Configuration reference

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This document is a reference for the CircleCI 2.x configuration keys that are used in the .circleci/config.yml file.

You can see a complete config.yml in our full example.


version

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

version

Y

String

2, 2.0, or 2.1 See the Reusable configuration page for an overview of 2.1 keys available to simplify your .circleci/config.yml file, reuse, and parameterized jobs.

The version field is intended to be used in order to issue warnings for deprecation or breaking changes.


setup

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

setup

N

Boolean

Designates the config.yaml for use of CircleCI’s dynamic configuration feature.

The setup field enables you to conditionally trigger configurations from outside the primary .circleci parent directory, update pipeline parameters, or generate customized configurations.


orbs

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

orbs

N

Map

A map of user-selected names to either: orb references (strings) or orb definitions (maps). Orb definitions must be the orb-relevant subset of 2.1 config. See the Creating Orbs documentation for details.

executors

N

Map

A map of strings to executor definitions. See the executors section below.

commands

N

Map

A map of command names to command definitions. See the commands section below.

The following example uses the node orb that exists in the certified circleci namespace. Refer to the Node orb page in the Orb Registry for more examples and information.

version: 2.1

orbs:
  node: circleci/node@x.y

jobs:
  install-node-example:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/base:stable
    steps:
      - checkout
      - node/install:
          install-yarn: true
          node-version: '16.13'
      - run: node --version
workflows:
  test_my_app:
    jobs:
      - install-node-example

Documentation is available for orbs in the following sections:

Public orbs are listed in the Orb Registry.


commands

A command defines a sequence of steps as a map to be executed in a job, enabling you to reuse a single command definition across multiple jobs. For more information see the Reusable Config Reference Guide.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

steps

Y

Sequence

A sequence of steps run inside the calling job of the command.

parameters

N

Map

A map of parameter keys. See the Parameter Syntax section of the Reusing Config document for details.

description

N

String

A string that describes the purpose of the command.

Example:

commands:
  sayhello:
    description: "A very simple command for demonstration purposes"
    parameters:
      to:
        type: string
        default: "Hello World"
    steps:
      - run: echo << parameters.to >>

parameters

Pipeline parameters declared for use in the configuration. See Pipeline Values and Parameters for usage details.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

parameters

N

Map

A map of parameter keys. Supports string, boolean, integer and enum types. See Parameter Syntax for details.


executors

Executors define the execution environment in which the steps of a job will be run, allowing you to reuse a single executor definition across multiple jobs.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

docker

Y (1)

List

Options for Docker executor

resource_class

N

String

Amount of CPU and RAM allocated to each container in a job.

machine

Y (1)

Map

Options for machine executor

macos

Y (1)

Map

Options for macOS executor

windows

Y (1)

Map

Windows executor currently working with orbs. Check out the orb.

shell

N

String

Shell to use for execution command in all steps. Can be overridden by shell in each step (default: See Default Shell Options)

working_directory

N

String

In which directory to run the steps. Will be interpreted as an absolute path.

environment

N

Map

A map of environment variable names and values.

(1) One executor type should be specified per job. If more than one is set you will receive an error.

Example:

version: 2.1
executors:
  my-executor:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/ruby:3.0.3-browsers

jobs:
  my-job:
    executor: my-executor
    steps:
      - run: echo "Hello executor!"

See the Using Parameters in Executors section of the Reusing config page for examples of parameterized executors.


jobs

A Workflow is comprised of one or more uniquely named jobs. Jobs are specified in the jobs map, see Sample config.yml for two examples of a job map. The name of the job is the key in the map, and the value is a map describing the job.

Jobs have a maximum runtime of 1 (Free), 3 (Performance), or 5 (Scale) hours depending on pricing plan. If your jobs are timing out, consider a larger resource_class and/or parallelism. Additionally, you can upgrade your pricing plan or run some of your jobs concurrently using workflows.


<job_name>

Each job consists of the job’s name as a key and a map as a value. A name should be case insensitive unique within a current jobs list. The value map has the following attributes:

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

type

N

String

Job type, can be build, release or approval. If not specified, defaults to build.

docker

Y (1)

List

Options for the Docker executor

machine

Y (1)

Map

Options for the machine executor

macos

Y (1)

Map

Options for the macOS executor

shell

N

String

Shell to use for execution command in all steps. Can be overridden by shell in each step (default: See Default Shell Options)

parameters

N

Map

Parameters for making a job explicitly configurable in a workflow.

steps

Y

List

A list of steps to be performed

working_directory

N

String

In which directory to run the steps. Will be interpreted as an absolute path. Default: ~/project (where project is a literal string, not the name of your specific project). Processes run during the job can use the $CIRCLE_WORKING_DIRECTORY environment variable to refer to this directory. Note: Paths written in your YAML configuration file will not be expanded; if your store_test_results.path is $CIRCLE_WORKING_DIRECTORY/tests, then CircleCI will attempt to store the test subdirectory of the directory literally named $CIRCLE_WORKING_DIRECTORY, dollar sign $ and all. working_directory will be created automatically if it doesn’t exist.

parallelism

N

Integer

Number of parallel instances of this job to run (default: 1)

environment

N

Map

A map of environment variable names and values.

branches

N

Map

This key is deprecated. Use workflows filtering to control which jobs run for which branches.

resource_class

N

String

Amount of CPU and RAM allocated to each container in a job.

(1) One executor type should be specified per job. If more than one is set you will receive an error.


type

Configure a job type. Options are release, approval, build (default). If a type is not specified, the job defaults to a build type.

Jobs with the release type are used to connect your pipeline configuration to a release in the CircleCI releases UI. For full details, see the Releases overview page.

The approval type is used to configure a manual approval step. No job configuration is required or allowed for an approval type job. The approval type is most commonly configured within a workflow rather than under the top-level jobs key. Only approval type jobs can have their type configured under workflows. See type under workflows section for full details.


environment

A map of environment variable names and values. For more information on defining and using environment variables, and the order of precedence governing the various ways they can be set, see the Environment variables page.


parallelism

This feature is used to optimize test steps. If parallelism is set to N > 1, then N independent executors will be set up and each will run the steps of that job in parallel.

You can use the CircleCI CLI to split your test suite across parallel containers so the job completes in a shorter time.

Example:

jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/base:2024.12
    environment:
      FOO: bar
    parallelism: 3
    resource_class: large
    working_directory: ~/my-app
    steps:
      - run: go list ./... | circleci tests run --command "xargs gotestsum --junitfile junit.xml --format testname --" --split-by=timings --timings-type=name

parameters

Job-level parameters can be used when calling a job in a workflow.

Reserved parameter-names:

  • name

  • requires

  • context

  • type

  • filters

  • matrix

See Parameter Syntax for definition details.


Executor docker / machine / macos

CircleCI offers several execution environments in which to run your jobs. To specify an execution environment choose an executor, then specify and image and a resource class. An executor defines the underlying technology, environment, and operating system in which to run a job.

Set up your jobs to run using the docker (Linux), machine (LinuxVM, Windows, GPU, Arm), or macos executor, then specify an image with the tools and packages you need, and a resource class.

