Schedule triggers are now available for GitHub App pipelines. This feature allows teams to automatically run pipelines on a time-based schedule, with frequencies ranging from once every 5 minutes to less frequent intervals. Schedule triggers support configuring the actor associated with trigger pipelines, and passing custom parameters.

Getting started

Create GitHub App schedule triggers from the Project settings > Project setup page.

Availability

This functionality is available to all organizations that integrate with GitHub, regardless of whether they also use the GitHub OAuth integration (URLs may include /github/ or /circleci/). To learn more about using the GitHub App integration alongside GitHub OAuth, see the dedicated Docs page.

Notes

• GitHub App pipelines triggered via schedule trigger are never skipped nor auto-cancelled.
• Please note that, as specified in the documentation, a delay of up to 10 minutes may be applied to the configured time. Subsequent runs will maintain the same timing as the initial run.

Current limitations

Schedule triggers for GitHub App pipelines cannot yet be created or managed via API.

What’s next

GitHub App schedule triggers currently use a dropdown interface for frequency selection. We’re planning to transition to cron syntax for more flexible scheduling options. For questions or concerns about this plan, reach out to benedetta@circleci.com.

For more information about schedule triggers, see our documentation.

The Xcode 26.0.1 image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

• Device IDs are inconsistently changing across VMs in Xcode 26. This is an OS-level issue that can affect builds relying on consistent device identifiers. We’ve opened a support ticket with Apple and encourage affected users to do the same to help prioritize a fix.

The Xcode 26.1 Beta 1 image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

• Device IDs are inconsistently changing across VMs in Xcode 26. This is an OS-level issue that can affect builds relying on consistent device identifiers. We’ve opened a support ticket with Apple and encourage affected users to do the same to help prioritize a fix.

CircleCI regularly publishes new images and deprecates older ones used for execution environments. As part of the deprecation process, we run brownouts—short time windows where a soon-to-be retired image is temporarily unavailable. Brownouts help notify users that the image is reaching end-of-life and needs to be upgraded.

To give organizations more control, we’ve added a setting in the CircleCI web app: Organization Settings → Advanced → Enable image brownouts

On (default): Brownouts apply as usual.

Off: Brownouts are disabled for your organization, allowing continued use of the image until it is fully retired.

Note: Changes to this toggle may take up to 10 minutes to take effect. Only organization admins can change this setting.

Users can now specify a checkout method when using the checkout step. In addition to a traditional full clone, we now support blobless clones. Blobless clones reduce the amount of data fetched from the remote by asking the remote to filter out objects that are not attached to the current commit, resulting in faster checkouts for most projects.

You can perform a blobless clone by setting the method key in your checkout step:

jobs:
  build:
    steps:
      - checkout:
          method: blobless

Learn more about the new method key in our documentation.

For customers needing a more granular control, we now support automatic step rerun to complement our existing workflow rerun feature.

Rather than rerunning entire workflows, you can now automatically rerun specific failed steps. Simply specify max_auto_reruns in your run step configuration with a value between 1 and 5. You can also configure an optional auto_rerun_delay (up to 10 minutes) to give temporary issues time to resolve before retrying, such as when resources need time to become available again.

The UI provides clear indicators showing the current attempt number and remaining retries. This feature is available to all CircleCI customers across all plan types.

For more details on configuring automatic step reruns, visit the documentation.

The Xcode 26.0 GA image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

• Device IDs are inconsistently changing across VMs in Xcode 26. This is an OS-level issue that can affect builds relying on consistent device identifiers. We’ve opened a support ticket with Apple and encourage affected users to do the same to help prioritize a fix.
• See this community forum post for a workaround to a bug in the iOS 26 simulator device.

It is now possible to configure pipelines to be triggered whenever a pull request is merged or closed. Previously, only the option “PR merged” was available.

The primary use case for this trigger option is running cleanup / teardown pipelines to remove temporary resources that were provisioned when the PR was opened.

When this option is selected, pipelines will run by default on the base branch on the PR - as opposed to the head branch.

For more information and a full list of GitHub trigger event options, visit the dedicated Docs page.

Following our updated Xcode image retention policy we will be deprecating Xcode versions which are no longer supported. We will additionally be performing 24 hour brownouts from 00:00:01 to 23:59:59 UTC during which these images will be unavailable. The brownout and deprecation schedule can be found below.

Customers will no longer see configuration errors when all workflows in their pipeline are intentionally filtered out using when conditions.

Previously in the pipelines page, customers saw this error when all workflows were filtered out:

Here is the updated experience:

The Xcode 26.0 Beta 7 image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

What’s New: We’ve introduced a guided rollback wizard that walks you through setting up both deploy markers and rollback pipelines in a single, structured workflow.

