GitLab provides tools for continuously integrating and delivering code.
Within the [entire DevOps lifecycle](../README.md#the-entire-devops-lifecycle), GitLab CI/CD spans
the [Verify (CI)](../README.md#verify) and [Release (CD)](../README.md#release) stages.
The benefits of Continuous Integration are huge when automation plays an
integral part of your workflow. GitLab comes with built-in Continuous
Integration, Continuous Deployment, and Continuous Delivery support
to build, test, and deploy your application.
## Overview
Here's some info we've gathered to get you started.
CI/CD is a vast area, so GitLab provides documentation for all levels of expertise. Consult the following table to find the right documentation for you:
| New to the concepts of CI and CD | For a high-level overview, see the [GitLab Continuous Integration & Delivery](https://about.gitlab.com/product/continuous-integration/) product page. |
| Familiar with the purpose of CI/CD | Delve into GitLab CI/CD by continuing down the page, starting with our [introduction](#introduction). |
| Familiar with GitLab CI/CD concepts | After getting familiar with GitLab CI/CD, let us walk you through a simple example in our [quick start guide](quick_start/README.md). |
| A GitLab CI/CD expert | Jump straight to our [`.gitlab.yml`](yaml/README.md) reference. |
The first steps towards your GitLab CI/CD journey.
## Introduction
-[Getting started with GitLab CI/CD](quick_start/README.md): understand how GitLab CI/CD works.
-[GitLab CI/CD configuration file: `.gitlab-ci.yml`](yaml/README.md) - Learn all about the ins and outs of `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
-[Pipelines and jobs](pipelines.md): configure your GitLab CI/CD pipelines to build, test, and deploy your application.
- Runners: The [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) is responsible by running the jobs in your CI/CD pipeline. On GitLab.com, Shared Runners are enabled by default, so
you don't need to set up anything to start to use them with GitLab CI/CD.
The following introduces the process of continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD):
- Article (2016-08-05): [Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment with GitLab - Intro to CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/05/continuous-integration-delivery-and-deployment-with-gitlab/)
- Article (2015-12-14): [Getting started with GitLab and GitLab CI - Intro to CI](https://about.gitlab.com/2015/12/14/getting-started-with-gitlab-and-gitlab-ci/)
- Article (2017-07-13): [Making CI Easier with GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/07/13/making-ci-easier-with-gitlab/)
- Article (2017-05-22): [Fast and Natural Continuous Integration with GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/05/22/fast-and-natural-continuous-integration-with-gitlab-ci/)
-**Videos:**
- Demo (Streamed live on Jul 17, 2017): [GitLab CI/CD Deep Dive](https://youtu.be/pBe4t1CD8Fc?t=195)
- Demo (March, 2017): [How to get started using CI/CD with GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/03/13/ci-cd-demo/)
- Webcast (April, 2016): [Getting started with CI in GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/20/webcast-recording-and-slides-introduction-to-ci-in-gitlab/)
-**Third-party videos:**
-[Intégration continue avec GitLab (September, 2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcMBXjIr24&t=13s)
-[GitLab CI for Minecraft Plugins (July, 2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pcI9F8yf8)
In this illustration:
### Why GitLab CI/CD?
- New code is combined with existing code through a commit to a project's [repository](../user/project/repository/index.md).
- The newly combined code is sent to a CI [pipeline](pipelines.md) where:
- The code is [built](../user/project/pipelines/job_artifacts.md).
- Unit and integration tests are run over the built code.
- Assuming the build and tests are successful, a CD pipeline is triggered to allow for:
- Review using [Review Apps](review_apps/index.md).
- Deploying to configured [environments](environments.md).
- Article (2016-10-17): [Why We Chose GitLab CI for our CI/CD Solution](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/10/17/gitlab-ci-oohlala/)
- Article (2016-07-22): [Building our web-app on GitLab CI: 5 reasons why Captain Train migrated from Jenkins to GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/22/building-our-web-app-on-gitlab-ci/)
The benefits of CI/CD are vast, allowing automation to be an integral part of your workflow for testing, building, deploying, and monitoring your code.
## Exploring GitLab CI/CD
Because CI and CD with GitLab is broad topic with many possibilities, the rest of this section provides
links to topics and resources needed to make use of GitLab CI/CD.
-[CI/CD Variables](variables/README.md) - Learn how to use variables defined in
your `.gitlab-ci.yml` or the ones defined in your project's settings
-[Where variables can be used](variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md) - A
deeper look on where and how the CI/CD variables can be used
-**The permissions model** - Learn about the access levels a user can have for
-[Configure a Runner, the application that runs your jobs](runners/README.md)
- Article (2016-03-01): [Setting up GitLab Runner For Continuous Integration](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/03/01/gitlab-runner-with-docker/)
- Article (2016-07-29): [GitLab CI: Run jobs sequentially, in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/)
| [CI/CD Variables](variables/README.md) | How environment variables can be configured and made available in pipelines. |
| [Where variables can be used](variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md) | A deeper look into where and how CI/CD variables can be used. |
| [User](../user/permissions.md#gitlab-ci) and [job](../user/permissions.md#job-permissions) permissions | Learn about the access levels a user can have for performing certain CI actions. |
| [Introduction to environments and deployments](environments.md) | Learn how to separate your jobs into environments and use them for different purposes like testing, building and, deploying. |
| [Job artifacts](../user/project/pipelines/job_artifacts.md) | Learn about the output of jobs. |
| [Cache dependencies in GitLab CI/CD](caching/index.md) | Discover how to speed up pipelines using caching. |
| [Using Git submodules with GitLab CI](git_submodules.md) | How to run your CI jobs when using Git submodules. |
| [Pipelines for merge requests](merge_request_pipelines/index.md) | Create pipelines specifically for merge requests. |
| [Using SSH keys with GitLab CI/CD](ssh_keys/README.md) | Use SSH keys in your build environment. |
| [Triggering pipelines through the API](triggers/README.md) | Use the GitLab API to trigger a pipeline. |
| [Pipeline schedules](../user/project/pipelines/schedules.md) | Trigger pipelines on a schedule. |
| [Connecting GitLab with a Kubernetes cluster](../user/project/clusters/index.md) | Integrate one or more Kubernetes clusters to your project. |
| [Interactive web terminals](interactive_web_terminal/index.md) | Open an interactive web terminal to debug the running jobs. |
### GitLab Pages
GitLab CI/CD can be used to build and host static websites. For more information, see the
documentation on [GitLab Pages](../user/project/pages/index.md).
