GitLab CI/CD pipelines are configured using a YAML file called .gitlab-ci.yml within each project.

The .gitlab-ci.yml file defines the structure and order of the pipelines and determines:

This topic covers CI/CD pipeline configuration. For other CI/CD configuration information, see:

We have complete examples of configuring pipelines:

NOTE: Note: If you have a mirrored repository where GitLab pulls from , you may need to enable pipeline triggering in your project's Settings > Repository > Pull from a remote repository > Trigger pipelines for mirror updates .

For example:

job1:
  script: "execute-script-for-job1"
job2:
  script: "execute-script-for-job2"

The above example is the simplest possible CI/CD 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 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.

NOTE: Note: Parameters types and type are deprecated .

In the following example, the ruby:2.5 image is set as the default for all jobs except the rspec 2.6 job, which uses the ruby:2.6 image:

default:
  image: ruby:2.5
rspec:
  script: bundle exec rspec
rspec 2.6:
  image: ruby:2.6
  script: bundle exec rspec

Introduced in GitLab 12.9.

You can disable inheritance of globally defined defaults and variables with the inherit: parameter.

To enable or disable the inheritance of all variables: or default: parameters, use the following format:

To inherit only a subset of default: parameters or variables: , specify what you wish to inherit, and any not listed will not be inherited. Use one of the following formats:

inherit:
  default: [parameter1, parameter2]
  variables: [VARIABLE1, VARIABLE2]

inherit:
  default:
    - parameter1
    - parameter2
  variables:
    - VARIABLE1
    - VARIABLE2

In the example below:

default:
  image: 'ruby:2.4'
  before_script:
    - echo Hello World
variables:
  DOMAIN: example.com
  WEBHOOK_URL: https://my-webhook.example.com
rubocop:
  inherit:
    default: false
    variables: false
  script: bundle exec rubocop
rspec:
  inherit:
    default: [image]
    variables: [WEBHOOK_URL]
  script: bundle exec rspec
capybara:
  inherit:
    variables: false
  script: bundle exec capybara
karma:
  inherit:
    default: true
    variables: [DOMAIN]
  script: karma

job:
  script: "bundle exec rspec"

YAML anchors for scripts are available.

This parameter can also contain several commands using an array:

job:
  script:
    - uname -a
    - bundle exec rspec

NOTE: Note: Sometimes, script commands will need to be wrapped in single or double quotes. For example, commands that contain a colon ( : ) need to be wrapped in quotes so that the YAML parser knows to interpret the whole thing as a string rather than a "key: value" pair. Be careful when using special characters: : , { , } , [ , ] , , , & , * , # , ? , | , - , < , > , = , ! , % , @ , ` .

If any of the script commands return an exit code different from zero, the job will fail and further commands will not be executed. This behavior can be avoided by storing the exit code in a variable:

job:
  script:
    - false && true; exit_code=$?
    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "Previous command failed"; fi;

Used to specify a Docker image to use for the job.

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see Available settings for image .

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see Available settings for image .

Used to specify a service Docker image , linked to a base image specified in image .

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see see Available settings for services .

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see see Available settings for services .

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see see Available settings for services .

An extended docker configuration option .

For more information, see see Available settings for services .

before_script is used to define a command that should be run before each job, including deploy jobs, but after the restoration of any artifacts . This must be an array.

Scripts specified in before_script are concatenated with any scripts specified in the main script , and executed together in a single shell.

after_script is used to define the command that will be run after each job, including failed ones. This must be an array.

Scripts specified in after_script are executed in a new shell, separate from any before_script or script scripts. As a result, they:

It's possible to overwrite a globally defined before_script or after_script if you set it per-job:

default:
  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

YAML anchors for before_script and after_script are available.

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy

Introduced in GitLab 12.4.

The following stages are available to every pipeline:

User-defined stages are executed after .pre and before .post .

The order of .pre and .post cannot be changed, even if defined out of order in .gitlab-ci.yml . For example, the following are equivalent configuration:

Configured in order:

stages:
  - .pre
  - .post

Configured out of order:

stages:
  - .pre
  - .post

Not explicitly configured:

stages:
NOTE: Note:
A pipeline will not be created if it only contains jobs in .pre or .post stages.
stage
stage is defined per-job and relies on stages which is defined
globally. It allows to group jobs into different stages, and jobs of the same
stage are executed in parallel (subject to certain conditions). For example:
stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy
job 0:
  stage: .pre
  script: make something useful before build stage
job 1:
  stage: build
  script: make build dependencies
job 2:
  stage: build
  script: make build artifacts
job 3:
  stage: test
  script: make test
job 4:
  stage: deploy
  script: make deploy
job 5:
  stage: .post
  script: make something useful at the end of pipeline
Using your own Runners
When using your own Runners, GitLab Runner runs only one job at a time by default (see the
concurrent flag in Runner global settings
for more information).
Jobs will run on your own Runners in parallel only if:
Run on different Runners.
The Runner's concurrent setting has been changed.
only/except (basic)
NOTE: Note:
The rules syntax is now the preferred method of setting job policies.
only and except are candidates for deprecation,
and may be removed in the future.
only and except are two parameters that set a job policy to limit when
jobs are created:
only defines the names of branches and tags for which the job will run.
except defines the names of branches and tags for which the job will
not run.
There are a few rules that apply to the usage of job policy:
only and except are inclusive. If both only and except are defined
in a job specification, the ref is filtered by only and except.
only and except allow the use of regular expressions (supported regexp syntax).
only and except allow to specify a repository path to filter jobs for
forks.
In addition, only and except allow the use of special keywords:
Value
Description
For pipelines created using Run pipeline button in GitLab UI (under your project's Pipelines).
merge_requests
When a merge request is created or updated (See pipelines for merge requests).
external_pull_requests
When an external pull request on GitHub is created or updated (See Pipelines for external pull requests).
For jobs created using a GitLab ChatOps command.
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-.*$/
  # use special keyword
  except:
    - branches
Pattern matching is case-sensitive by default. Use i flag modifier, like
/pattern/i to make a pattern case-insensitive:
job:
  # use regexp
  only:
    - /^issue-.*$/i
  # 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 or a Pipeline Schedule:
job:
  # use special keywords
  only:
    - tags
    - triggers
    - schedules
The repository path can be used to have jobs executed only for the parent
repository and not forks:
job:
  only:
    - branches@gitlab-org/gitlab
  except:
    - master@gitlab-org/gitlab
    - /^release/.*$/@gitlab-org/gitlab
The above example will run job for all branches on gitlab-org/gitlab,
except master and those with names prefixed with release/.
If a job does not have an only rule, only: ['branches', 'tags'] is set by
default. If it doesn't have an except rule, it is empty.
For example,
job:
  script: echo 'test'
is translated to:
job:
  script: echo 'test'
  only: ['branches', 'tags']
Regular expressions
Because @ is used to denote the beginning of a ref's repository path,
matching a ref name containing the @ character in a regular expression
requires the use of the hex character code match \x40.




    

Only the tag or branch name can be matched by a regular expression.
The repository path, if given, is always matched literally.
If a regular expression shall be used to match the tag or branch name,
the entire ref name part of the pattern has to be a regular expression,
and must be surrounded by /.
(With regular expression flags appended after the closing /.)
So issue-/.*/ won't work to match all tag names or branch names
that begin with issue-.
TIP: Tip
Use anchors ^ and $ to avoid the regular expression
matching only a substring of the tag name or branch name.
For example, /^issue-.*$/ is equivalent to /^issue-/,
while just /issue/ would also match a branch called severe-issues.
Supported only/except regexp syntax
CAUTION: Warning:
This is a breaking change that was introduced with GitLab 11.9.4.
In GitLab 11.9.4, GitLab begun internally converting regexp used
in only and except parameters to RE2.
This means that only subset of features provided by Ruby Regexp
is supported. RE2 limits the set of features
provided due to computational complexity, which means some features became unavailable in GitLab 11.9.4.
For example, negative lookaheads.
For GitLab versions from 11.9.7 and up to GitLab 12.0, GitLab provides a feature flag that can be
enabled by administrators that allows users to use unsafe regexp syntax. This brings compatibility
with previously allowed syntax version and allows users to gracefully migrate to the new syntax.
Feature.enable(:allow_unsafe_ruby_regexp)
only/except (advanced)
CAUTION: Warning:
This is an alpha feature, and it is subject to change at any time without
prior notice!
GitLab supports both simple and complex strategies, so it's possible to use an
array and a hash configuration scheme.
Four keys are available:
variables
changes
kubernetes
If you use multiple keys under only or except, the keys will be evaluated as a
single conjoined expression. That is:
only: means "include this job if all of the conditions match".
except: means "exclude this job if any of the conditions match".
With only, individual keys are logically joined by an AND:
(any of refs) AND (any of variables) AND (any of changes) AND (if Kubernetes is active)
In the example below, the test job will only be created when all of the following are true:
The pipeline has been scheduled or runs for master.
The variables keyword matches.
The kubernetes service is active on the project.
test:
  script: npm run test
  only:
    refs:
      - master
      - schedules
    variables:
      - $CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE =~ /run-end-to-end-tests/
    kubernetes: active
except is implemented as a negation of this complete expression:
NOT((any of refs) AND (any of variables) AND (any of changes) AND (if Kubernetes is active))
This means the keys are treated as if joined by an OR. This relationship could be described as:
(any of refs) OR (any of variables) OR (any of changes) OR (if Kubernetes is active)
In the example below, the test job will not be created when any of the following are true:
The pipeline runs for the master.
There are changes to the README.md file in the root directory of the repo.
test:
  script: npm run test
  except:
    refs:
      - master
    changes:
      - "README.md"
only:refs/except:refs
refs policy introduced in GitLab 10.0.
The refs strategy can take the same values as the
simplified only/except configuration.
In the example below, the deploy job is going to be created only when the
pipeline has been scheduled or runs for the master branch:
deploy:
  only:
    refs:
      - master
      - schedules
only:kubernetes/except:kubernetes
kubernetes policy introduced in GitLab 10.0.
The kubernetes strategy accepts only the active keyword.
In the example below, the deploy job is going to be created only when the
Kubernetes service is active in the project:
deploy:
  only:
    kubernetes: active
only:variables/except:variables
variables policy introduced in GitLab 10.7.
The variables keyword is used to define variables expressions. In other words,
you can use predefined variables / project / group or
environment-scoped variables to define an expression GitLab is going to
evaluate in order to decide whether a job should be created or not.
Examples of using variables expressions:
deploy:
  script: cap staging deploy
  only:
    refs:
      - branches
    variables:
      - $RELEASE == "staging"
      - $STAGING
Another use case is excluding jobs depending on a commit message:
end-to-end:
  script: rake test:end-to-end
  except:
    variables:
      - $CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE =~ /skip-end-to-end-tests/
Learn more about variables expressions.
only:changes/except:changes
changes policy introduced in GitLab 11.4.
Using the changes keyword with only or except makes it possible to define if
a job should be created based on files modified by a Git push event.
This means the only:changes policy is useful for pipelines where:
$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'push'
$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'merge_request_event'
$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'external_pull_request_event'
If there is no Git push event, such as for pipelines with
sources other than the three above,
changes cannot determine if a given file is new or old, and will always
return true.
A basic example of using only: changes:
docker build:
  script: docker build -t my-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  only:
    changes:
      - Dockerfile
      - docker/scripts/*
      - dockerfiles/**/*
      - more_scripts/*.{rb,py,sh}
In the scenario above, when pushing commits to an existing branch in GitLab,
it creates and triggers the docker build job, provided that one of the
commits contains changes to any of the following:
The Dockerfile file.
Any of the files inside docker/scripts/ directory.
Any of the files and subdirectories inside the dockerfiles directory.
Any of the files with rb, py, sh extensions inside the more_scripts directory.
CAUTION: Warning:
If using only:changes with only allow merge requests to be merged if the pipeline succeeds,
undesired behavior could result if you do not also use only:merge_requests.
You can also use glob patterns to match multiple files in either the root directory
of the repo, or in any directory within the repo, but they must be wrapped
in double quotes or GitLab will fail to parse the .gitlab-ci.yml. For example:
test:
  script: npm run test
  only:
    changes:
      - "*.json"
      - "**/*.sql"
The following example will skip the build job if a change is detected in any file
in the root directory of the repo with a .md extension:
build:
  script: npm run build
  except:
    changes:
      - "*.md"
CAUTION: Warning:
There are some points to be aware of when
using this feature with new branches or tags without pipelines for merge requests.




