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README.md
Configuration of your builds with .gitlab-ci.yml
This document describes the usage of .gitlab-ci.yml
, the file that is used by
GitLab Runner to manage your project's builds.
If you want a quick introduction to GitLab CI, follow our quick start guide.
Table of Contents generated with DocToc
- .gitlab-ci.yml
- Jobs
- Git Strategy
- Shallow cloning
- Hidden jobs
- Special YAML features
- Validate the .gitlab-ci.yml
- Skipping builds
- Examples
.gitlab-ci.yml
From version 7.12, GitLab CI uses a YAML
file (.gitlab-ci.yml
) for the project configuration. It is placed in the root
of your repository and contains definitions of how your project should be built.
The YAML file defines a set of jobs with constraints stating when they should
be run. The jobs are defined as top-level elements with a name and always have
to contain at least the script
clause:
job1:
script: "execute-script-for-job1"
job2:
script: "execute-script-for-job2"
The above example is the simplest possible CI configuration with two separate jobs, where each of the jobs executes a different command.
Of course a command can execute code directly (./configure;make;make install
)
or run a script (test.sh
) in the repository.
Jobs are used to create builds, which are then picked up by Runners and executed within the environment of the Runner. What is important, is that each job is run independently from each other.
The YAML syntax allows for using more complex job specifications than in the above example:
image: ruby:2.1
services:
- postgres
before_script:
- bundle install
after_script:
- rm secrets
stages:
- build
- test
- deploy
job1:
stage: build
script:
- execute-script-for-job1
only:
- master
tags:
- docker
There are a few reserved keywords
that cannot be used as job names:
Keyword | Required | Description |
---|---|---|
image | no | Use docker image, covered in Use Docker |
services | no | Use docker services, covered in Use Docker |
stages | no | Define build stages |
types | no | Alias for stages |
before_script | no | Define commands that run before each job's script |
after_script | no | Define commands that run after each job's script |
variables | no | Define build variables |
cache | no | Define list of files that should be cached between subsequent runs |
image and services
This allows to specify a custom Docker image and a list of services that can be used for time of the build. The configuration of this feature is covered in a separate document.
before_script
before_script
is used to define the command that should be run before all
builds, including deploy builds. This can be an array or a multi-line string.
after_script
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.7 and requires Gitlab Runner v1.2 (not yet released)
after_script
is used to define the command that will be run after for all
builds. This has to be an array or a multi-line string.
stages
stages
is used to define build stages that can be used by jobs.
The specification of stages
allows for having flexible multi stage pipelines.
The ordering of elements in stages
defines the ordering of builds' execution:
- Builds of the same stage are run in parallel.
- Builds of the next stage are run after the jobs from the previous stage complete successfully.
Let's consider the following example, which defines 3 stages:
stages:
- build
- test
- deploy
- First all jobs of
build
are executed in parallel. - If all jobs of
build
succeed, thetest
jobs are executed in parallel. - If all jobs of
test
succeed, thedeploy
jobs are executed in parallel. - If all jobs of
deploy
succeed, the commit is marked assuccess
. - If any of the previous jobs fails, the commit is marked as
failed
and no jobs of further stage are executed.
There are also two edge cases worth mentioning:
- If no
stages
are defined in.gitlab-ci.yml
, then by default thebuild
,test
anddeploy
are allowed to be used as job's stage by default. - If a job doesn't specify a
stage
, the job is assigned thetest
stage.
types
Alias for stages.
variables
Note: Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.5.0.
GitLab CI allows you to add variables to .gitlab-ci.yml
that are set in the
build environment. The variables are stored in the git repository and are meant
to store non-sensitive project configuration, for example:
variables:
DATABASE_URL: "postgres://postgres@postgres/my_database"
These variables can be later used in all executed commands and scripts.
The YAML-defined variables are also set to all created service containers, thus allowing to fine tune them.