Learn more about execution environments and executors in the Introduction to Execution Environments.


docker

Configured by docker key which takes a list of maps:

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

image

Y

String

The name of a custom Docker image to use. The first image listed under a job defines the job’s own primary container image where all steps will run.

name

N

String

name defines the hostname for the container (the default is localhost), which is used for reaching secondary (service) containers. By default, all services are exposed directly on localhost. This field is useful if you would rather have a different hostname instead of localhost, for example, if you are starting multiple versions of the same service.

entrypoint

N

String or List

The command used as executable when launching the container. entrypoint overrides the image’s ENTRYPOINT.

command

N

String or List

The command used as PID 1 (or arguments for entrypoint) when launching the container. command overrides the image’s COMMAND. It will be used as arguments to the image ENTRYPOINT if it has one, or as the executable if the image has no ENTRYPOINT.

user

N

String

Which user to run commands as within the Docker container

environment

N

Map

A map of environment variable names and values. The environment settings apply to the entrypoint/command run by the Docker container, not the job steps.

auth

N

Map

Authentication for registries using standard docker login credentials

aws_auth

N

Map

Authentication for AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR)

For a primary container, (the first container in the list) if neither command nor entrypoint is specified in the configuration, then any ENTRYPOINT and COMMAND in the image are ignored. This is because the primary container is typically only used for running the steps and not for its ENTRYPOINT, and an ENTRYPOINT may consume significant resources or exit prematurely. A custom image may disable this behavior and force the ENTRYPOINT to run.

You can specify image versions using tags or digest. You can use any public images from any public Docker registry (defaults to Docker Hub). Learn more about specifying images on the Using the Docker Execution Environment page.


Docker registry authentication

Some registries, Docker Hub, for example, may rate limit anonymous Docker pulls. We recommend that you authenticate to pull private and public images. The username and password can be specified in the auth field. See Using Docker Authenticated Pulls for details.

Example:

jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: buildpack-deps:trusty # primary container
        auth:
          username: mydockerhub-user
          password: $DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD  # context / project UI env-var reference
        environment:
          ENV: CI

      - image: mongo:2.6.8
        auth:
          username: mydockerhub-user
          password: $DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD  # context / project UI env-var reference
        command: [--smallfiles]

      - image: postgres:14.2
        auth:
          username: mydockerhub-user
          password: $DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD  # context / project UI env-var reference
        environment:
          POSTGRES_USER: user

      - image: redis@sha256:54057dd7e125ca41afe526a877e8bd35ec2cdd33b9217e022ed37bdcf7d09673
        auth:
          username: mydockerhub-user
          password: $DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD  # context / project UI env-var reference

      - image: acme-private/private-image:321
        auth:
          username: mydockerhub-user
          password: $DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD  # context / project UI env-var reference

AWS authentication

Using an image hosted on AWS ECR requires authentication using AWS credentials.

Use OIDC

Authenticate using OpenID Connect (OIDC) using the oidc_role_arn field, as follows:

jobs:
  job_name:
    docker:
      - image: <your-image-arn>
        aws_auth:
          oidc_role_arn: <your-iam-role-arn>

For steps to get set up with OIDC to pull images from AWS ECR, see the Pull and image from AWS ECR with OIDC page.

Use environment variables

By default, CircleCI uses the AWS credentials you provide by setting the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY project environment variables. It is also possible to set the credentials by using the aws_auth field as in the following example:

jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: account-id.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/org/repo:0.1
        aws_auth:
          aws_access_key_id: AKIAQWERVA  # can specify string literal values
          aws_secret_access_key: $ECR_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY  # or project UI envar reference

machine

The machine executor is configured using the machine key, which takes a map:

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

image

Y

String

The virtual machine image to use. View available images. Note: This key is not supported for Linux VMs on installations of CircleCI server. For information about customizing machine executor images on CircleCI installed on your servers, see our Machine provisioner documentation.

docker_layer_caching

N

Boolean

Set this to true to enable Docker layer caching.

Example:

jobs:
  build: # name of your job
    machine: # executor type
      image: ubuntu-2004:current # recommended linux image

    steps:
      # Commands run in a Linux virtual machine environment

Available Linux machine images

Specifying an image in your configuration file is strongly recommended. CircleCI supports multiple Linux machine images that can be specified in the image field. For a full list of supported image tags, refer to the following pages in the Developer Hub:

More information on the software available in each image can be found in our Discuss forum.

The machine executor supports Docker Layer Caching, which is useful when you are building Docker images during your job or Workflow.


Available Linux machine images on server

If you are using CircleCI server, contact your system administrator for details of available Linux machine images.


Available Linux GPU machine images

When using the Linux GPU executor, the available images are:

  • linux-cuda-11:default v11.4, v11.6, v11.8 (default), Docker v20.10.24

  • linux-cuda-12:default v12.0, v12.1 (default), Docker v20.10.24


Available Android machine images

CircleCI supports running jobs on Android for testing and deploying Android applications.

To use the Android image directly with the machine executor, add the following to your job:

version: 2.1

jobs:
  build:
    machine:
      image: android:2024.11.1

The Android image can also be accessed using the Android orb.

For examples, refer to the Using Android Images with the Machine Executor page.


Available Windows machine images

Specifying an image in your configuration file is strongly recommended. CircleCI supports multiple Windows machine images that can be specified in the image field.

For a full list of supported images, refer to one of the following:

More information on what software is available in each image can be found in our Discuss forum.

Alternatively, use the Windows orb to manage your Windows execution environment. For examples, see the Using the Windows Execution Environment page.


Available Windows machine images on server

If you are using CircleCI server, contact your system administrator for details of available Windows machine images.


Available Windows GPU machine image

When using the Windows GPU executor, the available image is:

Example

version: 2.1

jobs:
  build:
    machine:
      image: windows-server-2019-cuda:current

macos

CircleCI supports running jobs on macOS, to allow you to build, test, and deploy apps for macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS. To run a job in a macOS virtual machine, add the macos key to the top-level configuration for your job and specify the version of Xcode you would like to use.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

xcode

Y

String

The version of Xcode that is installed on the virtual machine, see the Supported Xcode Versions section of the Testing iOS document for the complete list.

Example: Use a macOS virtual machine with Xcode version 14.2.0:

jobs:
  build:
    macos:
      xcode: "14.2.0"

branches - DEPRECATED

This key is deprecated. Use workflows filtering to control which jobs run for which branches.


resource_class

The resource_class feature allows you to configure CPU and RAM resources for each job. Resource classes are available for each execution environment, as described in the tables below.

We implement soft concurrency limits for each resource class to ensure our system remains stable for all customers. If you are on a Performance or Custom Plan and experience queuing for certain resource classes, it is possible you are hitting these limits. Contact CircleCI support to request a raise on these limits for your account.

If you do not specify a resource class, CircleCI will use a default value that is subject to change. It is best practice to specify a resource class as opposed to relying on a default.


Self-hosted runner

Use the resource_class key to configure a self-hosted runner instance.