    

CAUTION: Warning:
There are some points to be aware of when
using this feature with scheduled pipelines.
Using only:changes with pipelines for merge requests
With pipelines for merge requests,
it is possible to define a job to be created based on files modified
in a merge request.
In order to deduce the correct base SHA of the source branch, we recommend combining
this keyword with only: [merge_requests]. This way, file differences are correctly
calculated from any further commits, thus all changes in the merge requests are properly
tested in pipelines.
For example:
docker build service one:
  script: docker build -t my-service-one-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  only:
    refs:
      - merge_requests
    changes:
      - Dockerfile
      - service-one/**/*
In the scenario above, if a merge request is created or updated that changes
either files in service-one directory or the Dockerfile, GitLab creates
and triggers the docker build service one job.
Note that if pipelines for merge requests is
combined with only: [change], but only: [merge_requests] is omitted, there could be
unwanted behavior.
For example:
docker build service one:
  script: docker build -t my-service-one-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  only:
    changes:
      - Dockerfile
      - service-one/**/*
In the example above, a pipeline could fail due to changes to a file in service-one/**/*.
A later commit could then be pushed that does not include any changes to this file,
but includes changes to the Dockerfile, and this pipeline could pass because it is only
testing the changes to the Dockerfile. GitLab checks the most recent pipeline,
that passed, and will show the merge request as mergeable, despite the earlier
failed pipeline caused by a change that was not yet corrected.
With this configuration, care must be taken to check that the most recent pipeline
properly corrected any failures from previous pipelines.
Using only:changes without pipelines for merge requests
Without pipelines for merge requests, pipelines
run on branches or tags that don't have an explicit association with a merge request.
In this case, a previous SHA is used to calculate the diff, which equivalent to git diff HEAD~.
This could result in some unexpected behavior, including:
When pushing a new branch or a new tag to GitLab, the policy always evaluates to true.
When pushing a new commit, the changed files are calculated using the previous commit
as the base SHA.
Using only:changes with scheduled pipelines
only:changes always evaluates as "true" in Scheduled pipelines.
All files are considered to have "changed" when a scheduled pipeline
runs.
rules
Introduced in GitLab 12.3.
rules allows for a list of individual rule objects to be evaluated
in order, until one matches and dynamically provides attributes to the job.
Note that rules cannot be used in combination with only/except since it is intended
to replace that functionality. If you attempt to do this the linter will return a
key may not be used with rules error.
Available rule clauses include:
if (similar to only:variables)
changes (same as only:changes)
exists
For example, using if. This configuration specifies that job should be built
and run for every pipeline on merge requests targeting master, regardless of
the status of other builds:
job:
  script: "echo Hello, Rules!"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "master"'
      when: always
    - if: '$VAR =~ /pattern/'
      when: manual
    - when: on_success
In this example, if the first rule:
Matches, the job will be given the when:always attribute.
Does not match, the second and third rules will be evaluated sequentially
until a match is found. That is, the job will be given either the:
when: manual attribute if the second rule matches. The stage will not complete until this manual job is triggered and completes successfully.
when: on_success attribute if the second rule does not match. The third
rule will always match when reached because it has no conditional clauses.
rules:if differs slightly from only:variables by accepting only a single
expression string, rather than an array of them. Any set of expressions to be
evaluated should be conjoined into a single expression using && or ||, and use
the variable matching syntax.
For example:
job:
  script: "echo Hello, Rules!"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME =~ /^feature/ && $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "master"' # This rule will be evaluated
      when: always
    - if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME =~ /^feature/' # This rule will only be evaluated if the target branch is not "master"
      when: manual
    - if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME' # If neither of the first two match but the simple presence does, we set to "on_success" by default
If none of the provided rules match, the job will be set to when:never, and
not included in the pipeline. If rules:when is not included in the configuration
at all, the behavior defaults to job:when, which continues to default to
on_success.
rules:changes
rules: changes works exactly the same way as only: changes and except: changes,
accepting an array of paths. Similarly, it will always return true if there is no
Git push event. See only/except: changes for more information.
For example:
docker build:
  script: docker build -t my-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  rules:
    - changes: # Will include the job and set to when:manual if any of the follow paths match a modified file.
      - Dockerfile
      when: manual
    - if: '$VAR == "string value"'
      when: manual # Will include the job and set to when:manual if the expression evaluates to true, after the `changes:` rule fails to match.
    - when: on_success # If neither of the first rules match, set to on_success
In this example, a job either set to:
Run manually if Dockerfile has changed OR $VAR == "string value".
when:on_success by the last rule, where no earlier clauses evaluate to true.
rules:exists
Introduced in GitLab 12.4.
exists accepts an array of paths and will match if any of these paths exist
as files in the repository.
For example:
job:
  script: docker build -t my-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  rules:
    - exists:
      - Dockerfile
You can also use glob patterns to match multiple files in any directory within
the repository.
For example:
job:
  script: bundle exec rspec
  rules:
    - exists:
      - spec/**.rb
NOTE: Note:
For performance reasons, using exists with patterns is limited to 10000
checks. After the 10000th check, rules with patterned globs will always match.




    