Variables can be also defined on job level.
cache
Note: Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.7.0.
cache
is used to specify a list of files and directories which should be
cached between builds.
By default the caching is enabled per-job and per-branch.
If cache
is defined outside the scope of the jobs, it means it is set
globally and all jobs will use its definition.
Cache all files in binaries
and .config
:
rspec:
script: test
cache:
paths:
- binaries/
- .config
Cache all Git untracked files:
rspec:
script: test
cache:
untracked: true
Cache all Git untracked files and files in binaries
:
rspec:
script: test
cache:
untracked: true
paths:
- binaries/
Locally defined cache overwrites globally defined options. This will cache only
binaries/
:
cache:
paths:
- my/files
rspec:
script: test
cache:
paths:
- binaries/
The cache is provided on a best-effort basis, so don't expect that the cache will be always present. For implementation details, please check GitLab Runner.
cache:key
Note: Introduced in GitLab Runner v1.0.0.
The key
directive allows you to define the affinity of caching
between jobs, allowing to have a single cache for all jobs,
cache per-job, cache per-branch or any other way you deem proper.
This allows you to fine tune caching, allowing you to cache data between different jobs or even different branches.
The cache:key
variable can use any of the predefined variables.
Example configurations
To enable per-job caching:
cache:
key: "$CI_BUILD_NAME"
untracked: true
To enable per-branch caching:
cache:
key: "$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
untracked: true
To enable per-job and per-branch caching:
cache:
key: "$CI_BUILD_NAME/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
untracked: true
To enable per-branch and per-stage caching:
cache:
key: "$CI_BUILD_STAGE/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
untracked: true
If you use Windows Batch to run your shell scripts you need to replace
$
with %
:
cache:
key: "%CI_BUILD_STAGE%/%CI_BUILD_REF_NAME%"
untracked: true
Jobs
.gitlab-ci.yml
allows you to specify an unlimited number of jobs. Each job
must have a unique name, which is not one of the Keywords mentioned above.
A job is defined by a list of parameters that define the build behavior.
job_name:
script:
- rake spec
- coverage
stage: test
only:
- master
except:
- develop
tags:
- ruby
- postgres
allow_failure: true
Keyword | Required | Description |
---|---|---|
script | yes | Defines a shell script which is executed by Runner |
image | no | Use docker image, covered in Using Docker Images |
services | no | Use docker services, covered in Using Docker Images |
stage | no | Defines a build stage (default: test ) |
type | no | Alias for stage |
variables | no | Define build variables on a job level |
only | no | Defines a list of git refs for which build is created |
except | no | Defines a list of git refs for which build is not created |
tags | no | Defines a list of tags which are used to select Runner |
allow_failure | no | Allow build to fail. Failed build doesn't contribute to commit status |
when | no | Define when to run build. Can be on_success , on_failure or always |
dependencies | no | Define other builds that a build depends on so that you can pass artifacts between them |
artifacts | no | Define list of build artifacts |
cache | no | Define list of files that should be cached between subsequent runs |
before_script | no | Override a set of commands that are executed before build |
after_script | no | Override a set of commands that are executed after build |
environment | no | Defines a name of environment to which deployment is done by this build |
script
script
is a shell script which is executed by the Runner. For example:
job:
script: "bundle exec rspec"
This parameter can also contain several commands using an array:
job:
script:
- uname -a
- bundle exec rspec
stage
stage
allows to group build into different stages. Builds of the same stage
are executed in parallel
. For more info about the use of stage
please check
stages.
only and except
only
and except
are two parameters that set a refs policy to limit when
jobs are built:
only
defines the names of branches and tags for which the job will be built.except
defines the names of branches and tags for which the job will not be built.
There are a few rules that apply to the usage of refs policy:
only
andexcept
are inclusive. If bothonly
andexcept
are defined in a job specification, the ref is filtered byonly
andexcept
.only
andexcept
allow the use of regular expressions.only
andexcept
allow the use of special keywords:branches
,tags
, andtriggers
.only
andexcept
allow to specify a repository path to filter jobs for forks.
