331 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
331 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: Verify
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group: Continuous Integration
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
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type: reference
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---
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# Multi-project pipelines
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> - [Introduced](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2015/08/22/gitlab-7-14-released/#build-triggers-api-gitlab-ci) in GitLab 7.14, as Build Triggers.
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> - [Made available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/199224) in all tiers in GitLab 12.8.
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You can set up [GitLab CI/CD](README.md) across multiple projects, so that a pipeline
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in one project can trigger a pipeline in another project.
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GitLab CI/CD is a powerful continuous integration tool that works not only per project,
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but also across projects with multi-project pipelines.
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Multi-project pipelines are useful for larger products that require cross-project inter-dependencies, such as those
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adopting a [microservices architecture](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/16/trends-in-version-control-land-microservices/).
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For a demonstration of how cross-functional development teams can use cross-pipeline
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triggering to trigger multiple pipelines for different microservices projects, see
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[Cross-project Pipeline Triggering and Visualization](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/demo/#cross-project-pipeline-triggering-and-visualization-may-2019---1110).
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Additionally, it's possible to visualize the entire pipeline, including all cross-project
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inter-dependencies. **(PREMIUM)**
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## Use cases
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Let's assume you deploy your web app from different projects in GitLab:
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- One for the free version, which has its own pipeline that builds and tests your app
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- One for the paid version add-ons, which also pass through builds and tests
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- One for the documentation, which also builds, tests, and deploys with an SSG
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With Multi-Project Pipelines you can visualize the entire pipeline, including all build and test stages for the three projects.
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## Multi-project pipeline visualization **(PREMIUM)**
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> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/2121) in [GitLab Premium 9.3](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2017/06/22/gitlab-9-3-released/#multi-project-pipeline-graphs).
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When you configure GitLab CI/CD for your project, you can visualize the stages of your
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[jobs](pipelines/index.md#configure-a-pipeline) on a [pipeline graph](pipelines/index.md#visualize-pipelines).
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In the Merge Request Widget, multi-project pipeline mini-graphs are displayed,
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and when hovering or tapping (on touchscreen devices) they will expand and be shown adjacent to each other.
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## Triggering multi-project pipelines through API
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> - Use of `CI_JOB_TOKEN` for multi-project pipelines was [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/2017) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 9.3.
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> - Use of `CI_JOB_TOKEN` for multi-project pipelines was [made available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/31573) in all tiers in GitLab 12.4.
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When you use the [`CI_JOB_TOKEN` to trigger pipelines](triggers/README.md#ci-job-token), GitLab
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recognizes the source of the job token, and thus internally ties these pipelines
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together, allowing you to visualize their relationships on pipeline graphs.
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These relationships are displayed in the pipeline graph by showing inbound and
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outbound connections for upstream and downstream pipeline dependencies.
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When using:
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- Variables or [`rules`](yaml/README.md#rulesif) to control job behavior, the value of
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the [`$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE` predefined variable](variables/predefined_variables.md) is
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`pipeline` for multi-project pipeline triggered through the API with `CI_JOB_TOKEN`.
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- [`only/except`](yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) to control job behavior, use the
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`pipelines` keyword.
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## Creating multi-project pipelines from `.gitlab-ci.yml`
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/8997) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 11.8.
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> - [Made available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/199224) in all tiers in 12.8.
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### Triggering a downstream pipeline using a bridge job
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Before GitLab 11.8, it was necessary to implement a pipeline job that was
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responsible for making the API request [to trigger a pipeline](#triggering-multi-project-pipelines-through-api)
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in a different project.
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In GitLab 11.8, GitLab provides a new CI/CD configuration syntax to make this
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task easier, and avoid needing GitLab Runner for triggering cross-project
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pipelines. The following illustrates configuring a bridge job:
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```yaml
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rspec:
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stage: test
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script: bundle exec rspec
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staging:
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variables:
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ENVIRONMENT: staging
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stage: deploy
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trigger: my/deployment
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```
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In the example above, as soon as `rspec` job succeeds in the `test` stage,
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the `staging` bridge job is going to be started. The initial status of this
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job will be `pending`. GitLab will create a downstream pipeline in the
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`my/deployment` project and, as soon as the pipeline gets created, the
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`staging` job will succeed. `my/deployment` is a full path to that project.
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The user that created the upstream pipeline needs to have access rights to the
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downstream project (`my/deployment` in this case). If a downstream project can
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not be found, or a user does not have access rights to create pipeline there,
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the `staging` job is going to be marked as _failed_.
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When using:
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- Variables or [`rules`](yaml/README.md#rulesif) to control job behavior, the value of
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the [`$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE` predefined variable](variables/predefined_variables.md) is
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`pipeline` for multi-project pipelines triggered with a bridge job (using the
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[`trigger:`](yaml/README.md#trigger) keyword).
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- [`only/except`](yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) to control job behavior, use the
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`pipelines` keyword.
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CAUTION: **Caution:**
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In the example, `staging` will be marked as succeeded as soon as a downstream pipeline
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gets created. If you want to display the downstream pipeline's status instead, see
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[Mirroring status from triggered pipeline](#mirroring-status-from-triggered-pipeline).
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NOTE: **Note:**
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Bridge jobs do not support every configuration entry that a user can use
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in the case of regular jobs. Bridge jobs will not be picked by a runner,
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so there is no point in adding support for `script`, for example. If a user
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tries to use unsupported configuration syntax, YAML validation will fail upon
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pipeline creation.
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### Specifying a downstream pipeline branch
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It is possible to specify a branch name that a downstream pipeline will use:
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```yaml
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rspec:
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stage: test
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script: bundle exec rspec
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staging:
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stage: deploy
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trigger:
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project: my/deployment
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branch: stable-11-2
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```
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Use:
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- The `project` keyword to specify the full path to a downstream project.