rules:allow_failure
Introduced in GitLab 12.8.
You can use allow_failure: true within rules: to allow a job to fail, or a manual job to
wait for action, without stopping the pipeline itself. All jobs using rules: default to allow_failure: false
if allow_failure: is not defined.
job:
  script: "echo Hello, Rules!"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "master"'
      when: manual
      allow_failure: true
In this example, if the first rule matches, then the job will have when: manual and allow_failure: true.
Exclude jobs with rules: from certain pipelines
Jobs with rules: can cause two pipelines to be created unexpectedly:
One pipeline from pushing a commit to a branch.
A second "detached" pipeline for a merge request.
only and except jobs do not trigger merge request pipelines by default, but this
is not the case for jobs with rules:, which may be surprising if migrating from only
and except to rules:.
If you are using rules: and you see two pipelines for commits to branches that have
a merge request, you have two options:
Individually exclude each job that uses rules: from merge request pipelines. The
example below will cause the job to not run in pipelines for merge requests,
but it will run in pipelines for new tags and pipelines running on branch refs:
job:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID
      when: never
    - when: manual
  script:
    - echo hello
Add a global workflow: rules to allow pipelines in only certain
situations. The example below will only run pipelines for merge requests, new tags and
changes to master. It will not run any pipelines on any branch except master, but
it will run detached merge request pipelines for any merge request, targeting any branch:
workflow:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"
Complex rule clauses
To conjoin if, changes, and exists clauses with an AND, use them in the
same rule.
In the following example:
We run the job manually if Dockerfile or any file in docker/scripts/
has changed AND $VAR == "string value".
Otherwise, the job will not be included in the pipeline.
docker build:
  script: docker build -t my-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  rules:
    - if: '$VAR == "string value"'
      changes: # Will include the job and set to when:manual if any of the follow paths match a modified file.
      - Dockerfile
      - docker/scripts/*
      when: manual
  # - when: never would be redundant here, this is implied any time rules are listed.
The only clauses currently available are:
changes
exists
Keywords such as branches or refs that are currently available for
only/except are not yet available in rules as they are being individually
considered for their usage and behavior in this context.
Permitted attributes
The only job attributes currently set by rules are:
when.
start_in, if when is set to delayed.
allow_failure.
A job will be included in a pipeline if when is evaluated to any value
except never.
Delayed jobs require a start_in value, so rule objects do as well. For
example:
docker build:
  script: docker build -t my-image:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG .
  rules:
    - changes: # Will include the job and delay 3 hours when the Dockerfile has changed
      - Dockerfile
      when: delayed
      start_in: '3 hours'
    - when: on_success # Otherwise include the job and set to run normally
Additional job configuration may be added to rules in the future. If something
useful isn't available, please
open an issue.
workflow:rules
Introduced in GitLab 12.5
The top-level workflow: key applies to the entirety of a pipeline, and will
determine whether or not a pipeline is created. It currently accepts a single
rules: key that operates similarly to rules: defined within jobs,
enabling dynamic configuration of the pipeline.
The configuration options currently available for workflow:rules are:​
if: Define a rule.
when: May be set to always or never only. If not provided, the default value is always​.
The list of if rules is evaluated until a single one is matched. If none
match, the last when will be used:
workflow:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME =~ /-wip$/
      when: never
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
      when: never
    - when: always
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 jobs 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.
Tags are also a great way to run different jobs on different platforms, for
example, given an OS X Runner with tag osx and Windows Runner with tag
windows, the following jobs run on respective platforms:
windows job:
  stage:
    - build
  tags:
    - windows
  script:
    - echo Hello, %USERNAME%!
osx job:
  stage:
    - build
  tags:
    - osx
  script:
    - echo "Hello, $USER!"
allow_failure
allow_failure allows a job to fail without impacting the rest of the CI
suite.
The default value is false, except for manual jobs.
When enabled and the job fails, the job will show an orange warning in the UI.
However, the logical flow of the pipeline will consider the job a
success/passed, and is not blocked.
Assuming all other jobs are successful, the job's stage and its pipeline will
show the same orange warning. However, the associated commit will be marked
"passed", without warnings.
In the example below, job1 and job2 will run in parallel, but if job1
fails, it will not stop the next stage from running, since it's marked with
allow_failure: true:
job1:
  stage: test
  script:
    - execute_script_that_will_fail
  allow_failure: true
job2:
  stage: test
  script:
    - execute_script_that_will_succeed
job3:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - deploy_to_staging
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 job only when all jobs from prior stages
succeed (or are considered succeeding because they are marked
allow_failure). This is the default.
on_failure - execute job only when at least one job from prior stages
fails.
always - execute job regardless of the status of jobs from prior stages.
manual - execute job manually (added in GitLab 8.10). Read about
manual actions below.
delayed - execute job after a certain period (added in GitLab 11.14).
Read about delayed actions below.
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
  when: manual
cleanup_job:
  stage: cleanup
  script:
    - cleanup after jobs
  when: always
The above script will:
Execute cleanup_build_job only when build_job fails.
Always execute cleanup_job as the last step in pipeline regardless of
success or failure.
Allow you to manually execute deploy_job from GitLab's UI.
when:manual
Introduced in GitLab 8.10.
Blocking manual actions were introduced in GitLab 9.0.
Protected actions were introduced in GitLab 9.2.
Manual actions are a special type of job that are not executed automatically,
they need to be explicitly started by a user. An example usage of manual actions
would be a deployment to a production environment. Manual actions can be started
from the pipeline, job, environment, and deployment views. Read more at the
environments documentation.
Manual actions can be either optional or blocking. Blocking manual actions will
block the execution of the pipeline at the stage this action is defined in. It's
possible to resume execution of the pipeline when someone executes a blocking
manual action by clicking a play button.
When a pipeline is blocked, it will not be merged if Merge When Pipeline Succeeds
is set. Blocked pipelines also do have a special status, called manual.
Manual actions are non-blocking by default. If you want to make manual action
blocking, it is necessary to add allow_failure: false to the job's definition
in .gitlab-ci.yml.
Optional manual actions have allow_failure: true set by default and their
Statuses do not contribute to the overall pipeline status. So, if a manual
action fails, the pipeline will eventually succeed.
Manual actions are considered to be write actions, so permissions for
protected branches are used when
a user wants to trigger an action. In other words, in order to trigger a manual
action assigned to a branch that the pipeline is running for, the user needs to
have the ability to merge to this branch. It is possible to use protected environments
to more strictly protect manual deployments from being
run by unauthorized users.
NOTE: Note:
Using when:manual and trigger together results in the error jobs:#{job-name} when should be on_success, on_failure or always, because when:manual prevents triggers
being used.
Protecting manual jobs (PREMIUM)
It's possible to use protected environments
to define a precise list of users authorized to run a manual job. By allowing only
users associated with a protected environment to trigger manual jobs, it is possible
to implement some special use cases, such as:
More precisely limiting who can deploy to an environment.
Enabling a pipeline to be blocked until an approved user "approves" it.
To do this, you must:
Add an environment to the job. For example:
deploy_prod:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - echo "Deploy to production server"
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://example.com
  when: manual
  only:
    - master
In the protected environments settings,
select the environment (production in the example above) and add the users, roles or groups
that are authorized to trigger the manual job to the Allowed to Deploy list. Only those in
this list will be able to trigger this manual job, as well as GitLab administrators
who are always able to use protected environments.
Additionally, if a manual job is defined as blocking by adding allow_failure: false,
the next stages of the pipeline will not run until the manual job is triggered. This
can be used as a way to have a defined list of users allowed to "approve" later pipeline
stages by triggering the blocking manual job.
when:delayed
Introduced in GitLab 11.4.
Delayed job are for executing scripts after a certain period.
This is useful if you want to avoid jobs entering pending state immediately.
You can set the period with start_in key. The value of start_in key is an elapsed time in seconds, unless a unit is
provided. start_in key must be less than or equal to one week. Examples of valid values include:
10 seconds
30 minutes
1 day
1 week
When there is a delayed job in a stage, the pipeline will not progress until the delayed job has finished.
This means this keyword can also be used for inserting delays between different stages.
The timer of a delayed job starts immediately after the previous stage has completed.
Similar to other types of jobs, a delayed job's timer will not start unless the previous stage passed.
The following example creates a job named timed rollout 10% that is executed 30 minutes after the previous stage has completed:
timed rollout 10%:
  stage: deploy
  script: echo 'Rolling out 10% ...'
  when: delayed
  start_in: 30 minutes
You can stop the active timer of a delayed job by clicking the Unschedule button.
This job will never be executed in the future unless you execute the job manually.
You can start a delayed job immediately by clicking the Play button.
GitLab Runner will pick your job soon and start the job.
environment
Introduced in GitLab 8.9.
You can read more about environments and find more examples in the
documentation about environments.
environment is used to define that a job deploys to a specific environment.
If environment is specified and no environment under that name exists, a new
one will be created automatically.
In its simplest form, the environment keyword can be defined like:
deploy to production:
  stage: deploy
  script: git push production HEAD:master
  environment: production
In the above example, the deploy to production job will be marked as doing a
deployment to the production environment.
environment:name
Introduced in GitLab 8.11.
Before GitLab 8.11, the name of an environment could be defined as a string like
environment: production. The recommended way now is to define it under the
name keyword.
The name parameter can use any of the defined CI variables,
including predefined, secure variables and .gitlab-ci.yml variables.
You however cannot use variables defined under script.
The environment name can contain:
letters
digits
spaces
Common names are qa, staging, and production, but you can use whatever
name works with your workflow.
Instead of defining the name of the environment right after the environment
keyword, it is also possible to define it as a separate value. For that, use
the name keyword under environment:
deploy to production:
  stage: deploy
  script: git push production HEAD:master
  environment:
    name: production
environment:url
Introduced in GitLab 8.11.
Before GitLab 8.11, the URL could be added only in GitLab's UI. The
recommended way now is to define it in .gitlab-ci.yml.
The url parameter can use any of the defined CI variables,
including predefined, secure variables and .gitlab-ci.yml variables.
You however cannot use variables defined under script.
This is an optional value that when set, it exposes buttons in various places
in GitLab which when clicked take you to the defined URL.




    

