diff --git a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/http_interface.py b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/http_interface.py
index 7e77ec3..ac83da1 100644
--- a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/http_interface.py
+++ b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/http_interface.py
@@ -49,10 +49,15 @@ async def _gitlab_get_project_id(repo_model: RepoModel) -> str:
             },
         )
         found_repos = result.json()
-        if len(found_repos) != 1:
-            message = f"Searching for {repo_name} did not yield the deisired reulst {found_repos}"
-            raise CouldNotFindAGitlabRepositoryRepoException(message)
-        return found_repos[0]["id"]
+        # check for http_url_to_repo
+        for repo in found_repos:
+            if repo_model.http_url_to_repo == repo["http_url_to_repo"]:
+                return repo["id"]
+
+        message = (
+            f"Searching for {repo_name} did not yield the deisired result {found_repos}"
+        )
+        raise CouldNotFindAGitlabRepositoryRepoException(message)
 
 
 async def gitlab_did_last_repo_run_pass(
diff --git a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/models.py b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/models.py
index 5ac0ca5..8330f00 100644
--- a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/models.py
+++ b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/models.py
@@ -91,8 +91,9 @@ def require_access_token_for_gitlab(cls, values):
             )
         return values
 
-    @property
-    def repo(self) -> str:
+    def _format_repo(
+        self, escape_credentials: bool = False, strip_credentials: bool = False
+    ) -> str:
         if self.gitlab is None:
             return self.address
 
@@ -101,8 +102,29 @@ def repo(self) -> str:
         if user is None or password is None:
             return self.address
 
+        clear_password = password.get_secret_value()
+        if escape_credentials:
+            user = user.replace("@", "%40")
+            clear_password = clear_password.replace("@", "%40")
+
         protocol, url = self.address.split("://")
-        return f"{protocol}://{user}:{password.get_secret_value()}@{url}"
+
+        if strip_credentials:
+            return f"{protocol}://{url}"
+        else:
+            return f"{protocol}://{user}:{clear_password}@{url}"
+
+    @property
+    def repo(self) -> str:
+        return self._format_repo(escape_credentials=False)
+
+    @property
+    def escaped_repo(self) -> str:
+        return self._format_repo(escape_credentials=True)
+
+    @property
+    def http_url_to_repo(self) -> str:
+        return self._format_repo(strip_credentials=True)
 
 
 class ConfigModel(BaseModel):
diff --git a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/operations.py b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/operations.py
index 7f569cf..d86b954 100644
--- a/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/operations.py
+++ b/src/docker_publisher_osparc_services/operations.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 async def get_branch_hash(repo_model: RepoModel) -> str:
     result = await command_output(
-        f"git ls-remote {repo_model.repo} refs/heads/{repo_model.branch} -q",
+        f"git ls-remote {repo_model.escaped_repo} refs/heads/{repo_model.branch} -q"
     )
     # since multiple lines might be present in the output, fetch from the end
     commit_hash = result.split()[-2]
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ async def get_branch_hash(repo_model: RepoModel) -> str:
 async def clone_repo(repo_model: RepoModel) -> None:
     """clones and stores the cloned_dir"""
     target_dir: Path = Path(TemporaryDirectory().name)
-    await command_output(f"git clone {repo_model.repo} {target_dir}")
+    await command_output(f"git clone {repo_model.escaped_repo} {target_dir}")
     repo_model.clone_path = target_dir