Gitlab CI

GitLab CI/CD Setup Skill

Automate Go project CI/CD with production-ready GitLab pipelines for testing, coverage reporting, snapshot builds, and releases.

Overview

This skill provides a complete GitLab CI/CD setup for Go projects:

• Unit Testing: Automated test execution on every push
• Coverage Reporting: Test coverage tracking with configurable thresholds
• Snapshot Builds: Test release builds with GoReleaser on every push
• Release Automation: Production releases with Docker images on tag push
• Docker Integration: Multi-architecture container builds with GitLab Container Registry

The complete pipeline configuration is provided in assets/.gitlab-ci.yml with inline documentation.

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, ensure:

1. GitLab repository: Project hosted on GitLab (gitlab.com or self-hosted)
2. Go module: Project uses Go modules (go.mod present)
3. GoReleaser config (for releases): .goreleaser.yml in repository root

Pipeline Architecture

Stages & Jobs

Pipeline Triggers

• Every push: unit-tests, build-snapshot (validates changes don't break releases)
• Tags only (v*): build-release (creates production releases)
• Docker-in-Docker: All jobs use docker:dind service for container builds

Instructions

Step 1: Analyze Project Structure

Verify project setup:

# Check for required files
ls go.mod                # Required: Go module
ls .goreleaser.yml      # Required for releases
ls -la .gitlab-ci.yml   # Check existing pipeline

Step 2: Copy Pipeline Configuration

Copy the template from this skill's assets:

# Copy pipeline configuration (well-documented with inline comments)
cp assets/.gitlab-ci.yml .gitlab-ci.yml

The asset file includes comprehensive inline documentation for all customization points.

Step 3: Configure Taskfile (Recommended)

Create or update Taskfile.yml with CI tasks:

version: '3'

tasks:
  test:
    desc: Run all tests
    cmds:
      - go generate ./...
      - go test -v ./...

  coverage:
    desc: Generate coverage report
    cmds:
      - go generate ./...
      - go test -coverpkg=./... -coverprofile=profile.cov ./...
      - go tool cover -func profile.cov

  snapshot:
    desc: Create snapshot build (test release)
    cmds:
      - goreleaser --snapshot --clean

  release:
    desc: Create production release
    cmds:
      - goreleaser --clean

Step 4: Customize Pipeline

Update .gitlab-ci.yml based on your project needs. The asset file has detailed inline comments marking all customization points with # CUSTOMIZE: markers.

Key customizations (all documented in asset file):

For coverage tracking, uncomment the coverage job in .gitlab-ci.yml and customize exclusions:

coverage:
  script:
    # Exclude packages from coverage report
    - sed -i '/cmd\//d' profile.cov              # Exclude cmd packages
    - sed -i '/internal\/mocks/d' profile.cov    # Exclude mocks

For external Docker registries, add variables in Settings → CI/CD → Variables:

• EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY: Registry URL (e.g., docker.io)
• EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY_USER: Username
• EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD: Password (mark as protected & masked)

Step 5: Configure GoReleaser

Ensure .goreleaser.yml uses GitLab variables for Docker images:

dockers:
  - image_templates:
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-amd64"
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-arm64"
    dockerfile: Dockerfile
    use: buildx
    build_flag_templates:
      - "--platform=linux/amd64"
      - "--label=org.opencontainers.image.created={{.Date}}"
      - "--label=org.opencontainers.image.revision={{.FullCommit}}"

docker_manifests:
  - name_template: "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}"
    image_templates:
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-amd64"
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-arm64"
  - name_template: "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:latest"
    image_templates:
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-amd64"
      - "{{ .Env.CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:{{ .Version }}-arm64"

Step 6: Configure GitLab Settings

Enable required GitLab features:

1. Container Registry: Settings → General → Visibility → Container Registry: Enabled

2. CI/CD Variables (if using external registry):

   • Settings → CI/CD → Variables → Add Variable
   • Add EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY, EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY_USER, EXTERNAL_CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD

3. Protected Tags (recommended):

   • Settings → Repository → Protected tags
   • Protect v*: Allowed to create: Maintainers

Step 7: Add Pipeline Badges (Optional)

Add badges to README.md:

[![Pipeline](https://gitlab.com/OWNER/REPO/badges/main/pipeline.svg)](https://gitlab.com/OWNER/REPO/-/pipelines)
[![Coverage](https://gitlab.com/OWNER/REPO/badges/main/coverage.svg)](https://gitlab.com/OWNER/REPO/-/graphs/main/charts)