CI/CD Pipelines

Comprehensive guide for CI/CD pipeline design, optimization, security, and troubleshooting across GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and other platforms.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Creating new CI/CD workflows or pipelines
• Debugging pipeline failures or flaky tests
• Optimizing slow builds or test suites
• Implementing caching strategies
• Setting up deployment workflows
• Securing pipelines (secrets, OIDC, supply chain)
• Implementing DevSecOps security scanning (SAST, DAST, SCA)
• Troubleshooting platform-specific issues
• Analyzing pipeline performance
• Implementing matrix builds or test sharding
• Configuring multi-environment deployments

Core Workflows

1. Creating a New Pipeline

Decision tree:

What are you building?
├── Node.js/Frontend → GitHub: templates/github-actions/node-ci.yml | GitLab: templates/gitlab-ci/node-ci.yml
├── Python → GitHub: templates/github-actions/python-ci.yml | GitLab: templates/gitlab-ci/python-ci.yml
├── Go → GitHub: templates/github-actions/go-ci.yml | GitLab: templates/gitlab-ci/go-ci.yml
├── Docker Image → GitHub: templates/github-actions/docker-build.yml | GitLab: templates/gitlab-ci/docker-build.yml
├── Other → Follow the pipeline design pattern below

Basic pipeline structure:

# 1. Fast feedback (lint, format) - <1 min
# 2. Unit tests - 1-5 min
# 3. Integration tests - 5-15 min
# 4. Build artifacts
# 5. E2E tests (optional, main branch only) - 15-30 min
# 6. Deploy (with approval gates)

Key principles:

• Fail fast: Run cheap validation first
• Parallelize: Remove unnecessary job dependencies
• Cache dependencies: Use actions/cache or GitLab cache
• Use artifacts: Build once, deploy many times

See best_practices.md for comprehensive pipeline design patterns.

2. Optimizing Pipeline Performance

Quick wins checklist:

• Add dependency caching (50-90% faster builds)
• Remove unnecessary needs dependencies
• Add path filters to skip unnecessary runs
• Use npm ci instead of npm install
• Add job timeouts to prevent hung builds
• Enable concurrency cancellation for duplicate runs

Analyze existing pipeline:

# Use the pipeline analyzer script
python3 scripts/pipeline_analyzer.py --platform github --workflow .github/workflows/ci.yml

Common optimizations:

• Slow tests: Shard tests with matrix builds
• Repeated dependency installs: Add caching
• Sequential jobs: Parallelize with proper needs
• Full test suite on every PR: Use path filters or test impact analysis

See optimization.md for detailed caching strategies, parallelization techniques, and performance tuning.

3. Securing Your Pipeline

Essential security checklist:

• Use OIDC instead of static credentials
• Pin actions/includes to commit SHAs
• Use minimal permissions
• Enable secret scanning
• Add vulnerability scanning (dependencies, containers)
• Implement branch protection
• Separate test from deploy workflows

Quick setup - OIDC authentication:

GitHub Actions → AWS:

permissions:
  id-token: write
  contents: read

steps:
  - uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
    with:
      role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/GitHubActionsRole
      aws-region: us-east-1

Secrets management:

• Store in platform secret stores (GitHub Secrets, GitLab CI/CD Variables)
• Mark as "masked" in GitLab
• Use environment-specific secrets
• Rotate regularly (every 90 days)
• Never log secrets

See security.md for comprehensive security patterns, supply chain security, and secrets management.

4. Troubleshooting Pipeline Failures

Systematic approach:

Step 1: Check pipeline health

python3 scripts/ci_health.py --platform github --repo owner/repo

Step 2: Identify the failure type

Error Pattern	Common Cause	Quick Fix
"Module not found"	Missing dependency or cache issue	Clear cache, run npm ci
"Timeout"	Job taking too long	Add caching, increase timeout
"Permission denied"	Missing permissions	Add to permissions: block
"Cannot connect to Docker daemon"	Docker not available	Use correct runner or DinD
Intermittent failures	Flaky tests or race conditions	Add retries, fix timing issues

Step 3: Enable debug logging

GitHub Actions:

# Add repository secrets:
# ACTIONS_RUNNER_DEBUG = true
# ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG = true

GitLab CI:

variables:
  CI_DEBUG_TRACE: "true"

Step 4: Reproduce locally

# GitHub Actions - use act
act -j build

# Or Docker
docker run -it ubuntu:latest bash
# Then manually run the failing steps

See troubleshooting.md for comprehensive issue diagnosis, platform-specific problems, and solutions.