For example:

jobs:
  job_name:
    machine: true
    resource_class: <my-namespace>/<my-runner>

Docker execution environment

Example:

jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/base:2024.12
    resource_class: xlarge
    steps:
      ... // other config
x86
ClassvCPUsRAMCloudServer

small

1

2GB

medium

2

4GB

medium+

3

6GB

large

4

8GB

xlarge

8

16GB

2xlarge

16

32GB

2xlarge+

20

40GB

Arm

Arm on Docker For pricing information, and a list of CircleCI Docker convenience images that support Arm resource classes, see the Resource classes page.

ClassvCPUsRAMCloudServer

arm.medium

2

8 GB

arm.large

4

16 GB

arm.xlarge

8

32 GB

arm.2xlarge

16

64 GB


LinuxVM execution environment
ClassvCPUsRAMDisk SizeCloudServer

medium

2

7.5 GB

150GB

large

4

15 GB

150GB

xlarge

8

32 GB

150GB

2xlarge

16

64 GB

150GB

2xlarge+

32

64 GB

150GB

Example:

jobs:
  build:
    machine:
      image: ubuntu-2004:2024.01.2 # recommended linux image
    resource_class: large
    steps:
      ... // other config

macOS execution environment
ClassvCPUsRAMCloudServer

macos.m1.medium.gen1

4 @ 3.2 GHz

6GB

macos.m1.large.gen1

8 @ 3.2 GHz

12GB

m2pro.medium

4 @ 3.49 GHz

8GB

m2pro.large

8 @ 3.49 GHz

16GB

Example

jobs:
  build:
    macos:
      xcode: "15.4.0"
    resource_class: m2pro.medium
    steps:
      ... // other config

macOS execution environment on server

If you are working on CircleCI server v3.1 and up, you can access the macOS execution environment using self-hosted runner.


Windows execution environment
ClassvCPUsRAMDisk SizeCloudServer

windows.medium (default)

4

15GB

200 GB

windows.large

8

30GB

200 GB

windows.xlarge

16

60GB

200 GB

windows.2xlarge

32

128GB

200 GB

Example:

version: 2.1

jobs:
  build: # name of your job
    resource_class: 'windows.medium'
    machine:
      image: 'windows-server-2022-gui:current'
      shell: 'powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass'
    steps:
      # Commands are run in a Windows virtual machine environment
      - checkout
      - run: Write-Host 'Hello, Windows'

GPU execution environment (Linux)
ClassvCPUsRAMGPUsGPU modelGPU Memory (GiB)Disk Size (GiB)CloudServer

gpu.nvidia.small

4

16

1

NVIDIA Tesla P4

16

150

gpu.nvidia.small.gen2

4

16

1

NVIDIA A10G

24

150

gpu.nvidia.small.multi

4

15

2

NVIDIA Tesla T4

16

150

gpu.nvidia.medium.multi

8

30

4

NVIDIA Tesla T4

16

150

gpu.nvidia.medium

8

30

1

NVIDIA Tesla T4

16

150

gpu.nvidia.large

8

30

1

NVIDIA Tesla V100

16

150

Example:

version: 2.1

jobs:
  build:
    machine:
      image: linux-cuda-12:default
    resource_class: gpu.nvidia.medium
    steps:
      - run: nvidia-smi
      - run: docker run --gpus all nvidia/cuda:9.0-base nvidia-smi

See the Available Linux GPU images section for the full list of available images.


GPU execution-environment (Windows)
ClassvCPUsRAMGPUsGPU modelGPU Memory (GiB)Disk Size (GiB)CloudServer

windows.gpu.nvidia.medium

16

60

1

NVIDIA Tesla T4

16

200

Example:

version: 2.1
orbs:
  win: circleci/windows@5.0.0

jobs:
  build:
    executor: win/server-2019-cuda
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: '&"C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI\nvidia-smi.exe"'

(2) This resource requires review by our support team. Open a support ticket if you would like to request access.


Arm VM execution-environment
ClassvCPUsRAMDisk SizeCloudServer

arm.medium (default)

2

8GB

100 GB

arm.large

4

16GB

100 GB

arm.xlarge

8

32GB

100 GB

arm.2xlarge

16

64GB

100 GB

Example:

jobs:
  my-job:
    machine:
      image: ubuntu-2004:2024.01.2
    resource_class: arm.medium
    steps:
      - run: uname -a
      - run: echo "Hello, Arm!"

steps

The steps setting in a job should be a list of single key/value pairs, the key of which indicates the step type. The value may be either a configuration map or a string (depending on what that type of step requires). For example, using a map:

jobs:
  build:
    working_directory: ~/canary-python
    environment:
      FOO: bar
    steps:
      - run:
          name: Running tests
          command: make test

Here run is a step type. The name attribute is used by the UI for display purposes. The command attribute is specific for run step and defines command to execute.

Some steps may implement a shorthand semantic. For example, run may be also be called like this:

jobs:
  build:
    steps:
      - run: make test

In its short form, the run step allows us to directly specify which command to execute as a string value. In this case step itself provides default suitable values for other attributes (name here will have the same value as command, for example).

Another shorthand, which is possible for some steps, is to use the step name as a string instead of a key/value pair:

jobs:
  build:
    steps:
      - checkout

In this case, the checkout step will check out project source code into the job’s working_directory.

In general all steps can be described as:

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

<step_type>

Y

Map or String

A configuration map for the step or some string whose semantics are defined by the step.

Each built-in step is described in detail below.


run

Used for invoking all command-line programs, taking either a map of configuration values, or, when called in its short-form, a string that will be used as both the command and name. Run commands are executed using non-login shells by default, so you must explicitly source any dotfiles as part of the command.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

command

Y

String

Command to run via the shell

name

N

String

Title of the step to be shown in the CircleCI UI (default: full command)

shell

N

String

Shell to use for execution command (default: See Default Shell Options)

environment

N

Map

Additional environmental variables, locally scoped to command

background

N

Boolean

Whether or not this step should run in the background (default: false)

working_directory

N

String

In which directory to run this step. Will be interpreted relative to the working_directory of the job). (default: .)

no_output_timeout

N

String

Elapsed time the command can run without output. The string is a decimal with unit suffix, such as "20m", "1.25h", "5s". The default is 10 minutes and the maximum is governed by the maximum time a job is allowed to run.

when

N

String

Specify when to enable or disable the step. Takes the following values: always, on_success, on_fail (default: on_success)

Each run declaration represents a new shell. It is possible to specify a multi-line command, each line of which will be run in the same shell:

- run:
    command: |
      echo Running test
      mkdir -p /tmp/test-results
      make test

You can also configure commands to run in the background if you do not want to wait for the step to complete before moving on to subsequent run steps.


Default shell options

For jobs that run on Linux, the default value of the shell option is /bin/bash -eo pipefail if /bin/bash is present in the build container. Otherwise it is /bin/sh -eo pipefail. The default shell is not a login shell (--login or -l are not specified). Hence, the shell will not source your ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, ~/.profile files.

For jobs that run on macOS, the default shell is /bin/bash --login -eo pipefail. The shell is a non-interactive login shell. The shell will execute /etc/profile/ followed by ~/.bash_profile before every step.

For more information about which files are executed when Bash is invocated, see the INVOCATION section of the bash manpage.

Descriptions of the -eo pipefail options are provided below.

