The CI pipeline includes Pre and Post-build steps to validate and introduce checkpoints in the build process. The pre/post plugins allow you to execute some standard tasks, such as Code analysis, Load testing, Security scanning etc. You can build custom pre-build/post-build tasks or select one of the standard preset plugins provided by Devtron.
Preset plugin is an API resource which you can add within the CI build environment. By integrating the preset plugin in your application, it helps your development cycle to keep track of finding bugs, code duplication, code complexity, load testing, security scanning etc. You can analyze your code easily.
Devtron CI pipeline includes the following build stages:
Pre-Build Stage: The tasks in this stage run before the image is built.
Build Stage: In this stage, the build is triggered from the source code (container image) that you provide.
Post-Build Stage: The tasks in this stage are triggered once the build is complete.
Make sure you have CI build pipeline before you start configuring Pre-Build or Post-Build tasks.
Each Pre/Post-build stage is executed as a series of events called tasks and includes custom scripts. You can create one or more tasks that are dependent on one another for execution. In other words, the output variable of one task can be used as an input for the next task to build a CI runner. The tasks will run following the execution order.
The tasks can be re-arranged by drag-and-drop; however, the order of passing the variables must be followed.
You can create a task either by selecting one of the available preset plugins or by creating a custom script.
Lets take Codacy
as an example and configure it in the Pre-Build stage in the CI pipeline for finding bugs, detecting dependency vulnerabilities, and enforcing code standards.
Go to the Applications and select your application from the Devtron Apps tabs.
Go to the App Configuration tab, click Workflow Editor.
Select the build pipeline for configuring the pre/post-build tasks.
On the Edit build pipeline, in the Pre-Build Stage
, click + Add task.
Select Codacy from PRESET PLUGINS.
Enter a relevant name or codacy in the Task name
field. It is a mandatory field.
Enter a descriptive message for the task in the Description
field. It is an optional field.
Note
: The description is available by default.
In the Input Variables, provide the information in the following fields:
In Trigger/Skip Condition
, set the trigger conditions to execute a task or Set skip conditions
. As an example: CodacyEndpoint equal to https://app.codacy.com.
Note
: You can set more than one condition.
In Pass/Failure Condition
set the conditions to execute pass or fail of your build. As an example: Pass if number of issues equal to zero.
Note
: You can set more than one condition.
Click Update Pipeline.
Go to the Build & Deploy, click the build pipeline and start your build.
Click Details
on the build pipeline and you can view the details on the Logs
.
On the Edit build pipeline screen, select the Pre-build stage.
Select + Add task.
Select Execute custom script.
The task type of the custom script may be a Shell or a Container image.
Select the Task type as Shell.
Consider an example that creates a Shell task to stop the build if the database name is not "mysql". The script takes 2 input variables, one is a global variable (DOCKER_IMAGE
), and the other is a custom variable (DB_NAME
) with a value "mysql". The task triggers only if the database name matches "mysql". If the trigger condition fails, this Pre-build task will be skipped and the build process will start. The variable DB_NAME
is declared as an output variable that will be available as an input variable for the next task. The task fails if DB_NAME
is not equal to "mysql".
Select Update Pipeline.
Here is a screenshot with the failure message from the task:
Select the Task type as Container image.
This example creates a Pre-build task from a container image. The output variable from the previous task is available as an input variable.
Select Update Pipeline.
Go to Preset Plugins section to know more about the available plugins
Trigger the CI pipeline
For Devtron version older than v0.4.0, please refer the CI Pipeline (legacy) page.
A CI Workflow can be created in one of the following ways:
Sync with Environment
Create a Job
Each method has different use-cases that can be tailored according the needs of the organization.
Build and Deploy from Source Code
workflow allows you to build the container image from a source code repository.
From the Applications menu, select your application.
On the App Configuration page, select Workflow Editor.
Select + New Workflow.
Select Build and Deploy from Source Code.
Enter the following fields on the Create build pipeline window:
The Advanced CI Pipeline includes the following stages:
Pre-build stage: The tasks in this stage are executed before the image is built.
Build stage: In this stage, the build is triggered from the source code that you provide.
Post-build stage: The tasks in this stage will be triggered once the build is complete.
The Pre-build and Post-build stages allow you to create Pre/Post-Build CI tasks as explained here.