5. Implementing Deployment Workflows

Deployment pattern selection:

Pattern	Use Case	Complexity	Risk
Direct	Simple apps, low traffic	Low	Medium
Blue-Green	Zero downtime required	Medium	Low
Canary	Gradual rollout, monitoring	High	Very Low
Rolling	Kubernetes, containers	Medium	Low

Basic deployment structure:

deploy:
  needs: [build, test]
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://example.com
  steps:
    - name: Download artifacts
    - name: Deploy
    - name: Health check
    - name: Rollback on failure

Multi-environment setup:

• Development: Auto-deploy on develop branch
• Staging: Auto-deploy on main, requires passing tests
• Production: Manual approval required, smoke tests mandatory

See best_practices.md for detailed deployment patterns and environment management.

6. Implementing DevSecOps Security Scanning

Security scanning types:

Scan Type	Purpose	When to Run	Speed	Tools
Secret Scanning	Find exposed credentials	Every commit	Fast (<1 min)	TruffleHog, Gitleaks
SAST	Find code vulnerabilities	Every commit	Medium (5-15 min)	CodeQL, Semgrep, Bandit, Gosec
SCA	Find dependency vulnerabilities	Every commit	Fast (1-5 min)	npm audit, pip-audit, Snyk
Container Scanning	Find image vulnerabilities	After build	Medium (5-10 min)	Trivy, Grype
DAST	Find runtime vulnerabilities	Scheduled/main only	Slow (15-60 min)	OWASP ZAP

Quick setup - Add security to existing pipeline:

GitHub Actions:

jobs:
  # Add before build job
  secret-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: trufflesecurity/trufflehog@main
      - uses: gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2

  sast:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      security-events: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: github/codeql-action/init@v3
        with:
          languages: javascript  # or python, go
      - uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v3

  build:
    needs: [secret-scan, sast]  # Add dependencies

GitLab CI:

stages:
  - security  # Add before other stages
  - build
  - test

# Secret scanning
secret-scan:
  stage: security
  image: trufflesecurity/trufflehog:latest
  script:
    - trufflehog filesystem . --json --fail

# SAST
sast:semgrep:
  stage: security
  image: returntocorp/semgrep
  script:
    - semgrep scan --config=auto .

# Use GitLab templates
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
  - template: Security/Dependency-Scanning.gitlab-ci.yml

Comprehensive security pipeline templates:

• GitHub Actions: templates/github-actions/security-scan.yml - Complete DevSecOps pipeline with all scanning stages
• GitLab CI: templates/gitlab-ci/security-scan.yml - Complete DevSecOps pipeline with GitLab security templates

Security gate pattern:

Add a security gate job that evaluates all security scan results and fails the pipeline if critical issues are found:

security-gate:
  needs: [secret-scan, sast, sca, container-scan]
  script:
    # Check for critical vulnerabilities
    # Parse JSON reports and evaluate thresholds
    # Fail if critical issues found

Language-specific security tools:

• Node.js: CodeQL, Semgrep, npm audit, eslint-plugin-security
• Python: CodeQL, Semgrep, Bandit, pip-audit, Safety
• Go: CodeQL, Semgrep, Gosec, govulncheck

All language-specific templates now include security scanning stages. See:

• templates/github-actions/node-ci.yml
• templates/github-actions/python-ci.yml
• templates/github-actions/go-ci.yml
• templates/gitlab-ci/node-ci.yml
• templates/gitlab-ci/python-ci.yml
• templates/gitlab-ci/go-ci.yml

See devsecops.md for comprehensive DevSecOps guide covering all security scanning types, tool comparisons, and implementation patterns.

Quick Reference Commands

GitHub Actions

# List workflows
gh workflow list

# View recent runs
gh run list --limit 20

# View specific run
gh run view <run-id>

# Re-run failed jobs
gh run rerun <run-id> --failed

# Download logs
gh run view <run-id> --log > logs.txt

# Trigger workflow manually
gh workflow run ci.yml

# Check workflow status
gh run watch

GitLab CI

# View pipelines
gl project-pipelines list

# Pipeline status
gl project-pipeline get <pipeline-id>

# Retry failed jobs
gl project-pipeline retry <pipeline-id>

# Cancel pipeline
gl project-pipeline cancel <pipeline-id>

# Download artifacts
gl project-job artifacts <job-id>

Platform-Specific Patterns

GitHub Actions

Reusable workflows:

# .github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      node-version:
        required: true
        type: string

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}

Call from another workflow:

jobs:
  test:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
    with:
      node-version: '20'

GitLab CI

Templates with extends:

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

unit-test:
  extends: .test_template
  script:
    - npm run test:unit

integration-test:
  extends: .test_template
  script:
    - npm run test:integration

DAG pipelines with needs:

build:
  stage: build

test:unit:
  stage: test
  needs: [build]

test:integration:
  stage: test
  needs: [build]

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  needs: [test:unit, test:integration]

Diagnostic Scripts

Pipeline Analyzer

Analyzes workflow configuration for optimization opportunities:

