diff --git a/.changeset/famous-crews-speak.md b/.changeset/famous-crews-speak.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d2246472a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/famous-crews-speak.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/backend-common': patch
+---
+
+Fixed GitlabUrlReader to include api tokens in API calls
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.test.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.test.ts
index 518e2efadc..31092e7707 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.test.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.test.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ const gitlabProcessor = new GitlabUrlReader(
         host: 'gitlab.com',
         apiBaseUrl: 'https://gitlab.com/api/v4',
         baseUrl: 'https://gitlab.com',
+        token: 'gl-dummy-token',
       }),
     ),
   ),
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ const hostedGitlabProcessor = new GitlabUrlReader(
         host: 'gitlab.mycompany.com',
         apiBaseUrl: 'https://gitlab.mycompany.com/api/v4',
         baseUrl: 'https://gitlab.mycompany.com',
+        token: 'gl-dummy-token',
       }),
     ),
   ),
@@ -656,4 +658,21 @@ describe('GitlabUrlReader', () => {
       ).rejects.toThrow(/^Unable to translate GitLab artifact URL:/);
     });
   });
+
+  describe('resolveProjectToId', () => {
+    it('should resolve the project path to a valid project id', async () => {
+      worker.use(
+        rest.get('*/api/v4/projects/some%2Fproject', (req, res, ctx) => {
+          // the private-token header must be included on API calls
+          expect(req.headers.get('private-token')).toBe('gl-dummy-token');
+          return res(ctx.status(200), ctx.json({ id: 12345 }));
+        }),
+      );
+      await expect(
+        (gitlabProcessor as any).resolveProjectToId(
+          new URL('https://gitlab.com/some/project'),
+        ),
+      ).resolves.toEqual(12345);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
index 522e81cd2f..a582f02cf0 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ export class GitlabUrlReader implements UrlReader {
       `${
         pathToProject.origin
       }${relativePath}/api/v4/projects/${encodeURIComponent(project)}`,
+      getGitLabRequestOptions(this.integration.config),
     );
     const data = await result.json();
     if (!result.ok) {