In the example below, if the job finishes successfully, it will create buttons
in the merge requests and in the environments/deployments pages which will point
to https://prod.example.com.
deploy to production:
  stage: deploy
  script: git push production HEAD:master
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://prod.example.com
environment:on_stop
Introduced in GitLab 8.13.
Starting with GitLab 8.14, when you have an environment that has a stop action
defined, GitLab will automatically trigger a stop action when the associated
branch is deleted.
Closing (stopping) environments can be achieved with the on_stop keyword defined under
environment. It declares a different job that runs in order to close
the environment.
Read the environment:action section for an example.
environment:action
Introduced in GitLab 8.13.
The action keyword is to be used in conjunction with on_stop and is defined
in the job that is called to close the environment.
Take for instance:
review_app:
  stage: deploy
  script: make deploy-app
  environment:
    name: review
    on_stop: stop_review_app
stop_review_app:
  stage: deploy
  variables:
    GIT_STRATEGY: none
  script: make delete-app
  when: manual
  environment:
    name: review
    action: stop
In the above example we set up the review_app job to deploy to the review
environment, and we also defined a new stop_review_app job under on_stop.
Once the review_app job is successfully finished, it will trigger the
stop_review_app job based on what is defined under when. In this case we
set it up to manual so it will need a manual action via
GitLab's web interface in order to run.
Also in the example, GIT_STRATEGY is set to none so that GitLab Runner won’t
try to check out the code after the branch is deleted when the stop_review_app
job is automatically triggered.
NOTE: Note:
The above example overwrites global variables. If your stop environment job depends
on global variables, you can use anchor variables when setting the GIT_STRATEGY
to change it without overriding the global variables.
The stop_review_app job is required to have the following keywords defined:
when - reference
environment:name
environment:action
stage should be the same as the review_app in order for the environment
to stop automatically when the branch is deleted
environment:auto_stop_in
Introduced in GitLab 12.8.
The auto_stop_in keyword is for specifying life period of the environment,
that when expired, GitLab GitLab automatically stops them.
For example,
review_app:
  script: deploy-review-app
  environment:
    name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
    auto_stop_in: 1 day
When review_app job is executed and a review app is created, a life period of
the environment is set to 1 day.
For more information, see
the environments auto-stop documentation
environment:kubernetes
Introduced in GitLab 12.6.
The kubernetes block is used to configure deployments to a
Kubernetes cluster that is associated with your project.
For example:
deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script: make deploy-app
  environment:
    name: production
    kubernetes:
      namespace: production
This will set up the deploy job to deploy to the production
environment, using the production
Kubernetes namespace.
For more information, see
Available settings for kubernetes.
NOTE: Note:
Kubernetes configuration is not supported for Kubernetes clusters
that are managed by GitLab.
To follow progress on support for GitLab-managed clusters, see the
relevant issue.
Dynamic environments
Introduced in GitLab 8.12 and GitLab Runner 1.6.
The $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG was introduced in GitLab 8.15.
The name and url parameters can use any of the defined CI variables,
including predefined, secure variables and .gitlab-ci.yml variables.
You however cannot use variables defined under script.
For example:
deploy as review app:
  stage: deploy
  script: make deploy
  environment:
    name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
    url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com/
The deploy as review app job will be marked as deployment to dynamically
create the review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME environment, where $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
is an environment variable set by the Runner. The
$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG variable is based on the environment name, but suitable
for inclusion in URLs. In this case, if the deploy as review app job was run
in a branch named pow, this environment would be accessible with an URL like
https://review-pow.example.com/.
This of course implies that the underlying server which hosts the application
is properly configured.
The common use case is to create dynamic environments for branches and use them
as Review Apps. You can see a simple example using Review Apps at
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-nginx/.
cache
Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.7.0.
cache can be set globally and per-job.
From GitLab 9.0, caching is enabled and shared between pipelines and jobs
by default.
From GitLab 9.2, caches are restored before artifacts.
TIP: Learn more:
Read how caching works and find out some good practices in the
caching dependencies documentation.
cache is used to specify a list of files and directories which should be
cached between jobs. You can only use paths that are within the local working
copy.
If cache is defined outside the scope of jobs, it means it is set
globally and all jobs will use that definition.
cache:paths
Use the paths directive to choose which files or directories will be cached. Paths
are relative to the project directory ($CI_PROJECT_DIR) and cannot directly link outside it.
Wildcards can be used that follow the glob
patterns and filepath.Match.
Cache all files in binaries that end in .apk and the .config file:
rspec:
  script: test
  cache:
    paths:
      - binaries/*.apk
      - .config
Locally defined cache overrides globally defined options. The following rspec
job will cache only binaries/:
cache:
  paths:
    - my/files
rspec:
  script: test
  cache:
    key: rspec
    paths:
      - binaries/
Note that since cache is shared between jobs, if you're using different
paths for different jobs, you should also set a different cache:key
otherwise cache content can be overwritten.




    

cache:key
Introduced in GitLab Runner v1.0.0.
Since the cache is shared between jobs, if you're using different
paths for different jobs, you should also set a different cache:key
otherwise cache content can be overwritten.
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 that fits your workflow. This way, you can 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, and the default key, if not
set, is just literal default which means everything is shared between
pipelines and jobs by default, starting from GitLab 9.0.
NOTE: Note:
The cache:key variable cannot contain the / character, or the equivalent
URI-encoded %2F; a value made only of dots (., %2E) is also forbidden.
For example, to enable per-branch caching:
cache:
  key: "$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG"
  paths:
    - binaries/
If you use Windows Batch to run your shell scripts you need to replace
$ with %:
cache:
  key: "%CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG%"
  paths:
    - binaries/
cache:key:files
Introduced in GitLab v12.5.
The cache:key:files keyword extends the cache:key functionality by making it easier
to reuse some caches, and rebuild them less often, which will speed up subsequent pipeline
runs.
When you include cache:key:files, you must also list the project files that will be used to generate the key, up to a maximum of two files.
The cache key will be a SHA checksum computed from the most recent commits (up to two, if two files are listed)
that changed the given files. If neither file was changed in any commits,
the fallback key will be default.
cache:
  key:
    files:
      - Gemfile.lock
      - package.json
  paths:
    - vendor/ruby
    - node_modules
In this example we are creating a cache for Ruby and Node.js dependencies that
is tied to current versions of the Gemfile.lock and package.json files. Whenever one of
these files changes, a new cache key is computed and a new cache is created. Any future
job runs using the same Gemfile.lock and package.json  with cache:key:files will
use the new cache, instead of rebuilding the dependencies.
cache:key:prefix
Introduced in GitLab v12.5.
The prefix parameter adds extra functionality to key:files by allowing the key to
be composed of the given prefix combined with the SHA computed for cache:key:files.
For example, adding a prefix of test, will cause keys to look like: test-feef9576d21ee9b6a32e30c5c79d0a0ceb68d1e5.
If neither file was changed in any commits, the prefix is added to default, so the
key in the example would be test-default.
Like cache:key, prefix can use any of the predefined variables,
but the following are not allowed:
the / character (or the equivalent URI-encoded %2F)
a value made only of . (or the equivalent URI-encoded %2E)
cache:
  key:
    files:
      - Gemfile.lock
    prefix: ${CI_JOB_NAME}
  paths:
    - vendor/ruby
rspec:
  script:
    - bundle exec rspec
For example, adding a prefix of $CI_JOB_NAME will
cause the key to look like: rspec-feef9576d21ee9b6a32e30c5c79d0a0ceb68d1e5 and
the job cache is shared across different branches. If a branch changes
Gemfile.lock, that branch will have a new SHA checksum for cache:key:files. A new cache key
will be generated, and a new cache will be created for that key.
If Gemfile.lock is not found, the prefix is added to
default, so the key in the example would be rspec-default.
cache:untracked
Set untracked: true to cache all files that are untracked in your Git
repository:
rspec:
  script: test
  cache:
    untracked: true
Cache all Git untracked files and files in binaries:
rspec:
  script: test
  cache:
    untracked: true
    paths:
      - binaries/
cache:policy
Introduced in GitLab 9.4.
The default behaviour of a caching job is to download the files at the start of
execution, and to re-upload them at the end. This allows any changes made by the
job to be persisted for future runs, and is known as the pull-push cache
policy.
If you know the job doesn't alter the cached files, you can skip the upload step
by setting policy: pull in the job specification. Typically, this would be
twinned with an ordinary cache job at an earlier stage to ensure the cache
is updated from time to time:
stages:
  - setup
  - test
prepare:
  stage: setup
  cache:
    key: gems
    paths:
      - vendor/bundle
  script:
    - bundle install --deployment
rspec:
  stage: test
  cache:
    key: gems
    paths:
      - vendor/bundle
    policy: pull
  script:
    - bundle exec rspec ...
This helps to speed up job execution and reduce load on the cache server,
especially when you have a large number of cache-using jobs executing in
parallel.
Additionally, if you have a job that unconditionally recreates the cache without
reference to its previous contents, you can use policy: push in that job to
skip the download step.
artifacts
Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.7.0 for non-Windows platforms.
Windows support was added in GitLab Runner v.1.0.0.
From GitLab 9.2, caches are restored before artifacts.
Not all executors are supported.
Job artifacts are only collected for successful jobs by default.
artifacts is used to specify a list of files and directories which should be
attached to the job when it succeeds, fails, or always.
The artifacts will be sent to GitLab after the job finishes and will
be available for download in the GitLab UI.
Read more about artifacts.
artifacts:paths
Paths are relative to the project directory ($CI_PROJECT_DIR) and cannot directly
link outside it. Wildcards can be used that follow the glob
patterns and filepath.Match.
To restrict which jobs a specific job will fetch artifacts from, see dependencies.
Send all files in binaries and .config:
artifacts:
  paths:
    - binaries/
    - .config
To disable artifact passing, define the job with empty dependencies:
job:
  stage: build
  script: make build
  dependencies: []
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
artifacts:expose_as
Introduced in GitLab 12.5.




    