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- The `branch` keyword to specify the name of a branch in the project specified by `project`.
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[From GitLab 12.4](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/10126), variable expansion is
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supported.
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GitLab will use a commit that is currently on the HEAD of the branch when
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creating a downstream pipeline.
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NOTE: **Note:**
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Pipelines triggered on a protected branch in a downstream project use the [permissions](../user/permissions.md)
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of the user that ran the trigger job in the upstream project. If the user does not
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have permission to run CI/CD pipelines against the protected branch, the pipeline fails. See
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[pipeline security for protected branches](pipelines/index.md#pipeline-security-on-protected-branches).
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### Passing variables to a downstream pipeline
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#### With the `variables` keyword
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Sometimes you might want to pass variables to a downstream pipeline.
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You can do that using the `variables` keyword, just like you would when
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defining a regular job.
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```yaml
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rspec:
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stage: test
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script: bundle exec rspec
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staging:
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variables:
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ENVIRONMENT: staging
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stage: deploy
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trigger: my/deployment
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```
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The `ENVIRONMENT` variable will be passed to every job defined in a downstream
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pipeline. It will be available as an environment variable when GitLab Runner picks a job.
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In the following configuration, the `MY_VARIABLE` variable will be passed to the downstream pipeline
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that is created when the `trigger-downstream` job is queued. This is because `trigger-downstream`
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job inherits variables declared in global variables blocks, and then we pass these variables to a downstream pipeline.
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```yaml
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variables:
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MY_VARIABLE: my-value
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trigger-downstream:
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variables:
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ENVIRONMENT: something
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trigger: my/project
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```
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You might want to pass some information about the upstream pipeline using, for
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example, predefined variables. In order to do that, you can use interpolation
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to pass any variable. For example:
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```yaml
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downstream-job:
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variables:
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UPSTREAM_BRANCH: $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
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trigger: my/project
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```
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In this scenario, the `UPSTREAM_BRANCH` variable with a value related to the
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upstream pipeline will be passed to the `downstream-job` job, and will be available
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within the context of all downstream builds.
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Upstream pipelines take precedence over downstream ones. If there are two
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variables with the same name defined in both upstream and downstream projects,
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the ones defined in the upstream project take precedence.
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#### With variable inheritance
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You can pass variables to a downstream pipeline with [`dotenv` variable inheritance](variables/README.md#inherit-environment-variables) and [cross project artifact downloads](yaml/README.md#cross-project-artifact-downloads-with-needs).
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In the upstream pipeline:
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1. Save the variables in a `.env` file.
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1. Save the `.env` file as a `dotenv` report.
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1. Trigger the downstream pipeline.
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```yaml
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build_vars:
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stage: build
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script:
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- echo "BUILD_VERSION=hello" >> build.env
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artifacts:
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reports:
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dotenv: build.env
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deploy:
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stage: deploy
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trigger: my/downstream_project
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```
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Set the `test` job in the downstream pipeline to inherit the variables from the `build_vars`
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job in the upstream project with `needs:`. The `test` job inherits the variables in the
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`dotenv` report and it can access `BUILD_VERSION` in the script:
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```yaml
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test:
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stage: test
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script:
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- echo $BUILD_VERSION
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needs:
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- project: my/upstream_project
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job: build_vars
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ref: master
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artifacts: true
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```
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### Mirroring status from triggered pipeline
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/11238) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 12.3.
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> - [Moved](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/199224) to GitLab Core in 12.8.
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You can mirror the pipeline status from the triggered pipeline to the source
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bridge job by using `strategy: depend`. For example:
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```yaml
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trigger_job:
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trigger:
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project: my/project
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strategy: depend
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```
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### Mirroring status from upstream pipeline
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You can mirror the pipeline status from an upstream pipeline to a bridge job by
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using the `needs:pipeline` keyword. The latest pipeline status from master is
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replicated to the bridge job.
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Example:
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```yaml
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upstream_bridge:
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stage: test
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needs:
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pipeline: other/project
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```
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### Limitations
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Because bridge jobs are a little different to regular jobs, it is not
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possible to use exactly the same configuration syntax here, as one would
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normally do when defining a regular job that will be picked by a runner.
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Some features are not implemented yet. For example, support for environments.
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[Configuration keywords](yaml/README.md) available for bridge jobs are:
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- `trigger` (to define a downstream pipeline trigger)
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- `stage`
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- `allow_failure`
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- [`rules`](yaml/README.md#rules)
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- `only` and `except`
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- `when` (only with `on_success`, `on_failure`, and `always` values)
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- `extends`
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## Trigger a pipeline when an upstream project is rebuilt
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> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/9045) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 12.8.
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You can trigger a pipeline in your project whenever a pipeline finishes for a new
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tag in a different project:
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1. Go to the project's **Settings > CI / CD** page, and expand the **Pipeline subscriptions** section.
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1. Enter the project you want to subscribe to, in the format `<namespace>/<project>`.
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For example, if the project is `https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab`, use `gitlab-org/gitlab`.
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1. Click subscribe.
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Any pipelines that complete successfully for new tags in the subscribed project
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will now trigger a pipeline on the current project's default branch. The maximum
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number of upstream pipeline subscriptions is 2 by default, for both the upstream and
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downstream projects. This [application limit](../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-cicd-subscriptions-to-a-project) can be changed on self-managed instances by a GitLab administrator.
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## Downstream private projects confidentiality concern
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If you trigger a pipeline in a downstream private project, the name of the project
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and the status of the pipeline is visible in the upstream project's pipelines page.
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If you have a public project that can trigger downstream pipelines in a private
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project, make sure to check that there are no confidentiality problems.
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