc-via-gitlab.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Documentation & Code: https://github.com/hedgedoc/cli
+
+### Bash environment setup
+# http://redsymbol.net/articles/unofficial-bash-strict-mode/
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/The-Set-Builtin.html
+set -o errexit
+set -o errtrace
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+##############################################################################
+
+username=${1}; shift
+password=${1}; shift
+
+if [ -z "$username" ]; then
+    echo "Please pass the username and password. "
+    exit -1
+fi
+if [ -z "$password" ]; then
+    echo "Please pass the password. "
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+export HEDGEDOC_SERVER=${HEDGEDOC_SERVER}
+if [ -z "$HEDGEDOC_SERVER" ]; then
+    echo "Please setup the HEDGEDOC_SERVER. " 1>&2
+    exit -1
+fi
+cookie=${HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE}
+if [ -z "$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE" ]; then
+    echo "Please setup the HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE. " 1>&2
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+hedgedochost=$(echo $HEDGEDOC_SERVER | perl -ne 'print "$1" if /(https?:\/\/[^:^\/\\s]+)\//')
+
+function step1() {
+    echo
+    echo "Step 1:"
+    local headers
+    headers=$(curl "${HEDGEDOC_SERVER}/auth/gitlab" \
+                   -H "authority: ${hedgedochost}" \
+                   -H 'pragma: no-cache' \
+                   -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
+                   -H 'upgrade-insecure-requests: 1' \
+                   -H "referer: ${HEDGEDOC_SERVER}/" \
+                   -b $cookie -c $cookie --insecure \
+                   -s -o /dev/null \
+                   -D - | grep location | cut -c11-)
+    export GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION=${headers//[$'\t\r\n']} # need to remove CRLF
+    echo "GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION is $GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION"
+    # get the host
+    export GITLAB_HOST=$(echo $GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION | perl -ne 'print "$1" if /(https?:\/\/[^:^\/\\s]+)\//')
+    echo "GITLAB_HOST is $GITLAB_HOST" # with http/https prefix
+}
+
+function step2() {
+    echo
+    echo "Step 2:"
+
+    local body
+    body=$(curl $GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION \
+                -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+                -H 'Pragma: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1' \
+                -b $cookie -c $cookie \
+                --insecure)
+    export GITLAB_LOGIN_LOCATION=$(echo "$body" | perl -ne 'print "$1" if /.*?a href="(.+?)"/')
+    echo "GITLAB_LOGIN_LOCATION is $GITLAB_LOGIN_LOCATION"
+}
+
+function step3() {
+    echo
+    echo "Step 3:"
+    local body
+    local gitlab_token
+    local token
+
+    # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47948887/login-to-gitlab-with-username-and-password-using-curl
+    body=$(curl $GITLAB_LOGIN_LOCATION \
+                -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+                -H 'Pragma: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1' \
+                -b $cookie -c $cookie --insecure)
+    gitlab_token=$( echo "$body" | grep 'authenticity_token' | perl -ne 'print "$1\n" if /.*?authenticity_token"[[:blank:]]value="(.+?)"/' | sed -n 1p )
+    echo
+    echo "GET TOKEN"
+    echo $gitlab_token
+    token=
+    if [ -n "$gitlab_token" ]; then
+        token="--data-urlencode authenticity_token=${gitlab_token}"
+    fi
+    local gitlab_login_real=$( echo "$body" | grep 'form' | perl -ne 'print "$1\n" if /.*?action="(.+?)"[[:blank:]]/' | sed -n 1p )
+
+    export GITLAB_LOGIN_REAL_LOCATION="${GITLAB_HOST}${gitlab_login_real}"
+    echo "GITLAB_LOGIN_REAL_LOCATION is $GITLAB_LOGIN_REAL_LOCATION" # with http/https prefix
+
+   
+    local header
+    header=$(curl $GITLAB_LOGIN_REAL_LOCATION \
+                  -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+                  -H 'Pragma: no-cache' \
+                  -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
+                  -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1' \
+                  -H "Origin: ${GITLAB_HOST}" \
+                  -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+                  -H "Referer: ${GITLAB_LOGIN_LOCATION}" \
+                  -H 'Accept-Language: en' \
+                  --data "grant_type=password&username=${username}&password=${password}" ${token} \
+                  -b $cookie -c $cookie \
+                  --insecure -D - | grep -i location | cut -c11-)
+    header=${header//[$'\t\r\n']}
+    if [ "$header" = "$GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION" ]; then
+        echo "same callback $header"
+    else
+        echo "Mismatch callback: " 1>&2
+        echo "header: $header " 1>&2
+        echo "callback: $GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION" 1>&2
+        exit -1
+    fi
+
+}
+
+function step4-5() {
+    echo
+    echo "Step 4:"
+    local body
+    local link
+    body=$(curl $GITLAB_CALLBACK_LOCATION \
+                -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+                -H 'Pragma: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
+                -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1' \
+                -b $cookie -c $cookie \
+                --insecure)
+    echo $body
+    link=$(echo $body | grep window.location | perl -ne 'print "$1\n" if /.*?window.location= "(.+?)";/')
+    # if not found, try to parse again
+    if [ -z "$link" ]; then
+        link=$(echo $body | grep window.location | perl -ne 'print "$1\n" if /.*?let redirectUri = "(.+?)";/')
+    fi
+    echo "WILL REDIRECT TO $link "
+
+
+
+    echo
+    echo "Step 5:"
+    curl $link \
+         -H "authority: ${hedgedochost}" \
+         -H 'pragma: no-cache' \
+         -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
+         -b $cookie -c $cookie \
+         --compressed --insecure
+
+    echo
+    echo "DONE"
+
+}
+
+# gitlab
+# check
+
+if [ ! -f "$cookie" ]; then
+    step1
+    step2
+    step3
+    step4-5
+fi
+