Key Improvements:

• Step-by-step guidance through deploy marker configuration
• Automated rollback pipeline creation with proper parameters

Getting Started: The refined rollback wizard is available now in your Project Overview page. Look for the “rollback” dropdown and click “Create Rollback Pipeline” to get started!

https://circleci.com/docs/guides/deploy/set-up-rollbacks/

The Xcode 26.0 Beta 6 image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

Updates

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where “empty pipelines” responses from the API would prevent the UI from loading.
• docker-provisioner-provisioner will roll when a manually provided certificate is changed

Chart Updates

The following charts have moved from Bitnami-hosted to CircleCI-hosted:

• postgresql
• mongodb
• redis
• rabbitmq

Image Updates

The following images have moved from Bitnami-hosted to CircleCI-hosted:

• mongodb
• redis

The following images have been updated since 4.8.1:

• webhook-service
• permissions-service
• domain-service
• orb-service
• policy-service
• web-ui-server-admin
• branch-service
• authentication-svc
• workflows-conductor
• builds-service
• cron-service

NOTE

Please note this release has been marked as broken and should not applied. Fixes will be applied in the 4.7.8 patch.

Updates

• Enable Redis permissions cache in server
• Stopped sending duplicate execution-engine-config-str spec to WFC, reducing message size by up to 15 MB for large customer configs

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where “empty pipelines” responses from the API would prevent the UI from loading.
• The authentication process now correctly utilizes a cache for JWT.
• docker-provisioner-provisioner will roll when a manually provided certificate is changed
• Addressed CVEs in authentication-service, api-service and web-ui services

Chart Updates

The following charts have moved from Bitnami-hosted to CircleCI-hosted:

• postgresql
• mongodb
• redis
• rabbitmq

Image Updates

The following images have moved from Bitnami-hosted to CircleCI-hosted:

• mongodb
• redis

The following images have been updated since 4.7.6:

• postgres
• rabbitmq
• web-ui-onboarding
• web-ui-org-settings
• cron-service
• web-ui-insights
• web-ui
• ciam-gateway
• branch-service
• web-ui-authentication
• workflows-conductor
• authentication-svc
• api-service
• runner-admin
• domain-service
• policy-service
• builds-service

The Project settings > Project setup page now allows disabling GitHub App and Custom Webhook triggers. This is useful when iterating on trigger configuration, as it enables pausing pipeline triggering without deleting a trigger.

The same functionality is available programmatically through the Triggers API.

Added @latest tag to all NPX and Docker installation commands across multiple IDE integrations to ensure users always get the current version and prevent compatibility issues.

We’ve also added a troubleshooting section to help resolve common installation issues.

To see the full list of IDE integrations or for troubleshooting support, see our MCP server documentation.

CircleCI will no longer support the following Orbs due to limited or no use.

• microsoft-psscriptanalyzer
• irc
• github-super-linter
• microsoft-msix
• waypoint
• lein-nvd

What does this mean?

• The Orb will no longer receive updates, bug fixes, or security patches
• The repository will be archived and made read-only
• No new issues or pull requests will be accepted
• Existing functionality may continue to work but without any support guarantees

What You Should Do

If you would like to use or create your own version of any of the orbs listed, feel free to fork the repository and use the following Build Private CircleCI Orbs documentation as a guide to making this orb into a private orb for your own use.

Repositories:

• microsoft-psscriptanalyzer-orb
• irc-orb
• GitHub-Super-Linter-Orb
• microsoft-msix-orb
• waypoint-orb
• lein-nvd_orb

Users can now set cache retention periods at the job level using the retention key in CircleCI config. Job level retention overrides the retention period set in plan usage controls, allowing users to optimize cache storage for their individual jobs. Flexible cache retention periods are useful for workflows with varying cache needs, such as short-lived feature branch jobs or jobs with frequently changing dependencies.

Set cache retention at the job level

jobs:
 hello-world:
   machine:
    image: ubuntu-2404:current
   steps:
    - run:
      name: Hello World
      command: echo "hello-world"
   retention:
    caches: 5d  # Keep caches for 5 days instead of default

Job-level settings can only reduce retention - not extend beyond plan limits. If retention is not set at the job level, caches will be stored for the period set in plan usage controls.

Learn more about CircleCI retention settings in our documentation.

Test Quality Agent now in Beta

A new agentic capability is now available in private beta that automatically identifies and fixes flaky tests in your CircleCI projects. This agent helps reduce debugging time by analyzing inconsistent test behavior and creating pull requests with validated solutions.

Read the full announcement and setup guide on Discuss

How it Works:

• Identifies flaky tests with inconsistent pass/fail behavior
• Generates and validates multiple solution attempts per test
• Creates PRs only when solutions pass reliability validation
• Provides detailed logs and code diffs for review

Beta Details:

• No extra cost during beta (uses existing compute credits and AI provider tokens)
• Join the waitlist for access
• Feedback welcome at ai-feedback@circleci.com

The Xcode 26.0 Beta 5 image is now available to be used in CircleCI pipelines on the M4 Pro resource classes.