Go to the Build stage tab.
Source type
Branch Fixed
This allows you to trigger a CI build whenever there is a code change on the specified branch.
Enter the Branch Name of your code repository.
Branch Regex
Branch Regex
allows users to easily switch between branches matching the configured Regex before triggering the build pipeline. In case of Branch Fixed
, users cannot change the branch name in ci-pipeline unless they have admin access for the app. So, if users with Build and Deploy
access should be allowed to switch branch name before triggering ci-pipeline, Branch Regex
should be selected as source type by a user with Admin access.
For example if the user sets the Branch Regex as feature-*
, then users can trigger from branches such as feature-1450
, feature-hot-fix
etc.
Pull Request
This allows you to trigger the CI build when a pull request is created in your repository.
Prerequisites
Configure the webhook for either GitHub or Bitbucket.
The Pull Request source type feature only works for the host GitHub or Bitbucket Cloud for now. To request support for a different Git host, please create a GitHub issue here.
To trigger the build from specific PRs, you can filter the PRs based on the following keys:
Select the appropriate filter and pass the matching condition as a regular expression (regex
).
Devtron uses regexp library, view regexp cheatsheet. You can test your custom regex from here.
Select Create Pipeline.
Tag Creation
This allows you to trigger the CI build whenever a new tag is created.
Prerequisites
Configure the webhook for either GitHub or Bitbucket.
To trigger the build from specific tags, you can filter the tags based on the author
and/or the tag name
.
Select the appropriate filter and pass the matching condition as a regular expression (regex
).
Select Create Pipeline.
The total timeout for the execution of the CI pipeline is by default set as 3600 seconds. This default timeout is configurable according to the use case (refer Build Infra).
Scan for Vulnerabilities
To perform the security scan after the container image is built, enable the Scan for vulnerabilities toggle in the build stage. Refer Security features to know more.
Custom Image Tag Pattern
This feature helps you apply custom tags (e.g., v1.0.0
) to readily distinguish container images within your repository.
Enable the toggle button as shown below.
You can write an alphanumeric pattern for your image tag, e.g., test-v1.0.{x}. Here, 'x' is a mandatory variable whose value will incrementally increase with every build. You can also define the value of 'x' for the next build trigger in case you want to change it.
Click Update Pipeline.
Now, go to Build & Deploy tab of your application, and click Select Material in the CI pipeline.
Choose the git commit you wish to use for building the container image. Click Start Build.
The build will initiate and once it is successful the image tag would reflect at all relevant screens:
Build History
Docker Registry
CD Pipeline (Image Selection)
Build will fail if the resulting image tag has already been built in the past. This means if there is an existing image with tag test-v1.0.0
, you cannot build another image having the same tag test-v1.0.0
in the same CI pipeline. This error might occur when you reset the value of the variable x
or when you disable/enable the toggle button for Custom image tag pattern
.
If one code is shared across multiple applications, Linked Build Pipeline
can be used, and only one image will be built for multiple applications because if there is only one build, it is not advisable to create multiple CI Pipelines.
From the Applications menu, select your application.
On the App Configuration page, select Workflow Editor.
Select + New Workflow.
Select Linked Build Pipeline.
On the Create linked build pipeline screen:
Search for the application in which the source CI pipeline is present.
Select the source CI pipeline from the application that you selected above.
Enter a new name for the linked CI pipeline.
Click Create Linked CI Pipeline.
Thereafter, the source CI pipeline will indicate the number of Linked CI pipelines. Upon clicking it, it will display the child information as shown below. It reveals the applications and environments where Linked CI is used for deployment.
After creating a linked CI pipeline, you can create a CD pipeline.
Linked CI pipelines can't trigger builds. They rely on the source CI pipeline to build images. Trigger a build in the source CI pipeline to see the images available for deployment in the linked CI pipeline's CD stage.
For CI pipeline, you can receive container images from an external services via webhook API.
You can use Devtron for deployments on Kubernetes while using an external CI tool such as Jenkins or CircleCI. External CI feature can be used when the CI tool is hosted outside the Devtron platform. However, by using an external CI, you will not be able to use some of the Devtron features such as Image scanning and security policies, configuring pre-post CI stages etc.