-e

Exit immediately if a pipeline (which may consist of a single simple command), a subshell command enclosed in parentheses, or one of the commands executed as part of a command list enclosed by braces exits with a non-zero status.

So if in the previous example mkdir failed to create a directory and returned a non-zero status, then command execution would be terminated, and the whole step would be marked as failed. If you desire the opposite behaviour, you need to add set +e in your command or override the default shell in your configuration map of run. For example:

- run:
    command: |
      echo Running test
      set +e
      mkdir -p /tmp/test-results
      make test

- run:
    shell: /bin/sh
    command: |
      echo Running test
      mkdir -p /tmp/test-results
      make test

-o pipefail

If pipefail is enabled, the pipeline’s return status is the value of the last (rightmost) command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands exit successfully. The shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to terminate before returning a value.

For example:

- run: make test | tee test-output.log

If make test fails, the -o pipefail option will cause the whole step to fail. Without -o pipefail, the step will always run successfully because the result of the whole pipeline is determined by the last command (tee test-output.log), which will always return a zero status.

If you want to avoid this behaviour, you can specify set +o pipefail in the command or override the whole shell (see example above).

In general, we recommend using the default options (-eo pipefail) because they show errors in intermediate commands and simplify debugging job failures. For convenience, the UI displays the used shell and all active options for each run step.

For more information, see the Using Shell Scripts document.


Background commands

The background attribute enables you to configure commands to run in the background. Job execution will immediately proceed to the next step rather than waiting for return of a command with the background attribute set to true. The following example shows the configuration for running the X virtual framebuffer in the background which is commonly required to run Selenium tests:

- run:
    name: Running X virtual framebuffer
    command: Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1280x1024x24
    background: true

- run: make test

Shorthand syntax

run has a very convenient shorthand syntax:

- run: make test

# shorthanded command can also have multiple lines
- run: |
    mkdir -p /tmp/test-results
    make test

In this case, command and name become the string value of run, and the rest of the config map for that run have their default values.


The when attribute

By default, CircleCI will execute job steps one at a time, in the order that they are defined in config.yml, until a step fails (returns a non-zero exit code). After a command fails, no further job steps will be executed.

Adding the when attribute to a job step allows you to override this default behaviour, and selectively run or skip steps depending on the status of the job.

The default value of on_success means that the step will run only if all of the previous steps have been successful (returned exit code 0).

A value of always means that the step will run regardless of the exit status of previous steps. This is useful if you have a task that you want to run regardless of whether the previous steps are successful or not. For example, you might have a job step that needs to upload logs or code-coverage data somewhere.

A value of on_fail means that the step will run only if one of the preceding steps has failed (returns a non-zero exit code). It is common to use on_fail if you want to store some diagnostic data to help debug test failures, or to run custom notifications about the failure, such as sending emails or triggering alerts.

- run:
    name: Upload CodeCov.io Data
    command: bash <(curl -s https://codecov.io/bash) -F unittests
    when: always # Uploads code coverage results, pass or fail

Ending a job from within a step

A job can exit without failing by using run: circleci-agent step halt. However, if a step within the job is already failing then the job will continue to fail. This can be useful in situations where jobs need to conditionally execute.

Here is an example where halt is used to avoid running a job on the develop branch:

- run: |
    if [ "$CIRCLE_BRANCH" = "develop" ]; then
        circleci-agent step halt
    fi

The when step

A conditional step consists of a step with the key when or unless. Under the when key are the subkeys condition and steps. The purpose of the when step is customizing commands and job configuration to run on custom conditions (determined at config-compile time) that are checked before a workflow runs. See the Conditional Steps section of the reusable configuration reference for more details.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

condition

Y

Logic

A logic statement

steps

Y

Sequence

A list of steps to execute when the condition is true

Example:

version: 2.1

jobs: # conditional steps may also be defined in `commands:`
  job_with_optional_custom_checkout:
    parameters:
      custom_checkout:
        type: string
        default: ""
    machine:
      image: ubuntu-2004:2024.11.1
    steps:
      - when:
          condition: <<parameters.custom_checkout>>
          steps:
            - run: echo "my custom checkout"
      - unless:
          condition: <<parameters.custom_checkout>>
          steps:
            - checkout
workflows:
  build-test-deploy:
    jobs:
      - job_with_optional_custom_checkout:
          custom_checkout: "any non-empty string is truthy"
      - job_with_optional_custom_checkout

checkout

A special step used to check out source code to the configured path (defaults to the working_directory). The reason this is a special step is because it is more of a helper function designed to simplify the process of checking out code. If you require doing git over HTTPS you should not use this step as it configures git to checkout over SSH.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

path

N

String

Checkout directory. Will be interpreted relative to the working_directory of the job). (default: .)

If path already exists and is:

  • A git repository - step will not clone whole repository, instead will fetch origin

  • NOT a git repository - step will fail.

In the case of checkout, the step type is just a string with no additional attributes:

- checkout

The checkout command automatically adds the required authenticity keys for interacting with GitHub and Bitbucket over SSH, which is detailed further in our integration guide — this guide will also be helpful if you wish to implement a custom checkout command.

CircleCI does not check out submodules. If your project requires submodules, add run steps with appropriate commands as shown in the following example:

- checkout
- run: git submodule sync
- run: git submodule update --init

setup_remote_docker

Allows Docker commands to be run locally. See Running Docker commands for details.

jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/base:2024.06
    steps:
      # ... steps for building/testing app ...
      - setup_remote_docker:
          version: default
KeyRequiredTypeDescription

docker_layer_caching

N

boolean

Set this to true to enable Docker Layer Caching in the Remote Docker Environment (default: false)

version

N

String

Version string of Docker you would like to use (default: 24.0.9). View the list of supported Docker versions here.


save_cache

Generates and stores a cache of a file or directory of files such as dependencies or source code in our object storage. Later jobs can restore this cache. Learn more on the Caching Dependencies page.

Cache retention can be customized on the CircleCI web app by navigating to Plan  Usage Controls.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

paths

Y

List

List of directories which should be added to the cache

key

Y

String

Unique identifier for this cache

name

N

String

Title of the step to be shown in the CircleCI UI (default: "Saving Cache")

when

N

String

Specify when to enable or disable the step. Takes the following values: always, on_success, on_fail (default: on_success)

The cache for a specific key is immutable and cannot be changed once written.

When storing a new cache, the key value may contain special, templated, values for your convenience:

TemplateDescription

{{ .Branch }}

The VCS branch currently being built.

{{ .BuildNum }}

The CircleCI build number for this build.

{{ .Revision }}

The VCS revision currently being built.

{{ .CheckoutKey }}

The SSH key used to checkout the repository.

{{ .Environment.variableName }}

The environment variable variableName (supports any environment variable exported by CircleCI or added to a specific context--not any arbitrary environment variable).

{{ checksum "filename" }}

A base64 encoded SHA256 hash of the given filename’s contents. This should be a file committed in your repository and may also be referenced as a path that is absolute or relative from the current working directory. Good candidates are dependency manifests, such as package-lock.json, pom.xml or project.clj. It is important that this file does not change between restore_cache and save_cache, otherwise the cache will be saved under a cache key different than the one used at restore_cache time.