Please see the full manifest for information about the software included with this image release.

Known Issues:

• iOS 26 simulators sporadically freeze during boot and may fail to start. We recommend pre-booting simulators and, if they don’t start within 60 seconds, terminate them and restart them.
• Metal Toolchain is currently non-functional. A workaround is available by running the following commands before use:

    xcodebuild -downloadComponent metalToolchain -exportPath /tmp/MetalExport/
    sed -i '' -e 's/17A5295f/17A5241e/g' /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle/ExportMetadata.plist
    xcodebuild -importComponent metalToolchain -importPath /tmp/MetalExport/MetalToolchain-17A5295f.exportedBundle
  

Runner Release 3.1.5

Container Runner:

• Version 3.1.5 introduces Windows support for container runner in open preview. For detailed setup instructions and configuration guidance, visit our Windows container runner documentation.
• Container runner now filters for pods specifically managed by each replica, rather than watching all task pods with the managed-by: circleci-container-agent label. This optimization reduces API load when running multiple container agent instances within the same cluster.
• Added support for running the primary container under a custom user ID (UID). You can now specify a valid UID using the docker.user key in your CircleCI configuration, which will be mapped to the task pod container user.

New and improved docs site

We’re excited to launch our revamped documentation site at https://circleci.com/docs with better navigation, organization, and layout.

What’s new:

• Improved navigation structure
• Version switching for CircleCI Server docs
• Cleaner visual layout

Behind the scenes: We’ve migrated from our custom-built platform to Antora, which brings a number of benefits

• Improved organization of our source files
• Enhanced collaboration opportunities. Once our repo is public (coming soon) anyone can contribute including building the site in their local environment
• A more stable site with lower upkeep requirements
• Significantly faster publishing pipeline

Share your feedback: Try out the new site and let us know what you think on our community forum.

Known issues

• The docs repo (from which this new site is built) is not yet public. This means that all links from our docs to the repo are currently broken. This will be fixed in the coming days.
• Our 404 page is currently broken.

We have added automatic workflow retry functionality to help you handle flaky resources and intermittent failures without manual intervention. You can now specify max-auto-reruns in your workflow configuration with a value between 1 and 5 to automatically rerun failed workflows. Just like the manual “re-run from failed” feature, only failed jobs will be retried - successfully finished jobs will not be rerun during automatic retries. This eliminates the need to manually monitor and restart workflows that fail due to environmental issues beyond your control.

The UI will provide clear indicators when a workflow is being automatically retried and show how many retry attempts have been made. This feature is available to all CircleCI customers across all plan types.

For teams dealing with flaky tests or unreliable external dependencies, this update significantly improves operational efficiency by reducing the manual overhead of workflow management. For more details on configuring automatic workflow reruns, visit the documentation.

Note: For those needing to auto-retry individual steps, automatic step retry is in the works!

You can now delete your own Standalone and VCS organizations directly from the CircleCI web app.

How to delete your organization:

Navigate to Organization Settings > Overview and scroll to the bottom of the page.

What to expect:

• Deletions may take up to 24 hours to process completely.
• Standalone organizations: Will be removed entirely after a few hours.
• VCS organizations: All projects and data will be removed, but the organization will remain visible.

Requirements:

• Organization must be on the Free plan.
• You must be an organization admin.

This self-service feature eliminates the need to contact support for organization deletions.

For customers who are using rollback via pipeline, you can now add an optional rollback reason when triggering your rollback.

What’s Changed

Status checks for skipped jobs are no longer reported to GitHub when using the GitHub App integration. Previously, we reported skipped jobs as “pending” before they were skipped.

Why This Matters

• Improved PR workflow: Prevents situations where required checks could be bypassed when jobs are skipped
• Consistent behavior: Aligns with our existing behavior in the CircleCI GitHub OAuth integrations
• Better security: Ensures all required checks must actually run and pass before PRs can be merged

Who This Affects

This change only applies to users who have connected CircleCI to GitHub using the GitHub App integration. Users of our GitHub OAuth integration already experience this behavior.

What You Need to Do

No action is required. This change has been applied automatically to all pipelines using the GitHub App integration.

We’ve updated the CircleCI VS Code extension to support a new set of pipeline values used by the Rollbacks feature.

You can now view and work with these deployment-specific values directly within your development environment.

Newly supported pipeline values:

• pipeline.deploy.component_name
• pipeline.deploy.environment_name
• pipeline.deploy.target_version
• pipeline.deploy.current_version
• pipeline.deploy.namespace

For customers using CircleCI’s release-agent, the CircleCI web app now lets you invoke a rollback from the Project Overview Page. We’ve removed other rollback options from the Project Overview page for simplicity in these cases.