*removing dependency on external libraries for gitlab api interaction
$gitlab = new \sb\Gitlab\Client('https://gitlab.yoursite.com','YOUR_PRIVATE_TOKEN', true);
$project =  new \sb\Gitlab\Project('namespace:project', $client);
$issue = $project->addIssue("title", "description", "assignee.email@yoursite.com", "bugfix");
$project->issueClose($issue);
$project->issueReopen($issue);
$open_issues = $project->getIssue('open');
$closed_issues = $project->getIssue('closed');
$all_issues = $project->getIssue(null);
$by_label_issues = $project->getIssues(null, "bugfix,UI");