Pipelines are the top-level component of continuous integration, delivery, and deployment.

Pipelines consist of:

• Jobs, which define what to do. For example, jobs that compile or test code.
• Stages, which define when to run the jobs. For example, stages that run tests after stages that compile the code.
• Jobs are executed by runners. Multiple jobs in the same stage are executed in parallel, if there are enough concurrent runners.
• If all jobs in a stage succeed, the pipeline moves on to the next stage.
• If any job in a stage fails, the next stage is not (usually) executed and the pipeline ends early.

Note: In general, pipelines are executed automatically and require no intervention once created. However, there are also times when you can manually interact with a pipeline.

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Create and run a pipeline

Prerequisites

• A project in GitLab that you would like to use CI/CD for and Maintainer or Owner role.

• Ensure you have shared runners available
  

Create a .gitlab-ci.yml file

Now create a .gitlab-ci.yml file over root path of your code. It is a YAML file where you specify the instructions for GitLab CI/CD pipeli to execute.

In this file, you define:

• The structure and order of jobs that the runner should execute.
• The decisions the runner should make when specific conditions are encountered.
• After file is added to the project the runner will automatically run the pipeline.

View the status of your pipeline and jobs

• Go to your project CI/CD > Pipelines. A pipeline with three stages should be displayed:

• View a visual representation of your pipeline by selecting the pipeline ID:

• View details of a job by selecting the job name. For example, build-job

Congratulations! You have successfully created a CI/CD pipeline in GitLab.

Now you can get started customizing your .gitlab-ci.yml and defining more advanced jobs.

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Bonus – Add badge to reflect pipeline status on project

• On your project left sidebar, select Settings > General.
• Expand Badges.
• Under Name, enter PipeStatus.
• Under Link, enter the following URL: https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/-/commits/%{default_branch}
• Under Badge image URL, enter the following URL: https://gitlab.com/%{project_path}/badges/%{default_branch}/pipeline.svg
• Select Add badge.