diff --git a/.changeset/four-moons-watch.md b/.changeset/four-moons-watch.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3d0b25c1d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/four-moons-watch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/integration-react': patch
+---
+
+Revert of change #26430
diff --git a/docs/auth/gitlab/provider.md b/docs/auth/gitlab/provider.md
index 73546411bf..4f5339f5b9 100644
--- a/docs/auth/gitlab/provider.md
+++ b/docs/auth/gitlab/provider.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ should point to your Backstage backend auth handler.
    1. Set this to `http://localhost:7007/api/auth/gitlab/handler/frame` for local development.
    2. Set this to `http://{APP_FQDN}:{APP_BACKEND_PORT}/api/auth/gitlab/handler/frame` for non-local deployments.
    3. Select the following scopes from the list:
+      - [x] `api` Grants full read-write access to the api. This is only required if users need to be able to create merge requests with their own permissions.
       - [x] `read_user` Grants read-only access to the authenticated user's profile through the /user API endpoint, which includes username, public email, and full name. Also grants access to read-only API endpoints under /users.
       - [x] `read_repository` Grants read-only access to repositories on private projects using Git-over-HTTP (not using the API).
       - [x] `write_repository` Grants read-write access to repositories on private projects using Git-over-HTTP (not using the API).
diff --git a/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.test.ts b/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.test.ts
index e63ce2844c..d252b95b85 100644
--- a/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.test.ts
+++ b/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.test.ts
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ describe('ScmAuth', () => {
         additionalScope: { repoWrite: true },
       }),
     ).resolves.toMatchObject({
-      token: 'read_user read_api read_repository write_repository',
+      token: 'read_user read_api read_repository write_repository api',
     });
 
     const azureAuth = ScmAuth.forAzure(mockAuthApi);
diff --git a/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.ts b/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.ts
index 6257915c8c..f848a71d8b 100644
--- a/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.ts
+++ b/packages/integration-react/src/api/ScmAuth.ts
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ export class ScmAuth implements ScmAuthApi {
    *
    * If the additional `repoWrite` permission is requested, these scopes are added:
    *
-   * `write_repository`
+   * `write_repository api`
    */
   static forGitlab(
     gitlabAuthApi: OAuthApi,
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ export class ScmAuth implements ScmAuthApi {
     const host = options?.host ?? 'gitlab.com';
     return new ScmAuth('gitlab', gitlabAuthApi, host, {
       default: ['read_user', 'read_api', 'read_repository'],
-      repoWrite: ['write_repository'],
+      repoWrite: ['write_repository api'],
     });
   }