In the example below, job
will run only for refs that start with issue-
,
whereas all branches will be skipped.
job:
# use regexp
only:
- /^issue-.*$/
# use special keyword
except:
- branches
In this example, job
will run only for refs that are tagged, or if a build is explicitly requested
via an API trigger.
job:
# use special keywords
only:
- tags
- triggers
The repository path can be used to have jobs executed only for the parent repository and not forks:
job:
only:
- branches@gitlab-org/gitlab-ce
except:
- master@gitlab-org/gitlab-ce
The above example will run job
for all branches on gitlab-org/gitlab-ce
,
except master.
job variables
It is possible to define build variables using a variables
keyword on a job
level. It works basically the same way as its global-level equivalent but
allows you to define job-specific build variables.
When the variables
keyword is used on a job level, it overrides global YAML
build variables and predefined variables.
Build variables priority is defined in variables documentation.
tags
tags
is used to select specific Runners from the list of all Runners that are
allowed to run this project.
During the registration of a Runner, you can specify the Runner's tags, for
example ruby
, postgres
, development
.
tags
allow you to run builds with Runners that have the specified tags
assigned to them:
job:
tags:
- ruby
- postgres
The specification above, will make sure that job
is built by a Runner that
has both ruby
AND postgres
tags defined.
when
when
is used to implement jobs that are run in case of failure or despite the
failure.
when
can be set to one of the following values:
on_success
- execute build only when all builds from prior stages succeed. This is the default.on_failure
- execute build only when at least one build from prior stages fails.always
- execute build regardless of the status of builds from prior stages.
For example:
stages:
- build
- cleanup_build
- test
- deploy
- cleanup
build_job:
stage: build
script:
- make build
cleanup_build_job:
stage: cleanup_build
script:
- cleanup build when failed
when: on_failure
test_job:
stage: test
script:
- make test
deploy_job:
stage: deploy
script:
- make deploy
cleanup_job:
stage: cleanup
script:
- cleanup after builds
when: always
The above script will:
- Execute
cleanup_build_job
only whenbuild_job
fails - Always execute
cleanup_job
as the last step in pipeline.
environment
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.9.
environment
is used to define that a job deploys to a specific environment.
This allows easy tracking of all deployments to your environments straight from
GitLab.
If environment
is specified and no environment under that name exists, a new
one will be created automatically.
The environment
name must contain only letters, digits, '-' and '_'. Common
names are qa
, staging
, and production
, but you can use whatever name works
with your workflow.
Example configurations
deploy to production:
stage: deploy
script: git push production HEAD:master
environment: production
The deploy to production
job will be marked as doing deployment to
production
environment.
artifacts
Notes:
- Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.7.0 for non-Windows platforms.
- Windows support was added in GitLab Runner v.1.0.0.
- Currently not all executors are supported.
- Build artifacts are only collected for successful builds by default.
artifacts
is used to specify a list of files and directories which should be
attached to the build after success. To pass artifacts between different builds,
see dependencies.
Below are some examples.
Send all files in binaries
and .config
:
artifacts:
paths:
- binaries/
- .config
Send all Git untracked files:
artifacts:
untracked: true
Send all Git untracked files and files in binaries
:
artifacts:
untracked: true
paths:
- binaries/
You may want to create artifacts only for tagged releases to avoid filling the build server storage with temporary build artifacts.
Create artifacts only for tags (default-job
will not create artifacts):
default-job:
script:
- mvn test -U
except:
- tags
release-job:
script:
- mvn package -U
artifacts:
paths:
- target/*.war
only:
- tags
The artifacts will be sent to GitLab after a successful build and will be available for download in the GitLab UI.
artifacts:name
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.0.
The name
directive allows you to define the name of the created artifacts
archive. That way, you can have a unique name of every archive which could be
useful when you'd like to download the archive from GitLab. The artifacts:name
variable can make use of any of the predefined variables.
