diff --git a/‎gitlab/cli.py‎
Lines changed: 13 additions & 1 deletion b/‎gitlab/cli.py‎
Lines changed: 13 additions & 1 deletion
diff --git a/‎tests/functional/cli/conftest.py‎
Lines changed: 11 additions & 0 deletions b/‎tests/functional/cli/conftest.py‎
Lines changed: 11 additions & 0 deletions
diff --git a/‎tests/functional/cli/test_cli.py‎
Lines changed: 16 additions & 0 deletions b/‎tests/functional/cli/test_cli.py‎
Lines changed: 16 additions & 0 deletions
@@ -282,6 +282,16 @@ def _get_base_parser(add_help: bool = True) -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
         help=("GitLab CI job token [env var: CI_JOB_TOKEN]"),
         required=False,
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--skip-login",
+        help=(
+            "Skip initial authenticated API call to the current user endpoint. "
+            "This may  be useful when invoking the CLI in scripts. "
+            "[env var: GITLAB_SKIP_LOGIN]"
+        ),
+        action="store_true",
+        default=os.getenv("GITLAB_SKIP_LOGIN"),
+    )
     return parser
 
 
@@ -368,6 +378,7 @@ def main() -> None:
     debug = args.debug
     gitlab_resource = args.gitlab_resource
     resource_action = args.resource_action
+    skip_login = args.skip_login
 
     args_dict = vars(args)
     # Remove CLI behavior-related args
@@ -390,6 +401,7 @@ def main() -> None:
         "private_token",
         "oauth_token",
         "job_token",
+        "skip_login",
     ):
         args_dict.pop(item)
     args_dict = {k: _parse_value(v) for k, v in args_dict.items() if v is not None}
@@ -398,7 +410,7 @@ def main() -> None:
         gl = gitlab.Gitlab.merge_config(vars(options), gitlab_id, config_files)
         if debug:
             gl.enable_debug()
-        if gl.private_token or gl.oauth_token:
+        if not skip_login and (gl.private_token or gl.oauth_token):
             gl.auth()
     except Exception as e:
         die(str(e))
 
@@ -35,6 +35,17 @@ def resp_get_project():
     }
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def resp_current_user():
+    return {
+        "method": responses.GET,
+        "url": f"{DEFAULT_URL}/api/v4/user",
+        "json": {"username": "name", "id": 1},
+        "content_type": "application/json",
+        "status": 200,
+    }
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def resp_delete_registry_tags_in_bulk():
     return {
 
@@ -90,6 +90,22 @@ def test_uses_ci_job_token(monkeypatch, script_runner, resp_get_project):
     assert ret.success
 
 
+@pytest.mark.script_launch_mode("inprocess")
+@responses.activate
+def test_does_not_auth_on_skip_login(
+    monkeypatch, script_runner, resp_get_project, resp_current_user
+):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("GITLAB_PRIVATE_TOKEN", PRIVATE_TOKEN)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(config, "_DEFAULT_FILES", [])
+
+    resp_user = responses.add(**resp_current_user)
+    resp_project = responses.add(**resp_get_project)
+    ret = script_runner.run(["gitlab", "--skip-login", "project", "get", "--id", "1"])
+    assert ret.success
+    assert resp_user.call_count == 0
+    assert resp_project.call_count == 1
+
+
 @pytest.mark.script_launch_mode("inprocess")
 @responses.activate
 def test_private_token_overrides_job_token(