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Create a project in CircleCI

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This guide gets you started with creating a new project in CircleCI.

Prerequisites

  • A CircleCI account connected to your code. You can sign up for free.

  • A code repository you want to build on CircleCI.

Build a new project on CircleCI

The authorization method used to set up your CircleCI account determines the definition of "project" in CircleCI, as well as the permissions management processes available to you:

Set up a project

Follow these steps to set up a new project in CircleCI:

  1. In the CircleCI web app, click Projects in the sidebar.

  2. Find your project in the list and click the blue Set Up Project button next to it.

    Set up Project

    If you cannot see your project, check you have selected the correct organization in the top left-hand corner of CircleCI.

    Select Organization

    Once you have set up your project, you will be prompted to provide a config.yml file.

  3. From the pop-up window, select your preferred option. You can either:

    • Include a config.yml in the .circleci directory of your repository.

    • Commit a starter CI pipeline to a new branch of your repository.

    • Use an editable config.yml template.

      If you choose the starter CI pipeline, a sample config.yml file is created and committed to a circleci-project-setup branch in your repository.

      For guidance on creating a config.yml file, see Configuration Introduction.

  4. Click the blue Set Up Project button.

CircleCI uses the specified .circleci/config.yml file to run your pipeline. You can see the output in the CircleCI dashboard.

To make changes to your pipeline, either edit the .circleci/config.yml file in your repository, or click the ellipsis next your project in the Dashboard and choose Configuration File. This opens the CircleCI configuration editor, from where you can edit and commit your config.yml file.

Edit Configuration File

Create a project

If you authorized CircleCI with either GitLab, or the GitHub App, follow the steps in the section below that applies to you.

GitHub App project

Follow these steps to create a new project in CircleCI:

  1. In the CircleCI web app, click Projects in the sidebar.

  2. Click Create Project at the top of the page.

    Create a project
  3. In the Connect Code window, click the GitHub tile.

  4. In the Create New Project window, use the options to:

    • Input your project name in the Project Name field.

    • Tell CircleCI where your code is stored.

    • Click Create Project at the bottom of the window. CircleCI will now automatically generate a custom configuration file based on the programming languages and frameworks detected in your selected repository.

    • When the custom configuration file has been generated, click Commit and Run to commit your custom configuration file on a new branch called circleci-project-setup. Alternatively, click Review configuration file to view the custom configuration file in the configuration editor.

    • If CircleCI is unable to generate a custom configuration file, CircleCI will generate a fallback template that you can utilize to create your config.yml file.

GitLab project

Follow these steps to create a new project in CircleCI:

  1. In the CircleCI web app, click Projects in the sidebar.

  2. Click Create Project at the top of the page.

    Create a project
  3. In the Connect Code window, click the GitLab tile.

  4. In the Create New Project window, use the options to:

    • Tell CircleCI where your code is stored

    • Choose an option for managing your .circleci/config.yml file. You can either choose to let CircleCI pick a configuration file for you, and commit this to a new branch in you repository, or you can edit a starter config file in the CircleCI web app and commit that to your repository yourself.

    • For guidance on creating a config.yml file, see the following pages:

  5. The Project Name field is automatically populated with the name of your repository, but you can change this if required.

  6. Click Create Project at the bottom of the window.

CircleCI uses the specified .circleci/config.yml file to run your pipeline. You can see the output in the CircleCI dashboard.

To make changes to your pipeline, edit the .circleci/config.yml file in your repository.


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