The expose_as keyword can be used to expose job artifacts
in the merge request UI.
For example, to match a single file:
test:
  script: [ 'echo 1' ]
  artifacts:
    expose_as: 'artifact 1'
    paths: ['path/to/file.txt']
With this configuration, GitLab will add a link artifact 1 to the relevant merge request
that points to file1.txt.
An example that will match an entire directory:
test:
  script: [ 'echo 1' ]
  artifacts:
    expose_as: 'artifact 1'
    paths: ['path/to/directory/']
Note the following:
A maximum of 10 job artifacts per merge request can be exposed.
Glob patterns are unsupported.
If a directory is specified, the link will be to the job artifacts browser if there is more than
one file in the directory.
For exposed single file artifacts with .html, .htm, .txt, .json, .xml,
and .log extensions, if GitLab Pages is:
Enabled, GitLab will automatically render the artifact.
Not enabled, you will see the file in the artifacts browser.
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 for 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.
The default name is artifacts, which becomes artifacts.zip when downloaded.
NOTE: Note:
If your branch-name contains forward slashes
(e.g. feature/my-feature) it is advised to use $CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
instead of $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME for proper naming of the artifact.
To create an archive with a name of the current job:
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "$CI_JOB_NAME"
    paths:
      - binaries/
To create an archive with a name of the current branch or tag including only
the binaries directory:
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
    paths:
      - binaries/
To create an archive with a name of the current job and the current branch or
tag including only the binaries directory:
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
    paths:
      - binaries/
To create an archive with a name of the current stage and branch name:
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "$CI_JOB_STAGE-$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
    paths:
      - binaries/
If you use Windows Batch to run your shell scripts you need to replace
$ with %:
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "%CI_JOB_STAGE%-%CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME%"
    paths:
      - binaries/
If you use Windows PowerShell to run your shell scripts you need to replace
$ with $env::
job:
  artifacts:
    name: "$env:CI_JOB_STAGE-$env:CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
    paths:
      - binaries/
artifacts:untracked
artifacts:untracked is used to add all Git untracked files as artifacts (along
to the paths defined in artifacts:paths).
NOTE: Note:
artifacts:untracked ignores configuration in the repository's .gitignore file.
Send all Git untracked files:
artifacts:
  untracked: true
Send all Git untracked files and files in binaries:
artifacts:
  untracked: true
  paths:
    - binaries/
artifacts:when
Introduced in GitLab 8.9 and GitLab Runner v1.3.0.
artifacts:when is used to upload artifacts on job failure or despite the
failure.
artifacts:when can be set to one of the following values:
on_success - upload artifacts only when the job succeeds. This is the default.
on_failure - upload artifacts only when the job fails.
always - upload artifacts regardless of the job status.
To upload artifacts only when job fails:
job:
  artifacts:
    when: on_failure
artifacts:expire_in
Introduced in GitLab 8.9 and GitLab Runner v1.3.0.
expire_in allows you to specify how long artifacts should live before they
expire and are therefore deleted, counting from the time they are uploaded and
stored on GitLab. If the expiry time is not defined, it defaults to the
instance wide setting
(30 days by default, forever on GitLab.com).
You can use the Keep button on the job page to override expiration and
keep artifacts forever.
After their expiry, artifacts are deleted hourly by default (via a cron job),
and are not accessible anymore.
The value of expire_in is an elapsed time in seconds, unless a unit is
provided. Examples of parsable 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'
To expire artifacts 1 week after being uploaded:
job:
  artifacts:
    expire_in: 1 week
artifacts:reports
Introduced in
GitLab 11.2. Requires GitLab Runner 11.2 and above.
The reports keyword is used for collecting test reports, code quality reports, and security reports from jobs.
It also exposes these reports in GitLab's UI (merge requests, pipeline views, and security dashboards).
NOTE: Note:
The test reports are collected regardless of the job results (success or failure).
You can use artifacts:expire_in to set up an expiration
date for their artifacts.
NOTE: Note:
If you also want the ability to browse the report output files, include the
artifacts:paths keyword.
artifacts:reports:junit
Introduced in
GitLab 11.2. Requires GitLab Runner 11.2 and above.
The junit report collects JUnit XML files
as artifacts. Although JUnit was originally developed in Java, there are many
third party ports for other
languages like JavaScript, Python, Ruby, etc.
See JUnit test reports for more details and examples.
Below is an example of collecting a JUnit XML file from Ruby's RSpec test tool:




    

rspec:
  stage: test
  script:
  - bundle install
  - rspec --format RspecJunitFormatter --out rspec.xml
  artifacts:
    reports:
      junit: rspec.xml
The collected JUnit reports will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be automatically shown in merge requests.
NOTE: Note:
In case the JUnit tool you use exports to multiple XML files, you can specify
multiple test report paths within a single job and they will be automatically
concatenated into a single file. Use a filename pattern (junit: rspec-*.xml),
an array of filenames (junit: [rspec-1.xml, rspec-2.xml, rspec-3.xml]), or a
combination thereof (junit: [rspec.xml, test-results/TEST-*.xml]).
artifacts:reports:dotenv
Introduced in GitLab 12.9. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and later.
The dotenv report collects a set of environment variables as artifacts.
The collected variables are registered as runtime-created variables of the job,
which is useful to set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes.
It is not available for download through the web interface.
There are a couple of limitations on top of the original dotenv rules.
The variable key can contain only letters, digits and underscore ('_').
The size of dotenv file must be smaller than 5 kilobytes.
The number of variables must be less than 10.
It doesn't support variable substitution in the dotenv file itself.
It doesn't support empty lines and comments (#) in dotenv file.
It doesn't support quote escape, spaces in a quote, a new line expansion in a quote, in dotenv file.
artifacts:reports:cobertura
Introduced in GitLab 12.9.
Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The cobertura report collects Cobertura coverage XML files.
The collected Cobertura coverage reports will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact
and will be automatically shown in merge requests.
Cobertura was originally developed for Java, but there are many
third party ports for other languages like JavaScript, Python, Ruby, etc.
artifacts:reports:codequality (STARTER)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The codequality report collects CodeQuality issues
as artifacts.
The collected Code Quality report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in merge requests. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:sast (ULTIMATE)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The sast report collects SAST vulnerabilities
as artifacts.
The collected SAST report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in the merge requests and pipeline view. It is also used to provide data for security
dashboards. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:dependency_scanning (ULTIMATE)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The dependency_scanning report collects Dependency Scanning vulnerabilities
as artifacts.
The collected Dependency Scanning report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in the merge requests and pipeline view. It is also used to provide data for security
dashboards. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:container_scanning (ULTIMATE)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The container_scanning report collects Container Scanning vulnerabilities
as artifacts.
The collected Container Scanning report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in the merge requests and pipeline view. It is also used to provide data for security
dashboards. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:dast (ULTIMATE)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The dast report collects DAST vulnerabilities
as artifacts.
The collected DAST report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in the merge requests and pipeline view. It is also used to provide data for security
dashboards. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:license_management (ULTIMATE)
CAUTION: Warning:
This artifact is still valid but was deprecated in favor of the
artifacts:reports:license_scanning
introduced in GitLab 12.8.
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The license_management report collects Licenses
as artifacts.
The collected License Compliance report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be summarized in the merge requests and pipeline view. It is also used to provide data for security
dashboards. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:license_scanning (ULTIMATE)
Introduced in GitLab 12.8. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The license_scanning report collects Licenses
as artifacts.
The License Compliance report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be automatically shown in merge requests, pipeline view and provide data for security
dashboards.
artifacts:reports:performance (PREMIUM)
Introduced in GitLab 11.5. Requires GitLab Runner 11.5 and above.
The performance report collects Performance metrics
as artifacts.
The collected Performance report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be automatically shown in merge requests. It is not available for download through the web interface.
artifacts:reports:metrics (PREMIUM)
Introduced in GitLab 11.10.
The metrics report collects Metrics
as artifacts.
The collected Metrics report will be uploaded to GitLab as an artifact and will
be automatically shown in merge requests. It is not available for download through the web interface.
dependencies
Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
By default, all artifacts from all previous stages
are passed, but you can use the dependencies parameter to define a limited
list of jobs (or no jobs) to fetch artifacts from.
To use this feature, define dependencies in context of the job and pass
a list of all previous jobs from which the artifacts should be downloaded.
You can only define jobs from stages that are executed before the current one.
An error will be shown if you define jobs from the current stage or next ones.
Defining an empty array will skip downloading any artifacts for that job.
The status of the previous job is not considered when using dependencies, so
if it failed or it is a manual job that was not run, no error occurs.
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 jobs 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
When a dependent job will fail
Introduced in GitLab 10.3.
If the artifacts of the job that is set as a dependency have been
expired or
erased, then
the dependent job will fail.
NOTE: Note:
You can ask your administrator to
flip this switch
and bring back the old behavior.




    

needs
Introduced in GitLab 12.2.
In GitLab 12.3, maximum number of jobs in needs array raised from five to 50.
Introduced in GitLab 12.8, needs: [] lets jobs start immediately.
The needs: keyword enables executing jobs out-of-order, allowing you to implement
a directed acyclic graph in your .gitlab-ci.yml.
This lets you run some jobs without waiting for other ones, disregarding stage ordering
so you can have multiple stages running concurrently.
Let's consider the following example:
linux:build:
  stage: build
mac:build:
  stage: build
lint:
  stage: test
  needs: []
linux:rspec:
  stage: test
  needs: ["linux:build"]
linux:rubocop:
  stage: test
  needs: ["linux:build"]
mac:rspec:
  stage: test
  needs: ["mac:build"]
mac:rubocop:
  stage: test
  needs: ["mac:build"]
production:
  stage: deploy
This example creates four paths of execution:
Linter: the lint job will run immediately without waiting for the build stage to complete because it has no needs (needs: []).
Linux path: the linux:rspec and linux:rubocop jobs will be run as soon
as the linux:build job finishes without waiting for mac:build to finish.
macOS path: the mac:rspec and mac:rubocop jobs will be run as soon
as the mac:build job finishes, without waiting for linux:build to finish.
The production job will be executed as soon as all previous jobs
finish; in this case: linux:build, linux:rspec, linux:rubocop,
mac:build, mac:rspec, mac:rubocop.
Requirements and limitations
If needs: is set to point to a job that is not instantiated
because of only/except rules or otherwise does not exist, the
pipeline will be created with YAML error.
We are temporarily limiting the maximum number of jobs that a single job can
need in the needs: array:
For GitLab.com, the limit is ten. For more information, see our
infrastructure issue.
For self-managed instances, the limit is:
10, if the ci_dag_limit_needs feature flag is enabled (default).
50, if the ci_dag_limit_needs feature flag is disabled.
If needs: refers to a job that is marked as parallel:.
the current job will depend on all parallel jobs created.
needs: is similar to dependencies: in that it needs to use jobs from prior stages,
meaning it is impossible to create circular dependencies. Depending on jobs in the
current stage is not possible either, but support is planned.
Related to the above, stages must be explicitly defined for all jobs
that have the keyword needs: or are referred to by one.
Changing the needs: job limit
The maximum number of jobs that can be defined within needs: defaults to 10, but
can be changed to 50 via a feature flag. To change the limit to 50,
start a Rails console session
and run:
Feature::disable(:ci_dag_limit_needs)
To set it back to 10, run the opposite command:
Feature::enable(:ci_dag_limit_needs)
Artifact downloads with needs
Introduced in GitLab v12.6.
When using needs, artifact downloads are controlled with artifacts: true or artifacts: false.
The dependencies keyword should not be used with needs, as this is deprecated since GitLab 12.6.
In the example below, the rspec job will download the build_job artifacts, while the
rubocop job will not:
build_job:
  stage: build
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - binaries/
rspec:
  stage: test
  needs:
    - job: build_job
      artifacts: true
rubocop:
  stage: test
  needs:
    - job: build_job
      artifacts: false
Additionally, in the three syntax examples below, the rspec job will download the artifacts
from all three build_jobs, as artifacts is true for build_job_1, and will
default to true for both build_job_2 and build_job_3.
rspec:
  needs:
    - job: build_job_1
      artifacts: true
    - job: build_job_2
    - build_job_3
Cross project artifact downloads with needs (PREMIUM)
Introduced in GitLab v12.7.
needs can be used to download artifacts from up to five jobs in pipelines on
other refs in the same project,
or pipelines in different projects:
build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - ls -lhR
  needs:
    - project: group/project-name
      job: build-1
      ref: master
      artifacts: true
build_job will download the artifacts from the latest successful build-1 job
on the master branch in the group/project-name project.
Artifact downloads between pipelines in the same project
needs can be used to download artifacts from different pipelines in the current project
by setting the project keyword as the current project's name, and specifying a ref.
In the example below, build_job will download the artifacts for the latest successful
build-1 job with the other-ref ref:
build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - ls -lhR
  needs:
    - project: group/same-project-name
      job: build-1
      ref: other-ref
      artifacts: true
NOTE: Note:
Downloading artifacts from jobs that are run in parallel: is not supported.
coverage
Introduced in GitLab 8.17.
coverage allows you to configure how code coverage will be extracted from the
job output.
Regular expressions are the only valid kind of value expected here. So, using
surrounding / is mandatory in order to consistently and explicitly represent
a regular expression string. You must escape special characters if you want to
match them literally.
A simple example:
job1:
  script: rspec
  coverage: '/Code coverage: \d+\.\d+/'
retry
Introduced in GitLab 9.5.
Behaviour expanded in GitLab 11.5 to control on which failures to retry.
retry allows you to configure how many times a job is going to be retried in
case of a failure.