To configure Git Repository
, you can add any Git repository account (e.g., dummy account) and click Next.
To configure the Container Registry
and Container Repository
, you can leave the fields blank or simply add any test repository and click Save & Next.
On the Base Deployment Template
page, select the Chart type
from the drop-down list and configure as per your requirements and click Save & Next.
On the Workflow Editor page, click New Workflow and select Deploy image from external service.
On the Deploy image from external source page, provide the information in the following fields:
Click Create Pipeline. A new CI pipeline will be created for the external source. To get the webhook URL and JSON sample payload to be used in external CI pipeline, click Show webhook details.
On the Webhook Details page, you have to authenticate via API token
to allow requests from an external service (e.g. Jenkins or CircleCI).
For authentication, only users with super-admin
permissions can select or generate an API token:
You can either use Select API Token if you have generated an API Token under Global Configurations.
Or use Auto-generate token to generate the API token with the required permissions. Make sure to enter the token name in the Token name field.
To allow requests from the external source, you can request the API by using:
Webhook URL
cURL Request
HTTP Method: POST
API Endpoint: https://{domain-name}/orchestrator/webhook/ext-ci/{pipeline-id}
JSON Payload:
You can also select metadata to send to Devtron. Sample JSON will be generated accordingly. You can send the Payload script to your CI tools such as Jenkins and Devtron will receive the build image every time the CI pipeline is triggered or you can use the Webhook URL, which will build an image every time CI pipeline is triggered using Devtron Dashboard.
On the Jenkins dashboard, select the Jenkins job which you want to integrate with the Devtron dashboard.
Go to the Configuration > Build Steps, click Add build step, and then click Execute Shell.
Enter the cURL request command.
Make sure to enter the API token
and dockerImage
in your cURL command and click Save.
Now, you can access the images on the Devtron dashboard and deploy manually. In case, if you select Automatic deployment option, then your application will be deployed automatically everytime a new image is received.
Similarly, you can also integrate with external source such as CircleCI by:
Select the job on the CircleCI
dashboard and click Configuration File
.
On the respective job, enter the cURL
command and update the API token
and dockerImage
in your cURL command.
You can update the configurations of an existing CI Pipeline except for the pipeline's name. To update a pipeline, select your CI pipeline. In the Edit build pipeline window, edit the required stages and select Update Pipeline.
You can only delete a CI pipeline if there is no CD pipeline created in your workflow.
To delete a CI pipeline, go to App Configurations > Workflow Editor and select Delete Pipeline.
If you choose Pull Request or Tag Creation as the source type, you must first configure the Webhook for GitHub/Bitbucket as a prerequisite step.
Go to the Settings page of your repository and select Webhooks.
Select Add webhook.
In the Payload URL field, enter the Webhook URL that you get on selecting the source type as "Pull Request" or "Tag Creation" in Devtron the dashboard.
Change the Content-type to application/json
.
In the Secret field, enter the secret from Devtron the dashboard when you select the source type as "Pull Request" or "Tag Creation".
Under Which events would you like to trigger this webhook?, select Let me select individual events. to trigger the webhook to build CI Pipeline.
Select Branch or tag creation and Pull Requests.
Select Add webhook.
Go to the Repository settings page of your Bitbucket repository.
Select Webhooks and then select Add webhook.
Enter a Title for the webhook.
In the URL field, enter the Webhook URL that you get on selecting the source type as "Pull Request" or "Tag Creation" in the Devtron dashboard.
Select the event triggers for which you want to trigger the webhook.
Select Save to save your configurations.
Within the same application, you can override a container registry
, container image
and target platform
during the build pipeline, which means the images built for non-production environment can be included to the non-production registry and the images for production environment can be included to the production registry.
To override a container registry, container image or target platform:
Go to Applications and select your application from the Devtron Apps tabs.
On the App Configuration tab, select Workflow Editor.
Open the build pipeline of your application.
Click Allow Override to:
Select the new container registry from the drop-down list.
Click Update Pipeline.
Stage | Task |
---|---|
Variable | Format | Description |
---|---|---|
Field name | Required/Optional | Field description |
---|---|---|
Field name | Required/Optional | Field description |
---|---|---|
Field Name | Required/Optional | Description |
---|---|---|
Field Name | Required/Optional | Description |
---|---|---|
Filter key | Description |
---|---|
Filter key | Description |
---|---|
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Code | Description |
---|---|
Or, with different options.
