This assumes you have already satisfied all [prerequisites](prerequisites.md). You can manage gitlab-mirrors in one of two ways. You can use your own user using your own GitLab private token. Or you can use a dedicated system user and gitmirror user whose only purpose is to mirror repositories. The former can be done by any user where the latter requires administrator privileges in GitLab.
Things to note before beginning:
* GitLab will not allow users (even admins) to add a project to a group unless that user is designated an `owner` of the group. This is by design in GitLab.
*`gitlab-mirrors` will not auto-create a group (though it will auto-create projects within a group). This is by design in `gitlab-mirrors`. One should create the group manually and assign the `gitmirror` user as an owner of the group. This is to ensure mirroring a repository for a particular group is a purposeful action.
## Using a dedicated GitLab user
Create a system user called `gitmirror` and generate SSH keys.
