CI/CD pipeline with GitLab CI

Ryan Nakamura Feb 2026
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stages:
  - lint
  - test
  - build
  - deploy

variables:
  NODE_VERSION: "20"
  DOCKER_DRIVER: overlay2
  IMAGE_TAG: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA

default:
  image: node:${NODE_VERSION}-alpine
  cache:
    key:
      files:
        - package-lock.json
    paths:
      - node_modules/

# Templates
.deploy_template: &deploy
  image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
  before_script:
    - kubectl config use-context $KUBE_CONTEXT

# Lint
lint:
  stage: lint
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run lint
    - npm run format:check
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

# Test with coverage
test:
  stage: test
  services:
    - name: postgres:16-alpine
      alias: db
  variables:
    POSTGRES_DB: test
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
    DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:test@db:5432/test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm test -- --coverage
  coverage: '/All files[^|]*|[^|]* +([d.]+)/'
  artifacts:
    when: always
    reports:
      junit: junit.xml
      coverage_report:
        coverage_format: cobertura
        path: coverage/cobertura-coverage.xml
    paths:
      - coverage/
    expire_in: 7 days

# Build Docker image
build:
  stage: build
  image: docker:24
  services:
    - docker:24-dind
  before_script:
    - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
  script:
    - docker build -t $IMAGE_TAG .
    - docker push $IMAGE_TAG
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

# Deploy to staging
deploy_staging:
  <<: *deploy
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - kubectl set image deployment/web-app web-app=$IMAGE_TAG -n staging
    - kubectl rollout status deployment/web-app -n staging --timeout=300s
  environment:
    name: staging
    url: https://staging.example.com
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

# Deploy to production (manual gate)
deploy_production:
  <<: *deploy
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - kubectl set image deployment/web-app web-app=$IMAGE_TAG -n production
    - kubectl rollout status deployment/web-app -n production --timeout=300s
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://app.example.com
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
      when: manual
  needs:
    - deploy_staging
1 file · yaml Explain with highlit

GitLab CI/CD uses .gitlab-ci.yml for pipeline configuration. Pipelines consist of stages that run sequentially. Jobs within the same stage run in parallel. The image key sets the Docker image for each job. variables define global or job-level environment settings. cache persists files between pipeline runs. artifacts pass files between jobs. rules (replacing only/except) control when jobs run with flexible conditions. needs creates a directed acyclic graph (DAG) for non-linear pipelines. environments track deployments. include imports templates for reusable configurations. services attach sidecar containers like databases.