{{ epoch }}

The current time in seconds since the UNIX epoch.

{{ arch }}

The OS and CPU information. Useful when caching compiled binaries that depend on OS and CPU architecture, for example, darwin amd64 versus linux i386/32-bit.

During step execution, the templates above will be replaced by runtime values and use the resultant string as the key.

Template examples:

  • myapp-{{ checksum "package-lock.json" }} - cache will be regenerated every time something is changed in package-lock.json file, different branches of this project will generate the same cache key.

  • myapp-{{ .Branch }}-{{ checksum "package-lock.json" }} - same as the previous one, but each branch will generate separate cache

  • myapp-{{ epoch }} - every run of a job will generate a separate cache

While choosing suitable templates for your cache key, keep in mind that cache saving is not a free operation, because it will take some time to upload the cache to our storage. Best practice is to have a key that generates a new cache only if something actually changed and avoid generating a new one every time a job is run.

Example:

- save_cache:
    key: v1-myapp-{{ arch }}-{{ checksum "project.clj" }}
    paths:
      - /home/ubuntu/.m2
- save_cache:
    key: v1-{{ checksum "yarn.lock" }}
    paths:
      - node_modules/workspace-a
      - node_modules/workspace-c

restore_cache

Restores a previously saved cache based on a key. Cache needs to have been saved first for this key using the save_cache step. Learn more in the caching documentation.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

key

Y (1)

String

Single cache key to restore

keys

Y (1)

List

List of cache keys to lookup for a cache to restore. Only first existing key will be restored.

name

N

String

Title of the step to be shown in the CircleCI UI (default: "Restoring Cache")

(1) at least one attribute has to be present. If key and keys are both given, key will be checked first, and then keys.

A key is searched against existing keys as a prefix.

For example:

steps:
  - save_cache:
      key: v1-myapp-cache
      paths:
        - ~/d1

  - save_cache:
      key: v1-myapp-cache-new
      paths:
        - ~/d2

  - run: rm -f ~/d1 ~/d2

  - restore_cache:
      key: v1-myapp-cache

In this case cache v1-myapp-cache-new will be restored because it’s the most recent match with v1-myapp-cache prefix even if the first key (v1-myapp-cache) has exact match.

For more information on key formatting, see the key section of save_cache step.

When CircleCI encounters a list of keys, the cache will be restored from the first one matching an existing cache. Most probably you would want to have a more specific key to be first (for example, cache for exact version of package-lock.json file) and more generic keys after (for example, any cache for this project). If no key has a cache that exists, the step will be skipped with a warning.

A path is not required here because the cache will be restored to the location from which it was originally saved.

Example:

- restore_cache:
    keys:
      - v1-myapp-{{ arch }}-{{ checksum "project.clj" }}
      # if cache for exact version of `project.clj` is not present then load any most recent one
      - v1-myapp-

# ... Steps building and testing your application ...

# cache will be saved only once for each version of `project.clj`
- save_cache:
    key: v1-myapp-{{ arch }}-{{ checksum "project.clj" }}
    paths:
      - /foo

deploy - DEPRECATED

See run for current processes. If you have parallelism > 1 in your job, see the Migrate from deploy to run guide.


store_artifacts

Step to store artifacts (for example logs, binaries, etc) to be available in the web app or through the API. See the Uploading Artifacts page for more information.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

path

Y

String

Directory in the primary container to save as job artifacts

destination

N

String

Prefix added to the artifact paths in the artifacts API (default: the directory of the file specified in path)

There can be multiple store_artifacts steps in a job. Using a unique prefix for each step prevents them from overwriting files.

Artifact storage retention can be customized on the CircleCI web app by navigating to Plan  Usage Controls.

Example:

- run:
    name: Build the Jekyll site
    command: bundle exec jekyll build --source jekyll --destination jekyll/_site/docs/
- store_artifacts:
    path: jekyll/_site/docs/
    destination: circleci-docs

store_test_results

Special step used to upload and store test results for a build. Test results are visible on the CircleCI web application under each build’s Test Summary section. Storing test results is useful for timing analysis of your test suites. For more information on storing test results, see the Collecting Test Data page.

It is also possible to store test results as build artifacts. For steps, refer to the store_artifacts step section.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

path

Y

String

Path (absolute, or relative to your working_directory) to directory containing JUnit XML test metadata files, or to a single test file.

Example:

Directory structure:

test-results
├── jest
│   └── results.xml
├── mocha
│   └── results.xml
└── rspec
    └── results.xml

config.yml syntax:

- store_test_results:
    path: test-results

persist_to_workspace

Special step used to persist a temporary file to be used by another job in the workflow. For more information on using workspaces, see the Using Workspaces to Share Data Between Jobs page.

persist_to_workspace adopts the storage settings from the storage customization controls on the CircleCI web app. If no custom setting is provided, persist_to_workspace defaults to 15 days.

Workspace storage retention can be customized on the CircleCI web app by navigating to Plan  Usage Controls.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

root

Y

String

Either an absolute path or a path relative to working_directory

paths

Y

List

Glob identifying file(s), or a non-glob path to a directory to add to the shared workspace. Interpreted as relative to the workspace root. Must not be the workspace root itself.

The root key is a directory on the container which is taken to be the root directory of the workspace. The path values are all relative to the root.

Example for root Key

For example, the following step syntax persists the specified paths from /tmp/dir into the workspace, relative to the directory /tmp/dir.

- persist_to_workspace:
    root: /tmp/dir
    paths:
      - foo/bar
      - baz

After this step completes, the following directories are added to the workspace:

/tmp/dir/foo/bar
/tmp/dir/baz

Example for paths Key

- persist_to_workspace:
    root: /tmp/workspace
    paths:
      - target/application.jar
      - build/*

The paths list uses Glob from Go, and the pattern matches filepath.Match.

pattern:
        { term }
term:
        '*' matches any sequence of non-Separator characters
        '?' matches any single non-Separator character
        '[' [ '^' ] { character-range }
        ']' character class (must be non-empty)
        c matches character c (c != '*', '?', '\\', '[')
        '\\' c matches character c
character-range:
        c matches character c (c != '\\', '-', ']')
        '\\' c matches character c
        lo '-' hi matches character c for lo <= c <= hi

The Go documentation states that the pattern may describe hierarchical names such as /usr/*/bin/ed (assuming the Separator is '/').


attach_workspace

Special step used to attach the workflow’s workspace to the current container. The full contents of the workspace are downloaded and copied into the directory the workspace is being attached at. For more information on using workspaces, see the Using workspaces page.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

at

Y

String

Directory to attach the workspace to.

Workspace storage retention can be customized on the CircleCI web app by navigating to Plan  Usage Controls.

Example:

- attach_workspace:
    at: /tmp/workspace

add_ssh_keys

Special step that adds SSH keys from a project’s settings to a container. Also configures SSH to use these keys. For more information on SSH keys see the Create additional GitHub SSH keys page.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

fingerprints

N

List

List of fingerprints corresponding to the keys to be added (default: all keys added)

steps:
  - add_ssh_keys:
      fingerprints:
        - "b7:35:a6:4e:9b:0d:6d:d4:78:1e:9a:97:2a:66:6b:be"
        - "SHA256:NPj4IcXxqQEKGXOghi/QbG2sohoNfvZ30JwCcdSSNM0"

Using pipeline values

Pipeline values are available to all pipeline configurations and can be used without previous declaration. For a list of pipeline values, see the Pipeline values and parameters page.