# GitHub Actions
python3 scripts/pipeline_analyzer.py --platform github --workflow .github/workflows/ci.yml

# GitLab CI
python3 scripts/pipeline_analyzer.py --platform gitlab --config .gitlab-ci.yml

Identifies:

• Missing caching opportunities
• Unnecessary sequential execution
• Outdated action versions
• Unused artifacts
• Overly broad triggers

CI Health Checker

Checks pipeline status and identifies issues:

# GitHub Actions
python3 scripts/ci_health.py --platform github --repo owner/repo --limit 20

# GitLab CI
python3 scripts/ci_health.py --platform gitlab --project-id 12345 --token $GITLAB_TOKEN

Provides:

• Success/failure rates
• Recent failure patterns
• Workflow-specific insights
• Actionable recommendations

Reference Documentation

For deep-dive information on specific topics:

• best_practices.md - Pipeline design, testing strategies, deployment patterns, dependency management, artifact handling, platform-specific patterns
• security.md - Secrets management, OIDC authentication, supply chain security, access control, vulnerability scanning, secure pipeline patterns
• devsecops.md - Comprehensive DevSecOps guide: SAST (CodeQL, Semgrep, Bandit, Gosec), DAST (OWASP ZAP), SCA (npm audit, pip-audit, Snyk), container security (Trivy, Grype, SBOM), secret scanning (TruffleHog, Gitleaks), security gates, license compliance
• optimization.md - Caching strategies (dependencies, Docker layers, build artifacts), parallelization techniques, test splitting, build optimization, resource management
• troubleshooting.md - Common issues (workflow not triggering, flaky tests, timeouts, dependency errors), Docker problems, authentication issues, platform-specific debugging

Templates

Starter templates for common use cases:

GitHub Actions

• assets/templates/github-actions/node-ci.yml - Complete Node.js CI/CD with security scanning, caching, matrix testing, and multi-environment deployment
• assets/templates/github-actions/python-ci.yml - Python pipeline with security scanning, pytest, coverage, PyPI deployment
• assets/templates/github-actions/go-ci.yml - Go pipeline with security scanning, multi-platform builds, benchmarks, integration tests
• assets/templates/github-actions/docker-build.yml - Docker build with multi-platform support, security scanning, SBOM generation, and signing
• assets/templates/github-actions/security-scan.yml - Comprehensive DevSecOps pipeline with SAST, DAST, SCA, container scanning, and security gates

GitLab CI

• assets/templates/gitlab-ci/node-ci.yml - GitLab CI pipeline with security scanning, parallel execution, services, and deployment stages
• assets/templates/gitlab-ci/python-ci.yml - Python pipeline with security scanning, parallel testing, Docker builds, PyPI and Cloud Run deployment
• assets/templates/gitlab-ci/go-ci.yml - Go pipeline with security scanning, multi-platform builds, benchmarks, Kubernetes deployment
• assets/templates/gitlab-ci/docker-build.yml - Docker build with DinD, multi-arch, Container Registry, security scanning
• assets/templates/gitlab-ci/security-scan.yml - Comprehensive DevSecOps pipeline with SAST, DAST, SCA, container scanning, GitLab security templates, and security gates

Common Patterns

Caching Dependencies

GitHub Actions:

- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-node-
- run: npm ci

GitLab CI:

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

Matrix Builds

GitHub Actions:

strategy:
  matrix:
    os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
    node: [18, 20, 22]
  fail-fast: false

GitLab CI:

test:
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - NODE_VERSION: ['18', '20', '22']

Conditional Execution

GitHub Actions:

- name: Deploy
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && github.event_name == 'push'

GitLab CI:

deploy:
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'
      when: manual

Best Practices Summary

Performance:

• Enable dependency caching
• Parallelize independent jobs
• Add path filters to reduce unnecessary runs
• Use matrix builds for cross-platform testing

Security:

• Use OIDC for cloud authentication
• Pin actions to commit SHAs
• Enable secret scanning and vulnerability checks
• Apply principle of least privilege

Reliability:

• Add timeouts to prevent hung jobs
• Implement retry logic for flaky operations
• Use health checks after deployments
• Enable concurrency cancellation

Maintainability:

• Use reusable workflows/templates
• Document non-obvious decisions
• Keep workflows DRY with extends/includes
• Regular dependency updates

Getting Started

1. New pipeline: Start with a template from assets/templates/
2. Add security scanning: Use DevSecOps templates or add security stages to existing pipelines (see workflow 6 above)
3. Optimize existing: Run scripts/pipeline_analyzer.py
4. Debug issues: Check references/troubleshooting.md
5. Improve security: Review references/security.md and references/devsecops.md checklists
6. Speed up builds: See references/optimization.md