Example configurations
To create an archive with a name of the current build:
job:
artifacts:
name: "$CI_BUILD_NAME"
To create an archive with a name of the current branch or tag including only the files that are untracked by Git:
job:
artifacts:
name: "$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
untracked: true
To create an archive with a name of the current build and the current branch or tag including only the files that are untracked by Git:
job:
artifacts:
name: "${CI_BUILD_NAME}_${CI_BUILD_REF_NAME}"
untracked: true
To create an archive with a name of the current stage and branch name:
job:
artifacts:
name: "${CI_BUILD_STAGE}_${CI_BUILD_REF_NAME}"
untracked: true
If you use Windows Batch to run your shell scripts you need to replace
$
with %
:
job:
artifacts:
name: "%CI_BUILD_STAGE%_%CI_BUILD_REF_NAME%"
untracked: true
artifacts:when
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.9 and GitLab Runner v1.3.0.
artifacts:when
is used to upload artifacts on build failure or despite the
failure.
artifacts:when
can be set to one of the following values:
on_success
- upload artifacts only when the build succeeds. This is the default.on_failure
- upload artifacts only when the build fails.always
- upload artifacts regardless of the build status.
Example configurations
To upload artifacts only when build fails.
job:
artifacts:
when: on_failure
artifacts:expire_in
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.9 and GitLab Runner v1.3.0.
artifacts:expire_in
is used to delete uploaded artifacts after the specified
time. By default, artifacts are stored on GitLab forever. expire_in
allows you
to specify how long artifacts should live before they expire, counting from the
time they are uploaded and stored on GitLab.
You can use the Keep button on the build page to override expiration and keep artifacts forever.
After expiry, artifacts are actually deleted hourly by default (via a cron job), but they are not accessible after expiry.
The value of expire_in
is an elapsed time. Examples of parseable values:
- '3 mins 4 sec'
- '2 hrs 20 min'
- '2h20min'
- '6 mos 1 day'
- '47 yrs 6 mos and 4d'
- '3 weeks and 2 days'
Example configurations
To expire artifacts 1 week after being uploaded:
job:
artifacts:
expire_in: 1 week
dependencies
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
This feature should be used in conjunction with artifacts
and
allows you to define the artifacts to pass between different builds.
Note that artifacts
from previous stages are passed by default.
To use this feature, define dependencies
in context of the job and pass
a list of all previous builds from which the artifacts should be downloaded.
You can only define builds from stages that are executed before the current one.
An error will be shown if you define builds from the current stage or next ones.
In the following example, we define two jobs with artifacts, build:osx
and
build:linux
. When the test:osx
is executed, the artifacts from build:osx
will be downloaded and extracted in the context of the build. The same happens
for test:linux
and artifacts from build:linux
.
The job deploy
will download artifacts from all previous builds because of
the stage precedence:
build:osx:
stage: build
script: make build:osx
artifacts:
paths:
- binaries/
build:linux:
stage: build
script: make build:linux
artifacts:
paths:
- binaries/
test:osx:
stage: test
script: make test:osx
dependencies:
- build:osx
test:linux:
stage: test
script: make test:linux
dependencies:
- build:linux
deploy:
stage: deploy
script: make deploy
before_script and after_script
It's possible to overwrite globally defined before_script
and after_script
:
before_script:
- global before script
job:
before_script:
- execute this instead of global before script
script:
- my command
after_script:
- execute this after my script
Git Strategy
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.9 as an experimental feature. May change in future releases or be removed completely.
You can set the GIT_STRATEGY
used for getting recent application code. clone
is slower, but makes sure you have a clean directory before every build. fetch
is faster. GIT_STRATEGY
can be specified in the global variables
section or
in the variables
section for individual jobs. If it's not specified, then the
default from project settings will be used.
variables:
GIT_STRATEGY: clone
or
variables:
GIT_STRATEGY: fetch
Shallow cloning
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.9 as an experimental feature. May change in future releases or be removed completely.