## Examples
Check the [GitLab CI/CD examples](examples/README.md) for a collection of tutorials and guides on setting up your CI/CD pipeline for various programming languages, frameworks,
and operating systems.
Check out the [GitLab CI/CD examples](examples/README.md) for a collection of tutorials and guides on
setting up your CI/CD pipeline for various programming languages, frameworks, and operating systems.
## Administration
As a GitLab administrator, you can change the default behavior of GitLab CI/CD for:
- An [entire GitLab instance](../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md).
- Specific projects, using [pipelines settings](../user/project/pipelines/settings.md).
See also:
-[How to enable or disable GitLab CI/CD](enable_or_disable_ci.md).
- Other [CI administration settings](../administration/index.md#continuous-integration-settings).
## Using Docker
Docker is commonly used with GitLab CI/CD. Learn more about how to to accomplish this with the following
-[Setting up GitLab Runner For Continuous Integration](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/03/01/gitlab-runner-with-docker/)(article).
- Article (2016-06-09): [Continuous Delivery with GitLab and Convox](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/09/continuous-delivery-with-gitlab-and-convox/)
- Article (2016-05-05): [Getting Started with GitLab and Shippable Continuous Integration](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/05/05/getting-started-gitlab-and-shippable/)
- Article (2016-04-19): [GitLab Partners with DigitalOcean to make Continuous Integration faster, safer, and more affordable](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/19/gitlab-partners-with-digitalocean-to-make-continuous-integration-faster-safer-and-more-affordable/)
## Further resources
## Special configuration (GitLab admin)
This section provides further resources to help you get familiar with GitLab CI/CD.
As a GitLab administrator, you can change the default behavior of GitLab CI/CD in
your whole GitLab instance as well as in each project.
| 2016-08-05 | [Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment with GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/05/continuous-integration-delivery-and-deployment-with-gitlab/). |
| 2016-07-29 | [GitLab CI: Run jobs sequentially, in parallel or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/). |
| 2016-06-09 | [Continuous Delivery with GitLab and Convox](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/09/continuous-delivery-with-gitlab-and-convox/) |
| 2016-05-05 | [Getting Started with GitLab and Shippable Continuous Integration](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/05/05/getting-started-gitlab-and-shippable/) |
| 2016-04-19 | [GitLab Partners with DigitalOcean to make Continuous Integration faster, safer, and more affordable](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/19/gitlab-partners-with-digitalocean-to-make-continuous-integration-faster-safer-and-more-affordable/) |
| 2015-03-01 | [Setting up GitLab Runner For Continuous Integration](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/03/01/gitlab-runner-with-docker/). |
| 2015-12-14 | [Getting started with GitLab and GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/2015/12/14/getting-started-with-gitlab-and-gitlab-ci/). |
### Videos
The following table provides a list of videos about CI/CD, sorted in reverse chronological order of publish date:
| 2017-07-17 | [GitLab CI/CD Deep Dive](https://youtu.be/pBe4t1CD8Fc?t=195). |
| 2017-03-13 | [Demo: CI/CD with GitLab in action](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/03/13/ci-cd-demo/). |
| 2016-04-20 | [Webcast Recording and Slides: Getting started with CI in GitLab](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/20/webcast-recording-and-slides-introduction-to-ci-in-gitlab/). |
In addition, the following third-party videos are available:
-[Intégration continue avec GitLab (September 2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcMBXjIr24&t=13s).
-[GitLab CI for Minecraft Plugins (July 2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pcI9F8yf8).
### Example Projects
[`review-apps-nginx`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-nginx/) provides an example of using Review Apps.
Other example projects are available at the [`gitlab-examples`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples) group.
### Why GitLab CI/CD?
The following articles explain reasons why you might use GitLab CI/CD for your CI/CD infrastructure:
-[Why we chose GitLab CI for our CI/CD solution](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/10/17/gitlab-ci-oohlala/).
-[Building our web-app on GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/22/building-our-web-app-on-gitlab-ci/).
See also the [Why CI/CD?](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OGgk2Tcxbpl7DJaIOzCX4Vqg3dlwfELC3u2jEeCBbDk) presentation.
## Breaking changes
-[CI variables renaming for GitLab 9.0](variables/README.md#9-0-renaming) Read about the
As GitLab CI/CD has evolved, certain breaking changes have been necessary. These are:
-[CI variables renaming for GitLab 9.0](variables/README.md#gitlab-90-renaming). Read about the
deprecated CI variables and what you should use for GitLab 9.0+.
-[New CI job permissions model](../user/project/new_ci_build_permissions_model.md)
Read about what changed in GitLab 8.12 and how that affects your jobs.
-[New CI job permissions model](../user/project/new_ci_build_permissions_model.md).
See what changed in GitLab 8.12 and how that affects your jobs.
There's a new way to access your Git submodules and LFS objects in jobs.