Example:

version: 2.1
jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:20.18.1
    environment:
      IMAGETAG: latest
    working_directory: ~/main
    steps:
      - run: echo "This is pipeline ID << pipeline.id >>"

circleci_ip_ranges

Enables jobs to go through a set of well-defined IP address ranges. See IP ranges for details.

Example:

version: 2.1

jobs:
  build:
    circleci_ip_ranges: true # opts the job into the IP ranges feature
    docker:
      - image: curlimages/curl
    steps:
      - run: echo “Hello World”
workflows:
  build-workflow:
    jobs:
      - build

workflows

Used for orchestrating all jobs. Each workflow consists of the workflow name as a key and a map as a value. A name should be unique within the current config.yml. The top-level keys for the Workflows configuration are version and jobs. For more information, see the Using Workflows to Orchestrate Jobs page.


version

The Workflows version field is used to issue warnings for deprecation or breaking changes.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

version

Y if config version is 2

String

Should currently be 2


<workflow_name>

A unique name for your workflow.


triggers

Specifies which triggers will cause this workflow to be executed. Default behavior is to trigger the workflow when pushing to a branch.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

triggers

N

Array

Should currently be schedule.

workflows:
   nightly:
     triggers:
       - schedule:
           cron: "0 0 * * *"
           filters:
             branches:
               only:
                 - main
                 - beta
     jobs:
       - test

schedule

A workflow may have a schedule indicating it runs at a certain time, for example a nightly build that runs every day at 12am UTC:

workflows:
   nightly:
     triggers:
       - schedule:
           cron: "0 0 * * *"
           filters:
             branches:
               only:
                 - main
                 - beta
     jobs:
       - test

cron

The cron key is defined using POSIX crontab syntax.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

cron

Y

String

See the crontab man page.

workflows:
   nightly:
     triggers:
       - schedule:
           cron: "0 0 * * *"
           filters:
             branches:
               only:
                 - main
                 - beta
     jobs:
       - test

filters

Trigger filters can have the key branches.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

filters

Y

Map

A map defining rules for execution on specific branches

workflows:
   nightly:
     triggers:
       - schedule:
           cron: "0 0 * * *"
           filters:
             branches:
               only:
                 - main
                 - beta
     jobs:
       - test

branches

The branches key controls whether the current branch should have a schedule trigger created for it, where current branch is the branch containing the config.yml file with the trigger stanza. That is, a push on the main branch will only schedule a workflow for the main branch.

Branches can have the keys only and ignore which each map to a single string naming a branch. You may also use regular expressions to match against branches by enclosing them with `/’s, or map to a list of such strings. Regular expressions must match the entire string.

  • Any branches that match only will run the job.

  • Any branches that match ignore will not run the job.

  • If neither only nor ignore are specified then all branches will run the job. If both only and ignore are specified, the only is used and ignore will have no effect.

workflows:
  commit:
    jobs:
      - test
      - deploy
  nightly:
    triggers:
      - schedule:
          cron: "0 0 * * *"
          filters:
            branches:
              only:
                - main
                - /^release\/.*/
    jobs:
      - coverage
KeyRequiredTypeDescription

branches

Y

Map

A map defining rules for execution on specific branches

only 1

N

String, or List of Strings

Either a single branch specifier, or a list of branch specifiers

ignore 1

N

String, or List of Strings

Either a single branch specifier, or a list of branch specifiers

1: One of either only or ignore branch filters must be specified. If both are present, only is used.


Using when in workflows

You may use a when clause (the inverse clause unless is also supported) under a workflow declaration with a logic statement to determine whether or not to run that workflow.

The example configuration below uses a pipeline parameter, run_integration_tests to drive the integration_tests workflow.

version: 2.1

parameters:
  run_integration_tests:
    type: boolean
    default: false

workflows:
  integration_tests:
    when: << pipeline.parameters.run_integration_tests >>
    jobs:
      - mytestjob

jobs:
...

This example prevents the workflow integration_tests from running unless the tests are invoked explicitly when the pipeline is triggered with the following in the POST body:

{
    "parameters": {
        "run_integration_tests": true
    }
}

Refer to the Workflows for more examples and conceptual information.


jobs

A job can have the keys requires, name, context, type, and filters.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

jobs

Y

List

A list of jobs to run with their dependencies


<job_name>

A job name that exists in your config.yml.


requires

Jobs are run concurrently by default, so you must explicitly require any dependencies by their job name if you need some jobs to run sequentially.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

requires

N

List

A list of jobs that must succeed or attain a specified status for the job to start. Note: When jobs in the current workflow that are listed as dependencies are not executed (due to a filter function for example), their requirement as a dependency for other jobs will be ignored by the requires option. However, if all dependencies of a job are filtered, then that job will not be executed either.

Possible types of requires items:

  • Job name (a required job that must succeed for the job to start)

  • Map of job name to status (a required job that must attain the specified status for the job to start)

  • Map of job name to a list of statuses (a required job that must attain one of the specified status for the job to start)

The possible status values are: success, failed and canceled.

workflows:
  my-workflow:
    jobs:
      - build
      - test:
          requires:
            - build
      - deploy:
          requires:
            - build
            - test
      - notify-build-canceled:
          requires:
            - build: canceled
      - cleanup:
          requires:
            - deploy:
              - failed
              - canceled

name

The name key can be used to invoke reusable jobs across any number of workflows. Using the name key ensures numbers are not appended to your job name (for example, sayhello-1 , sayhello-2, etc.). The name you assign to the name key needs to be unique, otherwise the numbers will still be appended to the job name.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

name

N

String

A replacement for the job name. Useful when calling a job multiple times. If you want to invoke the same job multiple times, and a job requires one of the duplicate jobs, this key is required. (2.1 only)


context

Jobs may be configured to use global environment variables set for an organization, see the Contexts document for adding a context in the application settings.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

context

N

String/List

The name of the context(s). The initial default name is org-global. Each context name must be unique. If using CircleCI server, only a single context per workflow is supported. Note: A maximum of 100 unique contexts across all workflows is allowed.


type

A job may have a type of approval indicating it must be manually approved before downstream jobs may proceed. For more information see the Using workflows to orchestrate jobs page.

Jobs run in the dependency order until the workflow processes a job with the type: approval key followed by a job on which it depends, for example:

workflows:
  my-workflow:
    jobs:
      - build
      - test:
          requires:
            - build
      - hold:
          type: approval
          requires:
            - test
      - deploy:
          requires:
            - hold

An approval job can have any name. In the example above the approval job is named hold. The name you choose for an approval job should not be used to define a job in the main configuration. An approval job only exists as a workflow orchestration devise.


filters

Filter job execution within a workflow based on the following:

  • Branch

  • Tag

  • Expression-based condition

Job filters can have the keys branches or tags.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

filters

N

Map

A map or string to define rules for job execution. Branch and tag filters require a map. Expression-based filters require a string.

