diff --git a/swh/lister/gitlab/lister.py b/swh/lister/gitlab/lister.py
index 85c0a52..ac3cb31 100644
--- a/swh/lister/gitlab/lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/gitlab/lister.py
@@ -1,121 +1,124 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2018 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import random
 import time
 
 from .. import utils
 from ..core.paging_lister import PageByPageHttpLister
 from .models import GitLabModel
 
 
 class GitLabLister(PageByPageHttpLister):
     # Template path expecting an integer that represents the page id
     PATH_TEMPLATE = '/projects?page=%d&order_by=id'
     MODEL = GitLabModel
     LISTER_NAME = 'gitlab'
 
     def __init__(self, api_baseurl=None, instance=None,
                  override_config=None, sort='asc'):
         super().__init__(api_baseurl=api_baseurl,
                          override_config=override_config)
         self.instance = instance
         self.PATH_TEMPLATE = '%s&sort=%s' % (self.PATH_TEMPLATE, sort)
 
     @property
     def ADDITIONAL_CONFIG(self):
         """Override additional config as the 'credentials' structure change
            between the ancestor classes and this class.
 
            cf. request_params method below
 
         """
         default_config = super().ADDITIONAL_CONFIG
         # 'credentials' is a dict of (instance, {username, password}) dict
         default_config['credentials'] = ('dict', {})
         return default_config
 
     def request_params(self, identifier):
         """Get the full parameters passed to requests given the
         transport_request identifier.
 
         For the gitlab lister, the 'credentials' entries is configured
         per instance. For example:
 
         - credentials:
           - gitlab.com:
             - username: user0
               password: <pass>
             - username: user1
               password: <pass>
             - ...
           - other-gitlab-instance:
             ...
 
         """
         params = {
             'headers': self.request_headers() or {}
         }
         # Retrieve the credentials per instance
         creds = self.config['credentials']
         if creds:
             creds_lister = creds[self.instance]
             auth = random.choice(creds_lister) if creds else None
             if auth:
                 params['auth'] = (auth['username'], auth['password'])
         return params
 
+    def uid(self, repo):
+        return '%s/%s' % (self.instance, repo['path_with_namespace'])
+
     def get_model_from_repo(self, repo):
         return {
             'instance': self.instance,
-            'uid': repo['id'],
+            'uid': self.uid(repo),
             'name': repo['name'],
             'full_name': repo['path_with_namespace'],
             'html_url': repo['web_url'],
             'origin_url': repo['http_url_to_repo'],
             'origin_type': 'git',
             'description': repo['description'],
         }
 
     def transport_quota_check(self, response):
         """Deal with rate limit if any.
 
         """
         # not all gitlab instance have rate limit
         if 'RateLimit-Remaining' in response.headers:
             reqs_remaining = int(response.headers['RateLimit-Remaining'])
             if response.status_code == 403 and reqs_remaining == 0:
                 reset_at = int(response.headers['RateLimit-Reset'])
                 delay = min(reset_at - time.time(), 3600)
                 return True, delay
         return False, 0
 
     def get_next_target_from_response(self, response):
         """Determine the next page identifier.
 
         """
         _next = utils.get(response.headers, ['X-Next-Page', 'x-next-page'])
         if _next:
             return int(_next)
 
     def get_pages_information(self):
         """Determine pages information.
 
         """
         response = self.transport_head(identifier=1)
         h = response.headers
         total = utils.get(h, ['X-Total', 'x-total'])
         total_pages = utils.get(h, ['X-Total-Pages', 'x-total-pages'])
         per_page = utils.get(h, ['X-Per-Page', 'x-per-page'])
         if total is not None:
             total = int(total)
         if total_pages is not None:
             total_pages = int(total_pages)
         if per_page is not None:
             per_page = int(per_page)
         return total, total_pages, per_page
 
     def transport_response_simplified(self, response):
         repos = response.json()
         return [self.get_model_from_repo(repo) for repo in repos]
diff --git a/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py b/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
index 8b1d950..68841bf 100644
--- a/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
+++ b/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
@@ -1,29 +1,28 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2018 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 from sqlalchemy import Column, Integer, String
 
 from ..core.models import ModelBase
 
 
 class GitLabModel(ModelBase):
     """a Gitlab repository from a gitlab instance
 
     """
     __tablename__ = 'gitlab_repo'
 
-    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    uid = Column(Integer, index=True)
+    uid = Column(String, primary_key=True)
     instance = Column(String, index=True)
 
     def __init__(self, uid=None, indexable=None, name=None,
                  full_name=None, html_url=None, origin_url=None,
                  origin_type=None, description=None, task_id=None,
                  origin_id=None, instance=None):
         super().__init__(uid=uid, name=name,
                          full_name=full_name, html_url=html_url,
                          origin_url=origin_url, origin_type=origin_type,
                          description=description, task_id=task_id,
                          origin_id=origin_id)
         self.instance = instance