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Gitlab CI Agent Skill

by BagelHole

Configure GitLab CI/CD pipelines and runners for automated building, testing, and deployment. Create .gitlab-ci.yml configurations, manage runners, and implement DevOps workflows. Use when working with GitLab repositories or self-hosted GitLab instances.

2k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
2
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
511
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gitlab-ci

What comes with it

1 685 bytes besides the instruction
references/pipeline-patterns.md

The instruction itself

29 sections, as written by the author

GitLab CI/CD

Automate your software delivery pipeline with GitLab's integrated CI/CD system.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • Setting up CI/CD pipelines in GitLab
  • Configuring GitLab runners (shared or self-hosted)
  • Creating multi-stage deployment pipelines
  • Implementing GitLab Auto DevOps
  • Managing CI/CD variables and secrets

Prerequisites

  • GitLab repository (gitlab.com or self-hosted)
  • Basic understanding of YAML
  • For self-hosted runners: Linux server or Kubernetes cluster

Pipeline Configuration

Create .gitlab-ci.yml in repository root:

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy

variables:
  NODE_VERSION: "20"

build:
  stage: build
  image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run build
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - dist/
    expire_in: 1 hour

test:
  stage: test
  image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm test
  coverage: '/Coverage: \d+\.\d+%/'

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - ./deploy.sh
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://example.com
  only:
    - main

Job Configuration

Rules-Based Execution

deploy:
  script: ./deploy.sh
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
      when: manual
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
      when: never
    - when: on_success

Parallel Jobs

test:
  stage: test
  parallel: 3
  script:
    - npm test -- --shard=$CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL

Matrix Builds

test:
  stage: test
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - NODE_VERSION: ["18", "20", "22"]
        OS: ["alpine", "slim"]
  image: node:${NODE_VERSION}-${OS}
  script:
    - npm test

Caching

cache:
  key:
    files:
      - package-lock.json
  paths:
    - node_modules/
  policy: pull-push

build:
  cache:
    key: build-cache
    paths:
      - .cache/
    policy: pull

Artifacts

build:
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - dist/
      - coverage/
    reports:
      junit: junit.xml
      coverage_report:
        coverage_format: cobertura
        path: coverage/cobertura.xml
    expire_in: 1 week
    when: always

Environments and Deployments

deploy_staging:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - deploy --env staging
  environment:
    name: staging
    url: https://staging.example.com
    on_stop: stop_staging

stop_staging:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - undeploy --env staging
  environment:
    name: staging
    action: stop
  when: manual

Docker Builds

build_image:
  stage: build
  image: docker:24
  services:
    - docker:24-dind
  variables:
    DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: "/certs"
  script:
    - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA .
    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA

GitLab Runners

Install Runner

# Download and install
curl -L https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/runner/gitlab-runner/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt install gitlab-runner

# Register runner
sudo gitlab-runner register \
  --url https://gitlab.com/ \
  --registration-token TOKEN \
  --executor docker \
  --docker-image alpine:latest

Runner Configuration

# /etc/gitlab-runner/config.toml
[[runners]]
  name = "docker-runner"
  url = "https://gitlab.com/"
  token = "TOKEN"
  executor = "docker"
  [runners.docker]
    image = "alpine:latest"
    privileged = true
    volumes = ["/cache", "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock"]

Runner Tags

build:
  tags:
    - docker
    - linux
  script:
    - make build

CI/CD Variables

Protected Variables

Define in Settings > CI/CD > Variables:

  • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID (protected, masked)
  • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY (protected, masked)

Using Variables

deploy:
  script:
    - aws s3 sync dist/ s3://$S3_BUCKET
  variables:
    AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: us-east-1

Include and Extend

Include Templates

include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
  - project: 'group/shared-ci'
    file: '/templates/deploy.yml'
  - local: '/ci/jobs.yml'

Extend Jobs

.base_job:
  image: node:20
  before_script:
    - npm ci

build:
  extends: .base_job
  script:
    - npm run build

test:
  extends: .base_job
  script:
    - npm test

Multi-Project Pipelines

trigger_downstream:
  stage: deploy
  trigger:
    project: group/downstream-project
    branch: main
    strategy: depend

Common Issues

Issue: Pipeline Stuck

Problem: Jobs stay pending

Solution: Check runner availability and tags matching

Issue: Docker-in-Docker Fails

Problem: Cannot connect to Docker daemon

Solution: Use docker:dind service with proper TLS configuration

Issue: Cache Not Working

Problem: Cache misses between jobs

Solution: Verify cache key and ensure runners share distributed cache

Best Practices

  • Use rules instead of only/except for complex conditions
  • Leverage GitLab's built-in security scanning templates
  • Use job dependencies to optimize pipeline speed
  • Implement review apps for merge requests
  • Cache dependencies aggressively
  • Use artifacts for passing data between stages

Related Skills

  • github-actions - GitHub CI/CD alternative
  • argocd-gitops - GitOps deployments
  • container-registries - Registry management

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How to use it

Copy the folder

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