The following is an example of how the CircleCI documentation project uses a regular expression to filter running a job in a workflow only on a specific branch:

# ...
workflows:
  build-deploy:
    jobs:
      - js_build
      - build_server_pdfs: # << the job to conditionally run based on the filter-by-branch-name.
          filters:
            branches:
              only: /server\/.*/ # the job build_server_pdfs will only run when the branch being built starts with server/

You can read more about using regular expressions in your config in the Using workflows to schedule jobs page.


Expression-based job filters

Expression-based job filters allow you to conditionally run jobs based on the following:

An expression-based job filter is a rule that is evaluated against pipeline values and parameters to decide whether a job should run.

Using expression-based job filters is one way to optimize your pipelines to lower costs, decrease time to feedback, or run specific jobs based on the context of the source of change.

workflows:
  deploy:
    jobs:
      - init-service
      - test-service
      - build-service-image:
          requires:
            - init-service
      - dry-run-service:
          requires:
            - init-service
          filters: pipeline.git.branch != "main" and pipeline.git.branch != "canary"
      - publish-service:
          requires:
            - build-service-image
            - test-service
          filters: pipeline.git.branch == "main" or pipeline.git.tag starts-with "release"
      - deploy-service:
          context:
            - org-global
          requires:
            - publish-service
          filters: pipeline.git.branch == "main" and pipeline.parameters.my-custom-param starts-with "DEPLOY:"

Examples

Only run the job on the project’s main branch:

filters: pipeline.git.branch == "main"

Only run the job on the project’s main branch, or branches starting with integration-test:

filters: pipeline.git.branch == "main" or pipeline.git.branch starts-with "integration-test"

Only run the job on the main branch, and disallow use with pipelines triggered with unversioned configuration:

filters: pipeline.git.branch == "main" and not (pipeline.trigger_source starts-with "api")

Use pipeline parameters and the pipeline value pipeline.git.branch to run a job only on specific branches or when triggered via the API with a pipeline parameter set to true:

version: 2.1

parameters:
  run-storybook-tests:
    type: boolean
    default: false

...
# jobs configuration ommitted for brevity

workflows:
  build:
    jobs:
      - setup
      - storybook-tests:
          requires:
            - setup
          filters: |
            pipeline.parameters.run-storybook-tests
            or pipeline.git.branch == "dry-run-deploy"
            or pipeline.git.branch starts-with "deploy"

You can use the API to trigger a pipeline with a pipeline parameter set to true:

curl -X POST https://circleci.com/api/v2/project/circleci/<org-id>/<project-id>/pipeline/run \
  --header "Circle-Token: $CIRCLE_TOKEN" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --data {
  "definition_id": "<pipeline-definition-id>",
  "config": {"branch": "<your-branch-name>"},
  "checkout": {"branch": "<your-branch-name>"},
  "parameters": {"run-storybook-tests": "true"}
  }

Operators

The operators you can use for expression-based job filters are described in the following table. You can also group sub-expressions with parentheses (, ). as in the examples above.

Operator typeOperatorsDescription

Logical

and, or

These are short-circuiting boolean operators.

Equality

==, !=

String, numeric, and boolean equality. If the operands are of different types then == will evaluate false, and != will evaluate true.

Equality

starts-with

String prefix equality, "hello world" starts-with "hello" evaluates as true. It is an error to use a non-string type as an operand.

Numeric comparison

>=, >, , <

Numeric comparisons. It is an error to use a non-numeric type as an operand.

Negation

not

Boolean negation.

Note that not has very high precedence and so binds very tightly. Use sub-expressions to apply not to more complex expressions. For example, with foo being true and bar being false:

  • not foo and bar evaluates to false

  • not (foo and bar) evaluates to true


branches

The branches filter can have the keys only and ignore, which map to a single string naming a branch. You may also use regular expressions to match against branches by enclosing them with slashes, or map to a list of such strings. Regular expressions must match the entire string.

  • Any branches that match only will run the job.

  • Any branches that match ignore will not run the job.

  • If neither only nor ignore are specified then all branches will run the job.

  • If both only and ignore are specified the only is considered before ignore.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

branches

N

Map

A map defining rules for execution on specific branches.

only

N

String, or list of strings

Either a single branch specifier, or a list of branch specifiers.

ignore

N

String, or list of strings

Either a single branch specifier, or a list of branch specifiers.

workflows:
  dev_stage_pre-prod:
    jobs:
      - test_dev:
          filters:  # using regex filters requires the entire branch to match
            branches:
              only:  # only branches matching the below regex filters will run
                - dev
                - /user-.*/
      - test_stage:
          filters:
            branches:
              only: stage
      - test_pre-prod:
          filters:
            branches:
              only: /pre-prod(?:-.+)?$/

tags

CircleCI does not run workflows for tags unless you explicitly specify tag filters. Additionally, if a job requires any other jobs (directly or indirectly), you must specify tag filters for those jobs.

Tags can have the keys only and ignore. You may also use regular expressions to match against tags by enclosing them with slashes, or map to a list of such strings. Regular expressions must match the entire string. Both lightweight and annotated tags are supported.

  • Any tags that match only will run the job.

  • Any tags that match ignore will not run the job.

  • If neither only nor ignore are specified then the job is skipped for all tags.

  • If both only and ignore are specified the only is considered before ignore.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

tags

N

Map

A map defining rules for execution on specific tags

only

N

String, or List of Strings

Either a single tag specifier, or a list of tag specifiers

ignore

N

String, or List of Strings

Either a single tag specifier, or a list of tag specifiers

For more information, see the Executing workflows for a git tag section of the Workflows page.

workflows:
  untagged-build:
    jobs:
      - build
  tagged-build:
    jobs:
      - build:
          filters:
            tags:
              only: /^v.*/

matrix

The matrix stanza allows you to run a parameterized job multiple times with different arguments. For more information see the how-to guide on Using Matrix Jobs. In order to use the matrix stanza, you must use parameterized jobs.

KeyRequiredTypeDescription

parameters

Y

Map

A map of parameter names to every value the job should be called with

exclude

N

List

A list of argument maps that should be excluded from the matrix

alias

N

String

An alias for the matrix, usable from another job’s requires stanza. Defaults to the name of the job being executed

Example:

The following is a basic example of using matrix jobs.

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - build:
          matrix:
            parameters:
              version: ["0.1", "0.2", "0.3"]
              platform: ["macos", "windows", "linux"]

This expands to 9 different build jobs, and could be equivalently written as:

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - build:
          name: build-macos-0.1
          version: "0.1"
          platform: macos
      - build:
          name: build-macos-0.2
          version: "0.2"
          platform: macos
      - build:
          name: build-macos-0.3
          version: "0.3"
          platform: macos
      - build:
          name: build-windows-0.1
          version: "0.1"
          platform: windows
      - ...

