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Carbon Forge vs GitLab
GitLab puts the whole DevSecOps lifecycle around git. Carbon Forge replaces the part git was never built for: thousands of agents writing one record at once.
Carbon Forge and AEGIS, one platform, row by row. Every row cites a public page.
Side by side
| Topic | Carbon Forge + AEGIS | GitLab |
|---|---|---|
| Where the work lives | Carbon Forge + AEGISEvery read and write is a call to the server; there is no clone and no local commit. Carbon Forge docs | GitLabMerge requests propose changes to a git repository. GitLab Docs |
| Approvals | Carbon Forge + AEGISA .landing-rules page names the approvers each path needs; each approval is recorded on the lane and bound to its exact state. Carbon Forge docs | GitLabApproval rules set reviewers and a minimum number of approvals on a merge request. GitLab Docs |
| A busy default branch kept passing | Carbon Forge + AEGISEvery lane composes over the trunk as it stands now. A landing re-checks each patch under lock and lands the lane as one changeset; if the trunk moved under a patch, nothing lands and the conflict is named. Carbon SCM specificationCarbon Forge docs | GitLabMerge trains queue merge requests that might conflict with each other. GitLab Docs |
| Pipelines | Carbon Forge + AEGISAEGIS workflows build, test, lint and deploy in container steps beside agent steps, on the lane's tree fetched without a clone by trees.materialize. By design they run from the Carbon record through the SEAL gateway and its git tools. Carbon Forge docsAEGIS docsCarbon Forge | GitLabA .gitlab-ci.yml file at the project root defines the stages, jobs and scripts of CI/CD. GitLab Docs |
| Approvals and signing | Carbon Forge + AEGISThe record is content-addressed and sealed: every revision, changeset and snapshot is hashed into a chain and can be signed with Ed25519, and chain.verify recomputes every link. Carbon SCM specificationCarbon Forge docs | GitLabVerified commits carry signatures GitLab can validate against a known public key. GitLab Docs |
| Agents | Carbon Forge + AEGISAEGIS agents write to a lane through the Carbon MCP endpoint, each with a token scoped to its step; an execution token confines one run to one lane and one tree path. Carbon Forge docs | GitLabThe Duo Agent Platform combines multiple agents and flows inside GitLab. GitLab Docs |
| Code and prose | Carbon Forge + AEGISEvery landing carries its intent; blame, history and cut notes show it beside each line and each release. Carbon Forge docs | GitLabA merge request links to issues to say why a change was made. GitLab Docs |
Try it on your own work.
Sources, all read on 2026-10-22: Carbon Forge docs, “Source control on the substrate” · GitLab Docs, “Merge requests” · GitLab Docs, “Merge request approvals” · Carbon SCM specification, “5. Lanes” · Carbon Forge docs, “The full workflow with AEGIS and Zaru” · GitLab Docs, “Merge trains” · AEGIS docs, “Building CI/CD Pipelines” · Carbon Forge, “Carbon Forge + AEGIS” · GitLab Docs, “Get started with GitLab CI/CD” · Carbon SCM specification, “2. Content addressing and the seal” · Carbon Forge docs, “MCP tools catalog: Chain” · GitLab Docs, “Signed commits” · Carbon Forge docs, “MCP token scopes” · GitLab Docs, “GitLab Duo Agent Platform”