Manage Runners documentation

Run your own GitLab CI/CD runners on Hetzner Cloud, managed from a dashboard or the manage-runners CLI.

Manage Runners creates GitLab runners as virtual machines in your own Hetzner Cloud project. You choose the server type and location. Manage Runners provisions the server, installs and registers GitLab Runner, keeps its packages updated, and lets you pause, resume and schedule the runner, so you only pay Hetzner for servers while you need them.

How it works

1. You give Manage Runners a Hetzner Cloud API token and a GitLab runner authentication token.
2. Manage Runners creates a server in your Hetzner project and installs Docker and GitLab Runner on it.
3. The server registers itself with your GitLab instance, GitLab.com or self-managed, using the runner authentication token.
4. The runner picks up CI/CD jobs directly from GitLab. Job traffic never passes through Manage Runners.

The servers belong to your Hetzner project, and Hetzner bills you for them directly. Your Manage Runners plan covers the management. See Costs.

Where to start

• New here? Follow the quick start to run your first job on your own runner.
• Using the dashboard? The manual explains every feature: runners, schedules, monitoring, organizations, billing and more.
• Prefer the terminal? The manage-runners CLI does the same from your shell and from scripts.
• Automating with an AI agent? Read the agent guide. Every page is also available as Markdown (add index.md to its URL), and /llms.txt lists them all.

Components