    

When a job fails and has retry configured, it is going to be processed again
up to the amount of times specified by the retry keyword.
If retry is set to 2, and a job succeeds in a second run (first retry), it won't be retried
again. retry value has to be a positive integer, equal or larger than 0, but
lower or equal to 2 (two retries maximum, three runs in total).
A simple example to retry in all failure cases:
test:
  script: rspec
  retry: 2
By default, a job will be retried on all failure cases. To have a better control
on which failures to retry, retry can be a hash with the following keys:
max: The maximum number of retries.
when: The failure cases to retry.
To retry only runner system failures at maximum two times:
test:
  script: rspec
  retry:
    max: 2
    when: runner_system_failure
If there is another failure, other than a runner system failure, the job will
not be retried.
To retry on multiple failure cases, when can also be an array of failures:
test:
  script: rspec
  retry:
    max: 2
    when:
      - runner_system_failure
      - stuck_or_timeout_failure
Possible values for when are:
always: Retry on any failure (default).
unknown_failure: Retry when the failure reason is unknown.
script_failure: Retry when the script failed.
api_failure: Retry on API failure.
stuck_or_timeout_failure: Retry when the job got stuck or timed out.
runner_system_failure: Retry if there was a runner system failure (e.g. setting up the job failed).
missing_dependency_failure: Retry if a dependency was missing.
runner_unsupported: Retry if the runner was unsupported.
stale_schedule: Retry if a delayed job could not be executed.
job_execution_timeout: Retry if the script exceeded the maximum execution time set for the job.
archived_failure: Retry if the job is archived and cannot be run.
unmet_prerequisites: Retry if the job failed to complete prerequisite tasks.
scheduler_failure: Retry if the scheduler failed to assign the job to a runner.
data_integrity_failure: Retry if there was a structural integrity problem detected.
timeout
Introduced in GitLab 12.3.
timeout allows you to configure a timeout for a specific job. For example:
build:
  script: build.sh
  timeout: 3 hours 30 minutes
test:
  script: rspec
  timeout: 3h 30m
The job-level timeout can exceed the
project-level timeout but can not
exceed the Runner-specific timeout.
parallel
Introduced in GitLab 11.5.
parallel allows you to configure how many instances of a job to run in
parallel. This value has to be greater than or equal to two (2) and less than or equal to 50.
This creates N instances of the same job that run in parallel. They're named
sequentially from job_name 1/N to job_name N/N.
For every job, CI_NODE_INDEX and CI_NODE_TOTAL environment variables are set.
Marking a job to be run in parallel requires adding parallel to your configuration
file. For example:
test:
  script: rspec
  parallel: 5
TIP: Tip:
Parallelize tests suites across parallel jobs.
Different languages have different tools to facilitate this.
A simple example using Semaphore Test Boosters and RSpec to run some Ruby tests:
# Gemfile
source 'https://rubygems.org'
gem 'rspec'
gem 'semaphore_test_boosters'
test:
  parallel: 3
  script:
    - bundle
    - bundle exec rspec_booster --job $CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL
CAUTION: Caution:
Please be aware that semaphore_test_boosters reports usages statistics to the author.
You can then navigate to the Jobs tab of a new pipeline build and see your RSpec
job split into three separate jobs.
trigger
trigger allows you to define downstream pipeline trigger. When a job created
from trigger definition is started by GitLab, a downstream pipeline gets
created.
This keyword allows the creation of two different types of downstream pipelines:
Multi-project pipelines
Child pipelines
NOTE: Note:
Using a trigger with when:manual together results in the error jobs:#{job-name} when should be on_success, on_failure or always, because when:manual prevents
triggers being used.
Simple trigger syntax for multi-project pipelines
The simplest way to configure a downstream trigger is to use trigger keyword
with a full path to a downstream project:
rspec:
  stage: test
  script: bundle exec rspec
staging:
  stage: deploy
  trigger: my/deployment
Complex trigger syntax for multi-project pipelines
It is possible to configure a branch name that GitLab will use to create
a downstream pipeline with:
rspec:
  stage: test
  script: bundle exec rspec
staging:
  stage: deploy
  trigger:
    project: my/deployment
    branch: stable
It is possible to mirror the status from a triggered pipeline:
trigger_job:
  trigger:
    project: my/project
    strategy: depend
It is possible to mirror the status from an upstream pipeline:
upstream_bridge:
  stage: test
  needs:
    pipeline: other/project
trigger syntax for child pipeline
Introduced in GitLab 12.7.
To create a child pipeline, specify the path to the
YAML file containing the CI config of the child pipeline:
trigger_job:
  trigger:
    include: path/to/child-pipeline.yml
Similar to multi-project pipelines,
it is possible to mirror the status from a triggered pipeline:
trigger_job:
  trigger:
    include:
      - local: path/to/child-pipeline.yml
    strategy: depend
Trigger child pipeline with generated configuration file
Introduced in GitLab 12.9.
You can also trigger a child pipeline from a dynamically generated configuration file:
generate-config:
  stage: build
  script: generate-ci-config > generated-config.yml
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - generated-config.yml
child-pipeline:
  stage: test
  trigger:
    include:
      - artifact: generated-config.yml
        job: generate-config
The generated-config.yml is extracted from the artifacts and used as the configuration
for triggering the child pipeline.




    

Linking pipelines with trigger:strategy
By default, the trigger job completes with the success status
as soon as the downstream pipeline is created.
To force the trigger job to wait for the downstream (multi-project or child) pipeline to complete, use
strategy: depend. This will make the trigger job wait with a "running" status until the triggered
pipeline completes. At that point, the trigger job will complete and display the same status as
the downstream job.
trigger_job:
  trigger:
    include: path/to/child-pipeline.yml
    strategy: depend
This can help keep your pipeline execution linear. In the example above, jobs from
subsequent stages will wait for the triggered pipeline to successfully complete before
starting, at the cost of reduced parallelization.
interruptible
Introduced in GitLab 12.3.
interruptible is used to indicate that a job should be canceled if made redundant by a newer pipeline run. Defaults to false.
This value will only be used if the automatic cancellation of redundant pipelines feature
is enabled.
When enabled, a pipeline on the same branch will be canceled when:
It is made redundant by a newer pipeline run.
Either all jobs are set as interruptible, or any uninterruptible jobs have not started.
Pending jobs are always considered interruptible.
TIP: Tip:
Set jobs as interruptible that can be safely canceled once started (for instance, a build job).
Here is a simple example:
stages:
  - stage1
  - stage2
  - stage3
step-1:
  stage: stage1
  script:
    - echo "Can be canceled."
  interruptible: true
step-2:
  stage: stage2
  script:
    - echo "Can not be canceled."
step-3:
  stage: stage3
  script:
    - echo "Because step-2 can not be canceled, this step will never be canceled, even though set as interruptible."
  interruptible: true
In the example above, a new pipeline run will cause an existing running pipeline to be:
Canceled, if only step-1 is running or pending.
Not canceled, once step-2 starts running.
NOTE: Note:
Once an uninterruptible job is running, the pipeline will never be canceled, regardless of the final job's state.
resource_group
Introduced in GitLab 12.7.
Sometimes running multiples jobs or pipelines at the same time in an environment
can lead to errors during the deployment.
To avoid these errors, the resource_group attribute can be used to ensure that
the Runner will not run certain jobs simultaneously.
When the resource_group key is defined for a job in .gitlab-ci.yml,
job executions are mutually exclusive across different pipelines for the same project.
If multiple jobs belonging to the same resource group are enqueued simultaneously,
only one of the jobs will be picked by the Runner, and the other jobs will wait until the
resource_group is free.
Here is a simple example:
deploy-to-production:
  script: deploy
  resource_group: production
In this case, if a deploy-to-production job is running in a pipeline, and a new
deploy-to-production job is created in a different pipeline, it will not run until
the currently running/pending deploy-to-production job is finished. As a result,
you can ensure that concurrent deployments will never happen to the production environment.
There can be multiple resource_groups defined per environment. A good use case for this
is when deploying to physical devices. You may have more than one physical device, and each
one can be deployed to, but there can be only one deployment per device at any given time.
include
Introduced in GitLab Premium 10.5.
Available for Starter, Premium and Ultimate since 10.6.
Moved to GitLab Core in 11.4.
Using the include keyword, you can allow the inclusion of external YAML files.
include requires the external YAML file to have the extensions .yml or .yaml,
otherwise the external file will not be included.
The files defined in include are:
Deep merged with those in .gitlab-ci.yml.
Always evaluated first and merged with the content of .gitlab-ci.yml,
regardless of the position of the include keyword.
TIP: Tip:
Use merging to customize and override included CI/CD configurations with local
definitions.
NOTE: Note:
Using YAML aliases across different YAML files sourced by include is not
supported. You must only refer to aliases in the same file. Instead
of using YAML anchors, you can use the extends keyword.
include supports four include methods:
local
template
remote
See usage examples.
NOTE: Note:
.gitlab-ci.yml configuration included by all methods is evaluated at pipeline creation.
The configuration is a snapshot in time and persisted in the database. Any changes to
referenced .gitlab-ci.yml configuration will not be reflected in GitLab until the next pipeline is created.
include:local
include:local includes a file from the same repository as .gitlab-ci.yml.
It's referenced using full paths relative to the root directory (/).
You can only use files that are currently tracked by Git on the same branch
your configuration file is on. In other words, when using a include:local, make
sure that both .gitlab-ci.yml and the local file are on the same branch.
All nested includes will be executed in the scope of the same project,
so it is possible to use local, project, remote, or template includes.
NOTE: Note:
Including local files through Git submodules paths is not supported.
Example:
include:
  - local: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
include:file
Introduced in GitLab 11.7.
To include files from another private project under the same GitLab instance,
use include:file. This file is referenced using full paths relative to the
root directory (/). For example:
include:
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
You can also specify ref, with the default being the HEAD of the project:
include:
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    ref: master
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    ref: v1.0.0
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    ref: 787123b47f14b552955ca2786bc9542ae66fee5b # Git SHA
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
All nested includes will be executed in the scope of the target project,
so it is possible to use local (relative to target project), project, remote
or template includes.
include:template
Introduced in GitLab 11.7.
include:template can be used to include .gitlab-ci.yml templates that are
shipped with GitLab.
For example:
# File sourced from GitLab's template collection
include:
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
Multiple include:template files:




    

include:
  - template: Android-Fastlane.gitlab-ci.yml
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
All nested includes will be executed only with the permission of the user,
so it is possible to use project, remote or template includes.
include:remote
include:remote can be used to include a file from a different location,
using HTTP/HTTPS, referenced by using the full URL. The remote file must be
publicly accessible through a simple GET request as authentication schemas
in the remote URL is not supported. For example:
include:
  - remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
All nested includes will be executed without context as public user, so only another remote,
or public project, or template is allowed.
Nested includes
Introduced in GitLab 11.9.
Nested includes allow you to compose a set of includes.
A total of 100 includes is allowed.
Duplicate includes are considered a configuration error.
Introduced in GitLab 12.4.
A hard limit of 30 seconds was set for resolving all files.
include examples
Here are a few more include examples.
Single string or array of multiple values
You can include your extra YAML file(s) either as a single string or
an array of multiple values. The following examples are all valid.
Single string with the include:local method implied:
include: '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
Array with include method implied:
include:
  - 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
  - '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
Single string with include method specified explicitly:
include:
  remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
Array with include:remote being the single item:
include:
  - remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
Array with multiple include methods specified explicitly:
include:
  - remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
  - local: '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
Array mixed syntax:
include:
  - 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
  - '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    ref: master
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'
Re-using a before_script template
In the following example, the content of .before-script-template.yml will be
automatically fetched and evaluated along with the content of .gitlab-ci.yml.
Content of https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml:
before_script:
  - apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev nodejs
  - gem install bundler --no-document
  - bundle install --jobs $(nproc)  "${FLAGS[@]}"
Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:
include: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/master/.before-script-template.yml'
rspec:
  script:
    - bundle exec rspec
Overriding external template values
The following example shows specific YAML-defined variables and details of the
production job from an include file being customized in .gitlab-ci.yml.
Content of https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml:
variables:
  POSTGRES_USER: user
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: testing_password
  POSTGRES_DB: $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG
production:
  stage: production
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://$CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG.$KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN
  only:
    - master
Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:
include: 'https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml'
image: alpine:latest
variables:
  POSTGRES_USER: root
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password
stages:
  - build
  - test
  - production
production:
  environment:
    url: https://domain.com
In this case, the variables POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD along
with the environment url of the production job defined in
autodevops-template.yml have been overridden by new values defined in
.gitlab-ci.yml.
The merging lets you extend and override dictionary mappings, but
you cannot add or modify items to an included array. For example, to add
an additional item to the production job script, you must repeat the
existing script items:
Content of https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml:
production:
  stage: production
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy
Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:
include: 'https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml'
stages:
  - production
production:
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy
    - notify_owner
In this case, if install_dependencies and deploy were not repeated in
.gitlab-ci.yml, they would not be part of the script for the production
job in the combined CI configuration.
Using nested includes
The examples below show how includes can be nested from different sources
using a combination of different methods.
In this example, .gitlab-ci.yml includes local the file /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml:
include:
  - local: /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml
The /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml includes a template and the /templates/docker-workflow.yml file
from another project:
include:
  - template: Bash.gitlab-ci.yml
  - project: group/my-project
    file: /templates/docker-workflow.yml
The /templates/docker-workflow.yml present in group/my-project includes two local files
of the group/my-project:




    

include:
  - local: /templates/docker-build.yml
  - local: /templates/docker-testing.yml
Our /templates/docker-build.yml present in group/my-project adds a docker-build job:
docker-build:
  script: docker build -t my-image .
Our second /templates/docker-test.yml present in group/my-project adds a docker-test job:
docker-test:
  script: docker run my-image /run/tests.sh
extends
Introduced in GitLab 11.3.
extends defines entry names that a job that uses extends is going to
inherit from.
It is an alternative to using YAML anchors and is a little
more flexible and readable:
.tests:
  script: rake test
  stage: test
  only:
    refs:
      - branches
rspec:
  extends: .tests
  script: rake rspec
  only:
    variables:
      - $RSPEC
In the example above, the rspec job inherits from the .tests template job.
GitLab will perform a reverse deep merge based on the keys. GitLab will:
Merge the rspec contents into .tests recursively.
Not merge the values of the keys.
This results in the following rspec job:
rspec:
  script: rake rspec
  stage: test
  only:
    refs:
      - branches
    variables:
      - $RSPEC
NOTE: Note:
Note that script: rake test has been overwritten by script: rake rspec.
If you do want to include the rake test, see before_script and after_script.
.tests in this example is a hidden key, but it's
possible to inherit from regular jobs as well.
extends supports multi-level inheritance, however it is not recommended to
use more than three levels. The maximum nesting level that is supported is 10.
The following example has two levels of inheritance:
.tests:
  only:
    - pushes
.rspec:
  extends: .tests
  script: rake rspec
rspec 1:
  variables:
    RSPEC_SUITE: '1'
  extends: .rspec
rspec 2:
  variables:
    RSPEC_SUITE: '2'
  extends: .rspec
spinach:
  extends: .tests
  script: rake spinach
In GitLab 12.0 and later, it's also possible to use multiple parents for
extends. The algorithm used for merge is "closest scope wins", so
keys from the last member will always shadow anything defined on other
levels. For example:
.only-important:
  only:
    - master
    - stable
  tags:
    - production
.in-docker:
  tags:
    - docker
  image: alpine
rspec:
  extends:
    - .only-important
    - .in-docker
  script:
    - rake rspec
This results in the following rspec job:
rspec:
  only:
    - master
    - stable
  tags:
    - docker
  image: alpine
  script:
    - rake rspec
Using extends and include together
extends works across configuration files combined with include.
For example, if you have a local included.yml file:
.template:
  script:
    - echo Hello!
Then, in .gitlab-ci.yml you can use it like this:
include: included.yml
useTemplate:
  image: alpine
  extends: .template
This will run a job called useTemplate that runs echo Hello! as defined in
the .template job, and uses the alpine Docker image as defined in the local job.
pages
pages is a special job that is used to upload static content to GitLab that
can be used to serve your website. It has a special syntax, so the two
requirements below must be met:
Any static content must be placed under a public/ directory.
artifacts with a path to the public/ directory must be defined.
The example below simply moves all files from the root of the project to the
public/ directory. The .public workaround is so cp doesn't also copy
public/ to itself in an infinite loop:
pages:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - mkdir .public
    - cp -r * .public
    - mv .public public
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - public
  only:
    - master
Read more on GitLab Pages user documentation.
variables
Introduced in GitLab Runner v0.5.0.
NOTE: Note:
Integers (as well as strings) are legal both for variable's name and value.
Floats are not legal and cannot be used.
GitLab CI/CD allows you to define variables inside .gitlab-ci.yml that are
then passed in the job environment. They can be set globally and per-job.
When the variables keyword is used on a job level, it overrides the global
YAML variables and predefined ones.
They 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.
Except for the user defined variables, there are also the ones set up by the
Runner itself.
One example would be CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME which has the value of
the branch or tag name for which project is built. Apart from the variables
you can set in .gitlab-ci.yml, there are also the so called
Variables
which can be set in GitLab's UI.
YAML anchors for variables are available.
Learn more about variables and their priority.
Git strategy
Introduced in GitLab 8.9 as an experimental feature. May change or be removed
completely in future releases. GIT_STRATEGY=none requires GitLab Runner
v1.7+.