Excluding sets of parameters from a matrix

Sometimes you may wish to run a job with every combination of arguments except some value or values. You can use an exclude stanza to achieve this:

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - build:
          matrix:
            parameters:
              a: [1, 2, 3]
              b: [4, 5, 6]
            exclude:
              - a: 3
                b: 5

The matrix above would expand into 8 jobs: every combination of the parameters a and b, excluding {a: 3, b: 5}


Dependencies and matrix jobs

To require an entire matrix (every job within the matrix), use its alias. The alias defaults to the name of the job being invoked.

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - deploy:
          matrix:
            parameters:
              version: ["0.1", "0.2"]
      - another-job:
          requires:
            - deploy

This means that another-job will require both deploy jobs in the matrix to finish before it runs.

Additionally, matrix jobs expose their parameter values via << matrix.* >> which can be used to generate more complex workflows. For example, here is a deploy matrix where each job waits for its respective build job in another matrix.

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - build:
          name: build-v<< matrix.version >>
          matrix:
            parameters:
              version: ["0.1", "0.2"]
      - deploy:
          name: deploy-v<< matrix.version >>
          matrix:
            parameters:
              version: ["0.1", "0.2"]
          requires:
            - build-v<< matrix.version >>

This workflow will expand to:

workflows:
  workflow:
    jobs:
      - build:
          name: build-v0.1
          version: "0.1"
      - build:
          name: build-v0.2
          version: "0.2"
      - deploy:
          name: deploy-v0.1
          version: "0.1"
          requires:
            - build-v0.1
      - deploy:
          name: deploy-v0.2
          version: "0.2"
          requires:
            - build-v0.2

pre-steps and post-steps

Every job invocation in a workflow may optionally accept two special arguments: pre-steps and post-steps.

Steps under pre-steps are executed before any of the other steps in the job. The steps under post-steps are executed after all of the other steps.

Pre and post steps allow you to execute steps in a given job without modifying the job. This is useful, for example, to run custom setup steps before job execution.

version: 2.1

jobs:
  bar:
    machine:
      image: ubuntu-2004:2024.05.1
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          command: echo "building"
      - run:
          command: echo "testing"

workflows:
  build:
    jobs:
      - bar:
          pre-steps: # steps to run before steps defined in the job bar
            - run:
                command: echo "install custom dependency"
          post-steps: # steps to run after steps defined in the job bar
            - run:
                command: echo "upload artifact to s3"

Logic statements

Certain dynamic configuration features accept logic statements as arguments. Logic statements are evaluated to boolean values at configuration compilation time, that is, before the workflow is run. The group of logic statements includes:

TypeArgumentstrue ifExample

YAML literal

None

is truthy

true/42/"a string"

YAML alias

None

resolves to a truthy value

*my-alias

Pipeline Value

None

resolves to a truthy value

<< pipeline.git.branch >>

Pipeline Parameter

None

resolves to a truthy value

<< pipeline.parameters.my-parameter >>

and

N logic statements

all arguments are truthy

and: [ true, true, false ]

or

N logic statements

any argument is truthy

or: [ false, true, false ]

not

1 logic statement

the argument is not truthy

not: true

equal

N values

all arguments evaluate to equal values

equal: [ 42, << pipeline.number >>]

matches

pattern and value

value matches the pattern

matches: { pattern: "^feature-.$", value: << pipeline.git.branch >> }+

The following logic values are considered falsy:

  • false

  • null

  • 0

  • NaN

  • empty strings ("")

  • statements with no arguments

All other values are truthy. Also note that using logic with an empty list will cause a validation error.

Logic statements always evaluate to a boolean value at the top level, and coerce as necessary. They can be nested in an arbitrary fashion, according to their argument specifications, and to a maximum depth of 100 levels.

matches uses Java regular expressions for its pattern. A full match pattern must be provided, prefix matching is not an option. Though, it is recommended to enclose a pattern in ^ and $ to avoid accidental partial matches.


Logic statement examples

workflows:
  my-workflow:
    when:
      or:
        - equal: [ main, << pipeline.git.branch >> ]
        - equal: [ staging, << pipeline.git.branch >> ]
workflows:
  my-workflow:
    when:
      and:
        - not:
            matches:
              pattern: "^main$"
              value: << pipeline.git.branch >>
        - or:
            - equal: [ canary, << pipeline.git.tag >> ]
            - << pipeline.parameters.deploy-canary >>
version: 2.1

executors:
  linux-22:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:22.4
  macos: &macos-executor
    macos:
      xcode: 15.0.1

jobs:
  test:
    parameters:
      os:
        type: executor
      node-version:
        type: string
    executor: << parameters.os >>
    steps:
      - checkout
      - when:
          condition:
            equal: [ *macos-executor, << parameters.os >> ]
          steps:
            - run: echo << parameters.node-version >>
      - run: echo 0

workflows:
  all-tests:
    jobs:
      - test:
          os: macos
          node-version: "22.4"

Example full configuration

version: 2.1
jobs:
  build:
    docker:
      - image: ubuntu:23.04

      - image: mongo:6.0.14
        command: [mongod, --smallfiles]

      - image: postgres:14.12
        # some containers require setting environment variables
        environment:
          POSTGRES_USER: user

      - image: redis@sha256:54057dd7e125ca41afe526a877e8bd35ec2cdd33b9217e022ed37bdcf7d09673

      - image: rabbitmq:3.12.12

    environment:
      TEST_REPORTS: /tmp/test-reports

    working_directory: ~/my-project

    steps:
      - checkout

      - run:
          command: echo 127.0.0.1 devhost | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

      # Create Postgres users and database
      # Note the YAML heredoc '|' for nicer formatting
      - run: |
          sudo -u root createuser -h localhost --superuser ubuntu &&
          sudo createdb -h localhost test_db

      - restore_cache:
          keys:
            - v1-my-project-{{ checksum "project.clj" }}
            - v1-my-project-

      - run:
          environment:
            SSH_TARGET: "localhost"
            TEST_ENV: "linux"
          command: |
            set -xu
            mkdir -p ${TEST_REPORTS}
            run-tests.sh
            cp out/tests/*.xml ${TEST_REPORTS}

      - run: |
          set -xu
          mkdir -p /tmp/artifacts
          create_jars.sh << pipeline.number >>
          cp *.jar /tmp/artifacts

      - save_cache:
          key: v1-my-project-{{ checksum "project.clj" }}
          paths:
            - ~/.m2

      # Save artifacts
      - store_artifacts:
          path: /tmp/artifacts
          destination: build

      # Upload test results
      - store_test_results:
          path: /tmp/test-reports

  deploy-stage:
    docker:
      - image: ubuntu:23.04
    working_directory: /tmp/my-project
    steps:
      - run:
          name: Deploy if tests pass and branch is Staging
          command: ansible-playbook site.yml -i staging

  deploy-prod:
    docker:
      - image: ubuntu:23.04
    working_directory: /tmp/my-project
    steps:
      - run:
          name: Deploy if tests pass and branch is Main
          command: ansible-playbook site.yml -i production

workflows:
  build-deploy:
    jobs:
      - build:
          filters:
            branches:
              ignore:
                - develop
                - /feature-.*/
      - deploy-stage:
          requires:
            - build
          filters:
            branches:
              only: staging
      - deploy-prod:
          requires:
            - build
          filters:
            branches:
              only: main