diff --git a/doc/06-config.md b/doc/06-config.md
index 7f6d492a5..ad350e850 100644
--- a/doc/06-config.md
+++ b/doc/06-config.md
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ of their API. Composer may prompt for credentials when needed, but these can als
 manually set. Read more on how to get an OAuth token for GitHub and cli syntax
 [here](articles/authentication-for-private-packages.md#github-oauth).
 
+## gitlab-domains
+
+Defaults to `["gitlab.com"]`. A list of domains of GitLab servers.
+This is used if you use the `gitlab` repository type.
+
 ## gitlab-oauth
 
 A list of domain names and oauth keys. For example using `{"gitlab.com":
@@ -109,6 +114,16 @@ gitlab.com the domain names must be also specified with the
 `api` or `read_api` scope.
 Further info can also be found [here](articles/authentication-for-private-packages.md#gitlab-token)
 
+## gitlab-protocol
+
+A protocol to force use of when creating a repository URL for the `source`
+value of the package metadata. One of `git` or `http`. (`https` is treated
+as a synonym for `http`.) Helpful when working with projects referencing
+private repositories which will later be cloned in GitLab CI jobs with a
+[GitLab CI job token](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/new_ci_build_permissions_model.html#dependent-repositories)
+using HTTP basic auth. By default, Composer will generate a git-over-SSH
+URL for private repositories and HTTP(S) only for public.
+
 ## disable-tls
 
 Defaults to `false`. If set to true all HTTPS URLs will be tried with HTTP
@@ -283,11 +298,6 @@ used for GitHub Enterprise setups.
 Defaults to `true`. If `false`, the OAuth tokens created to access the
 github API will have a date instead of the machine hostname.
 
-## gitlab-domains
-
-Defaults to `["gitlab.com"]`. A list of domains of GitLab servers.
-This is used if you use the `gitlab` repository type.
-
 ## use-github-api
 
 Defaults to `true`.  Similar to the `no-api` key on a specific repository,
diff --git a/src/Composer/Config.php b/src/Composer/Config.php
index 07fa81db2..49ac45435 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Config.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Config.php
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class Config
         'preferred-install' => 'dist',
         'notify-on-install' => true,
         'github-protocols' => array('https', 'ssh', 'git'),
+        'gitlab-protocol' => null,
         'vendor-dir' => 'vendor',
         'bin-dir' => '{$vendor-dir}/bin',
         'cache-dir' => '{$home}/cache',
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriver.php
index a3d4a18f6..9ed413b11 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriver.php
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@ class GitLabDriver extends VcsDriver
      */
     protected $gitDriver = null;
 
+    /**
+     * Protocol to force use of for repository URLs.
+     *
+     * @var string One of ssh, http
+     */
+    protected $protocol;
+
     /**
      * Defaults to true unless we can make sure it is public
      *
@@ -97,6 +104,14 @@ class GitLabDriver extends VcsDriver
         ;
         $this->originUrl = self::determineOrigin($configuredDomains, $guessedDomain, $urlParts, $match['port']);
 
+        if ($protocol = $this->config->get('gitlab-protocol')) {
+            // https treated as a synonym for http.
+            if (!in_array($protocol, array('git', 'http', 'https'))) {
+                throw new \RuntimeException('gitlab-protocol must be one of git, http.');
+            }
+            $this->protocol = $protocol === 'git' ? 'ssh' : 'http';
+        }
+
         if (false !== strpos($this->originUrl, ':') || false !== strpos($this->originUrl, '/')) {
             $this->hasNonstandardOrigin = true;
         }
@@ -210,6 +225,9 @@ class GitLabDriver extends VcsDriver
      */
     public function getRepositoryUrl()
     {
+        if ($this->protocol) {
+            return $this->project["{$this->protocol}_url_to_repo"];
+        }
         return $this->isPrivate ? $this->project['ssh_url_to_repo'] : $this->project['http_url_to_repo'];
     }
 
@@ -360,7 +378,7 @@ class GitLabDriver extends VcsDriver
         if (isset($this->project['visibility'])) {
             $this->isPrivate = $this->project['visibility'] !== 'public';
         } else {
-            // client is not authendicated, therefore repository has to be public
+            // client is not authenticated, therefore repository has to be public
             $this->isPrivate = false;
         }
     }
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriverTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriverTest.php
index 0fd2fa956..883231489 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriverTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitLabDriverTest.php
@@ -561,6 +561,38 @@ JSON;
         $driver->initialize();
     }
 
+    public function testProtocolOverrideRepositoryUrlGeneration()
+    {
+        // @link http://doc.gitlab.com/ce/api/projects.html#get-single-project
+        $projectData = <<<JSON
+{
+    "id": 17,
+    "default_branch": "mymaster",
+    "visibility": "private",
+    "http_url_to_repo": "https://gitlab.com/mygroup/myproject.git",
+    "ssh_url_to_repo": "git@gitlab.com:mygroup/myproject.git",
+    "last_activity_at": "2014-12-01T09:17:51.000+01:00",
+    "name": "My Project",
+    "name_with_namespace": "My Group / My Project",
+    "path": "myproject",
+    "path_with_namespace": "mygroup/myproject",
+    "web_url": "https://gitlab.com/mygroup/myproject"
+}
+JSON;
+
+        $apiUrl = 'https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/mygroup%2Fmyproject';
+        $url = 'git@gitlab.com:mygroup/myproject';
+        $this->mockResponse($apiUrl, array(), $projectData)
+            ->shouldBeCalledTimes(1)
+        ;
+
+        $config = clone $this->config;
+        $config->merge(array('config' => array('gitlab-protocol' => 'http')));
+        $driver = new GitLabDriver(array('url' => $url), $this->io->reveal(), $config, $this->httpDownloader->reveal(), $this->process->reveal());
+        $driver->initialize();
+        $this->assertEquals('https://gitlab.com/mygroup/myproject.git', $driver->getRepositoryUrl(), 'Repository URL matches config request for http not git');
+    }
+
     private function mockResponse($url, $options, $return)
     {
         return $this->httpDownloader