    

You can set the GIT_STRATEGY used for getting recent application code, either
globally or per-job in the variables section. If left
unspecified, the default from project settings will be used.
There are three possible values: clone, fetch, and none.
clone is the slowest option. It clones the repository from scratch for every
job, ensuring that the local working copy is always pristine.
variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: clone
fetch is faster as it re-uses the local working copy (falling back to clone
if it doesn't exist). git clean is used to undo any changes made by the last
job, and git fetch is used to retrieve commits made since the last job ran.
variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: fetch
none also re-uses the local working copy, but skips all Git operations
(including GitLab Runner's pre-clone script, if present). It is mostly useful
for jobs that operate exclusively on artifacts (e.g., deploy). Git repository
data may be present, but it is certain to be out of date, so you should only
rely on files brought into the local working copy from cache or artifacts.
variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: none
NOTE: Note: GIT_STRATEGY is not supported for
Kubernetes executor,
but may be in the future. See the support Git strategy with Kubernetes executor feature proposal
for updates.
Git submodule strategy
Requires GitLab Runner v1.10+.
The GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY variable is used to control if / how Git
submodules are included when fetching the code before a build. You can set them
globally or per-job in the variables section.
There are three possible values: none, normal, and recursive:
none means that submodules will not be included when fetching the project
code. This is the default, which matches the pre-v1.10 behavior.
normal means that only the top-level submodules will be included. It is
equivalent to:
git submodule sync
git submodule update --init
recursive means that all submodules (including submodules of submodules)
will be included. This feature needs Git v1.8.1 and later. When using a
GitLab Runner with an executor not based on Docker, make sure the Git version
meets that requirement. It is equivalent to:
git submodule sync --recursive
git submodule update --init --recursive
Note that for this feature to work correctly, the submodules must be configured
(in .gitmodules) with either:
the HTTP(S) URL of a publicly-accessible repository, or
a relative path to another repository on the same GitLab server. See the
Git submodules documentation.
Git checkout
Introduced in GitLab Runner 9.3.
The GIT_CHECKOUT variable can be used when the GIT_STRATEGY is set to either
clone or fetch to specify whether a git checkout should be run. If not
specified, it defaults to true. You can set them globally or per-job in the
variables section.
If set to false, the Runner will:
when doing fetch - update the repository and leave working copy on
the current revision,
when doing clone - clone the repository and leave working copy on the
default branch.
Having this setting set to true will mean that for both clone and fetch
strategies the Runner will checkout the working copy to a revision related
to the CI pipeline:
variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: clone
  GIT_CHECKOUT: "false"
script:
  - git checkout -B master origin/master
  - git merge $CI_COMMIT_SHA
Git clean flags
Introduced in GitLab Runner 11.10
The GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS variable is used to control the default behavior of
git clean after checking out the sources. You can set it globally or per-job in the
variables section.
GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS accepts all possible options of the git clean
command.
git clean is disabled if GIT_CHECKOUT: "false" is specified.
If GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS is:
Not specified, git clean flags default to -ffdx.
Given the value none, git clean is not executed.
For example:
variables:
  GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS: -ffdx -e cache/
script:
  - ls -al cache/
Job stages attempts
Introduced in GitLab, it requires GitLab Runner v1.9+.
You can set the number for attempts the running job will try to execute each
of the following stages:
Variable
Description
variables:
  GET_SOURCES_ATTEMPTS: 3
You can set them globally or per-job in the variables section.
Shallow cloning
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: Note:
If you use a depth of 1 and have a queue of jobs or retry
jobs, 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 jobs in the queue, or
you are retrying an old job, 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
job logs. You should then reconsider changing GIT_DEPTH to a higher value.
Jobs 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"
You can set it globally or per-job in the variables section.
Deprecated parameters
The following parameters are deprecated.
Globally-defined types
CAUTION: Deprecated:
types is deprecated, and could be removed in a future release.
Use stages instead.
Job-defined type
CAUTION: Deprecated:
type is deprecated, and could be removed in one of the future releases.
Use stage instead.
Globally-defined image, services, cache, before_script, after_script
Defining image, services, cache, before_script, and
after_script globally is deprecated. Support could be removed
from a future release.
Use default: instead. For example:
default:
  image: ruby:2.5
  services:
    - docker:dind
  cache:
    paths: [vendor/]
  before_script:
    - bundle install --path vendor/
  after_script:
    - rm -rf tmp/
Custom build directories
Introduced in GitLab Runner 11.10
NOTE: Note:
This can only be used when custom_build_dir is enabled in the Runner's
configuration.
This is the default configuration for docker and kubernetes executor.
By default, GitLab Runner clones the repository in a unique subpath of the
$CI_BUILDS_DIR directory. However, your project might require the code in a
specific directory (Go projects, for example). In that case, you can specify
the GIT_CLONE_PATH variable to tell the Runner in which directory to clone the
repository:
variables:
  GIT_CLONE_PATH: $CI_BUILDS_DIR/project-name
test:
  script:
    - pwd
The GIT_CLONE_PATH has to always be within $CI_BUILDS_DIR. The directory set in $CI_BUILDS_DIR
is dependent on executor and configuration of runners.builds_dir
setting.
Handling concurrency
An executor using a concurrency greater than 1 might lead
to failures because multiple jobs might be working on the same directory if the builds_dir
is shared between jobs.
GitLab Runner does not try to prevent this situation. It is up to the administrator
and developers to comply with the requirements of Runner configuration.




    

To avoid this scenario, you can use a unique path within $CI_BUILDS_DIR, because Runner
exposes two additional variables that provide a unique ID of concurrency:
$CI_CONCURRENT_ID: Unique ID for all jobs running within the given executor.
$CI_CONCURRENT_PROJECT_ID: Unique ID for all jobs running within the given executor and project.
The most stable configuration that should work well in any scenario and on any executor
is to use $CI_CONCURRENT_ID in the GIT_CLONE_PATH. For example:
variables:
  GIT_CLONE_PATH: $CI_BUILDS_DIR/$CI_CONCURRENT_ID/project-name
test:
  script:
    - pwd
The $CI_CONCURRENT_PROJECT_ID should be used in conjunction with $CI_PROJECT_PATH
as the $CI_PROJECT_PATH provides a path of a repository. That is, group/subgroup/project. For example:
variables:
  GIT_CLONE_PATH: $CI_BUILDS_DIR/$CI_CONCURRENT_ID/$CI_PROJECT_PATH
test:
  script:
    - pwd
Nested paths
The value of GIT_CLONE_PATH is expanded once and nesting variables
within it is not supported.
For example, you define both the variables below in your
.gitlab-ci.yml file:
variables:
  GOPATH: $CI_BUILDS_DIR/go
  GIT_CLONE_PATH: $GOPATH/src/namespace/project
The value of GIT_CLONE_PATH is expanded once into
$CI_BUILDS_DIR/go/src/namespace/project, and results in failure
because $CI_BUILDS_DIR is not expanded.
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.
Hidden keys (jobs)
Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
If you want to temporarily 'disable' a job, rather than commenting out all the
lines where the job is defined:
#hidden_job:
#  script:
#    - run test
you can instead start its name with a dot (.) and it will not be processed by
GitLab CI. In the following example, .hidden_job will be ignored:
.hidden_job:
  script:
    - run test
Use this feature to ignore jobs, or use the
special YAML features and transform the hidden keys
into templates.
Anchors
Introduced in GitLab 8.6 and GitLab Runner v1.1.1.
YAML has a handy feature called 'anchors', which lets 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 keys
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 key that defines an anchor named 'job_definition'
  image: ruby:2.6
  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:2.6
  services:
    - postgres
    - redis
test1:
  image: ruby:2.6
  services:
    - postgres
    - redis
  script:
    - test1 project
test2:
  image: ruby:2.6
  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 keys are conveniently used as templates.
NOTE: Note:
You can't use YAML anchors across multiple files when leveraging the include
feature. Anchors are only valid within the file they were defined in.
YAML anchors for before_script and after_script
Introduced in GitLab 12.5.
You can use YAML anchors with before_script and after_script,
which makes it possible to include a predefined list of commands in multiple
jobs.
Example:
.something_before: &something_before
- echo 'something before'
.something_after: &something_after
- echo 'something after'
job_name:
  before_script:
    - *something_before
  script:
    - echo 'this is the script'
  after_script:
    - *something_after
YAML anchors for script
Introduced in GitLab 12.5.
You can use YAML anchors with scripts, which makes it possible to
include a predefined list of commands in multiple jobs.
For example:
.something: &something
- echo 'something'
job_name:
  script:
    - *something
    - echo 'this is the script'
YAML anchors for variables
YAML anchors can be used with variables, to easily repeat assignment
of variables across multiple jobs. It can also enable more flexibility when a job
requires a specific variables block that would otherwise override the global variables.
In the example below, we will override the GIT_STRATEGY variable without affecting
the use of the SAMPLE_VARIABLE variable:
# global variables
variables: &global-variables
  SAMPLE_VARIABLE: sample_variable_value
# a job that needs to set the GIT_STRATEGY variable, yet depend on global variables
job_no_git_strategy:
  stage: cleanup
  variables:
    <<: *global-variables
    GIT_STRATEGY: none
  script: echo $SAMPLE_VARIABLE
Triggers
Triggers can be used to force a rebuild of a specific branch, tag or commit,
with an API call when a pipeline gets created using a trigger token.
Not to be confused with trigger.
Read more in the triggers documentation.
Processing Git pushes
GitLab will create at most 4 branch and tags pipelines when
doing pushing multiple changes in single git push invocation.
This limitation does not affect any of the updated Merge Request pipelines,
all updated Merge Requests will have a pipeline created when using
pipelines for merge requests.
Skipping jobs
If your commit message contains [ci skip] or [skip ci], using any
capitalization, the commit will be created but the pipeline will be skipped.
Alternatively, one can pass the ci.skip Git push option
if using Git 2.10 or newer.