Or, set a from the drop-down list or enter a new target platform.
The overridden container registry/container image location/target platform will be reflected on the page. You can also see the number of build pipelines for which the container registry/container image location/target platform is overridden.
Pre-Build/Post-Build
Create a task using one of the Preset Plugins integrated in Devtron:
Create a task from Execute Custom script which you can customize your script with:
CodacyEndpoint
String
API endpoint for Codacy
GitProvider
String
Git provider for the scanning
CodacyApiToken
String
API token for Codacy. If it is provided, it will be used, otherwise it will be picked from Global secret (CODACY_API_TOKEN)
Organisation
String
Your Organization for Codacy
RepoName
String
Your Repository name
Branch
String
Your branch name
Task name
Required
A relevant name for the task
Description
Optional
A descriptive message for the task
Task type
Optional
Shell: Custom shell script goes here
Input variables
Optional
Variable name: Alphanumeric chars and (_) only
Source or input value: The variable's value can be global, output from the previous task, or a custom value. Accepted data types include: STRING | BOOL | NUMBER | DATE
Description: Relevant message to describe the variable.
Trigger/Skip condition
Optional
A conditional statement to execute or skip the task
Script
Required
Custom script for the Pre/Post-build tasks
Output directory path
Optional
Output variables
Optional
Environment variables that are passed as input variables for the next task.
Pass/Failure Condition (Optional): Conditional statements to determine the success/failure of the task. A failed condition stops the execution of the next task and/or build process
Task name
Required
A relevant name for the task
Description
Optional
A descriptive message for the task
Task type
Optional
Container image
Input variables
Optional
Variable name: Alphanumeric chars and (_) only
Source or input value: The variable's value can be global, output from the previous task, or a custom value Accepted data types include: STRING | BOOL | NUMBER | DATE
Description: Relevant message to describe the variable
Trigger/Skip condition
Optional
A conditional statement to execute or skip the task
Container image
Required
Select an image from the drop-down list or enter a custom value in the format <image>:<tag>
Mount custom code
Optional
Enable to mount the custom code in the container. Enter the script in the box below.
Mount above code at (required): Path where the code should be mounted
Command
Optional
The command to be executed inside the container
Args
Optional
The arguments to be passed to the command mentioned in the previous field
Port mapping
Optional
The port number on which the container listens. The port number exposes the container to outside services.
Mount code to container
Optional
Mounts the source code inside the container. Default is "No". If set to "Yes", enter the path.
Mount directory from host
Optional
Mount any directory from the host into the container. This can be used to mount code or even output directories.
Output directory path
Optional
Directory path for the script output files such as logs, errors, etc.
Source type
Required
Source type to trigger the CI. Available options: Branch Fixed | Branch Regex |Pull Request | Tag Creation
Branch Name
Required
Branch that triggers the CI build
Advanced Options
Optional
Create Pre-Build, Build, and Post-Build tasks
TRIGGER BUILD PIPELINE
Required
The build execution may be set to:
Automatically (default): Build is triggered automatically as the Git source code changes.
Manually: Build is triggered manually.
Pipeline Name
Required
A name for the pipeline
Source type
Required
Select the source type to build the CI pipeline: Branch Fixed | Branch Regex | Pull Request | Tag Creation
Branch Name
Required
Branch that triggers the CI build
Docker build arguments
Optional
Override docker build configurations for this pipeline.
Key: Field name
Value: Field value
Author
Author of the PR
Source branch name
Branch from which the Pull Request is generated
Target branch name
Branch to which the Pull request will be merged
Title
Title of the Pull Request
State
State of the PR. Default is "open" and cannot be changed
Author
The one who created the tag
Tag name
Name of the tag for which the webhook will be triggered
Deploy to environment
Environment
: Provide the name of the environment.
Namespace
: Provide the namespace.
When do you want to deploy
You can deploy either in one of the following ways:
Automatic
: If you select automatic, your application will be deployed automatically everytime a new image is received.
Manual
: In case of manual, you have to select the image and deploy manually.
Deployment Strategy
Configure the deployment preferences for this pipeline.
200
app detail page url
400
Bad request
401
Unauthorized