GitLab CI/CD is a powerful tool for automating your software development lifecycle. Here's a quick guide to get started:

📌 What is GitLab CI/CD?

  • Continuous Integration (CI): Automatically build and test code whenever changes are pushed.
  • Continuous Deployment (CD): Automate deployment to production or staging environments.
  • Integrated: Built directly into GitLab, no need for external tools!

🧩 Basic Structure

A .gitlab-ci.yml file defines your pipeline:

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy

build_job:
  stage: build
  script: echo "Building the project..."

test_job:
  stage: test
  script: echo "Running tests..."

🧠 Key Concepts

  • Jobs: Tasks in the pipeline (e.g., build, test)
  • Stages: Order of execution (e.g., build → test → deploy)
  • Variables: Store sensitive data like API keys
  • Triggers: Run pipelines on code pushes or manual input

📝 Common Commands

  • gitlab-ci.yml: Configuration file
  • gitlab-runner: CLI tool for managing runners
  • CI/CD pipeline: Automated workflow

📚 Expand Your Knowledge

For advanced topics, check out our GitLab CI/CD Advanced Tutorial to learn about:

  • Pipeline caching
  • Parallel jobs
  • Environment-specific configurations
gitlab_ci_cd_pipeline