diff --git a/.changeset/eager-ears-walk.md b/.changeset/eager-ears-walk.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8982824c95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/eager-ears-walk.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab': patch
+---
+
+Made "gitlab:pipeline:trigger" action idempotent
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
index a7edc12320..b051004ccc 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ export const createTriggerGitlabPipelineAction = (options: {
       output: pipelineOutputProperties,
     },
     async handler(ctx) {
-      let pipelineTokenResponse: PipelineTriggerTokenSchema | null = null;
+      let pipelineTriggerToken: string | undefined = undefined;
+      let pipelineTriggerId: number | undefined = undefined;
 
       const { repoUrl, projectId, tokenDescription, token, branch, variables } =
         commonGitlabConfig.merge(pipelineInputProperties).parse(ctx.input);
@@ -71,18 +72,28 @@ export const createTriggerGitlabPipelineAction = (options: {
       const api = getClient({ host, integrations, token });
 
       try {
-        // Create a pipeline token
-        pipelineTokenResponse = (await api.PipelineTriggerTokens.create(
-          projectId,
-          tokenDescription,
-        )) as PipelineTriggerTokenSchema;
+        ({ pipelineTriggerToken, pipelineTriggerId } = await ctx.checkpoint({
+          key: `create.pipeline.token.${projectId}`,
+          fn: async () => {
+            const res = (await api.PipelineTriggerTokens.create(
+              projectId,
+              tokenDescription,
+            )) as PipelineTriggerTokenSchema;
+            return {
+              pipelineTriggerToken: res.token,
+              pipelineTriggerId: res.id,
+            };
+          },
+        }));
 
-        if (!pipelineTokenResponse.token) {
-          ctx.logger.error('Failed to create pipeline token.');
+        if (!pipelineTriggerToken) {
+          ctx.logger.error(
+            `Failed to create pipeline token for project ${projectId}.`,
+          );
           return;
         }
         ctx.logger.info(
-          `Pipeline token id ${pipelineTokenResponse.id} created.`,
+          `Pipeline token id ${pipelineTriggerId} created for project ${projectId}.`,
         );
 
         // Use the pipeline token to trigger the pipeline in the project
@@ -90,16 +101,20 @@ export const createTriggerGitlabPipelineAction = (options: {
           (await api.PipelineTriggerTokens.trigger(
             projectId,
             branch,
-            pipelineTokenResponse.token,
+            pipelineTriggerToken,
             { variables },
           )) as ExpandedPipelineSchema;
 
         if (!pipelineTriggerResponse.id) {
-          ctx.logger.error('Failed to trigger pipeline.');
+          ctx.logger.error(
+            `Failed to trigger pipeline for project ${projectId}.`,
+          );
           return;
         }
 
-        ctx.logger.info(`Pipeline id ${pipelineTriggerResponse.id} triggered.`);
+        ctx.logger.info(
+          `Pipeline id ${pipelineTriggerResponse.id} for project ${projectId} triggered.`,
+        );
 
         ctx.output('pipelineUrl', pipelineTriggerResponse.web_url);
       } catch (error: any) {
@@ -115,18 +130,26 @@ export const createTriggerGitlabPipelineAction = (options: {
         );
       } finally {
         // Delete the pipeline token if it was created
-        if (pipelineTokenResponse && pipelineTokenResponse.id) {
+        if (pipelineTriggerId) {
           try {
-            await api.PipelineTriggerTokens.remove(
-              projectId,
-              pipelineTokenResponse.id,
-            );
+            await ctx.checkpoint({
+              key: `create.delete.token.${projectId}`,
+              fn: async () => {
+                if (pipelineTriggerId) {
+                  // to make the current version of TypeScript happy
+                  await api.PipelineTriggerTokens.remove(
+                    projectId,
+                    pipelineTriggerId,
+                  );
+                }
+              },
+            });
             ctx.logger.info(
-              `Deleted pipeline token ${pipelineTokenResponse.id}.`,
+              `Deleted pipeline with token id ${pipelineTriggerId}.`,
             );
           } catch (error: any) {
             ctx.logger.error(
-              `Failed to delete pipeline token id ${pipelineTokenResponse.id}.`,
+              `Failed to delete pipeline with token id ${pipelineTriggerId}.`,
             );
           }
         }