You can specify the depth of fetching and cloning using GIT_DEPTH
. This allows
shallow cloning of the repository which can significantly speed up cloning for
repositories with a large number of commits or old, large binaries. The value is
passed to git fetch
and git clone
.
Note: If you use a depth of 1 and have a queue of builds or retry builds, jobs may fail.
Since Git fetching and cloning is based on a ref, such as a branch name, runners
can't clone a specific commit SHA. If there are multiple builds in the queue, or
you are retrying an old build, the commit to be tested needs to be within the
git history that is cloned. Setting too small a value for GIT_DEPTH
can make
it impossible to run these old commits. You will see unresolved reference
in
build logs. You should then reconsider changing GIT_DEPTH
to a higher value.
Builds that rely on git describe
may not work correctly when GIT_DEPTH
is
set since only part of the git history is present.
To fetch or clone only the last 3 commits:
variables:
GIT_DEPTH: "3"
Hidden jobs
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
Jobs that start with a dot (.
) will be not processed by GitLab CI. You can
use this feature to ignore jobs, or use the
special YAML features and transform the hidden jobs
into templates.
In the following example, .job_name
will be ignored:
.job_name:
script:
- rake spec
Special YAML features
It's possible to use special YAML features like anchors (&
), aliases (*
)
and map merging (<<
), which will allow you to greatly reduce the complexity
of .gitlab-ci.yml
.
Read more about the various YAML features.
Anchors
Note: Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
YAML also has a handy feature called 'anchors', which let you easily duplicate content across your document. Anchors can be used to duplicate/inherit properties, and is a perfect example to be used with hidden jobs to provide templates for your jobs.
The following example uses anchors and map merging. It will create two jobs,
test1
and test2
, that will inherit the parameters of .job_template
, each
having their own custom script
defined:
.job_template: &job_definition # Hidden job that defines an anchor named 'job_definition'
image: ruby:2.1
services:
- postgres
- redis
test1:
<<: *job_definition # Merge the contents of the 'job_definition' alias
script:
- test1 project
test2:
<<: *job_definition # Merge the contents of the 'job_definition' alias
script:
- test2 project
&
sets up the name of the anchor (job_definition
), <<
means "merge the
given hash into the current one", and *
includes the named anchor
(job_definition
again). The expanded version looks like this:
.job_template:
image: ruby:2.1
services:
- postgres
- redis
test1:
image: ruby:2.1
services:
- postgres
- redis
script:
- test1 project
test2:
image: ruby:2.1
services:
- postgres
- redis
script:
- test2 project
Let's see another one example. This time we will use anchors to define two sets
of services. This will create two jobs, test:postgres
and test:mysql
, that
will share the script
directive defined in .job_template
, and the services
directive defined in .postgres_services
and .mysql_services
respectively:
.job_template: &job_definition
script:
- test project
.postgres_services:
services: &postgres_definition
- postgres
- ruby
.mysql_services:
services: &mysql_definition
- mysql
- ruby
test:postgres:
<< *job_definition
services: *postgres_definition
test:mysql:
<< *job_definition
services: *mysql_definition
The expanded version looks like this:
.job_template:
script:
- test project
.postgres_services:
services:
- postgres
- ruby
.mysql_services:
services:
- mysql
- ruby
test:postgres:
script:
- test project
services:
- postgres
- ruby
test:mysql:
script:
- test project
services:
- mysql
- ruby
You can see that the hidden jobs are conveniently used as templates.
Validate the .gitlab-ci.yml
Each instance of GitLab CI has an embedded debug tool called Lint.
You can find the link under /ci/lint
of your gitlab instance.
Skipping builds
If your commit message contains [ci skip]
or [skip ci]
, using any
capitalization, the commit will be created but the builds will be skipped.
Examples
Visit the examples README to see a list of examples using GitLab CI with various languages.