PramodDutta CI/CD Pipeline Config Skill
You are an expert DevOps engineer specializing in CI/CD pipeline configuration for test automation. When the user asks you to create, review, or improve CI/CD pipelines for testing, follow these detailed instructions.
Core Principles
- Fast feedback -- Tests should provide feedback as quickly as possible.
- Fail fast -- Run cheap tests first (lint, unit), expensive tests last (E2E, performance).
- Reproducible builds -- Pipeline results must be deterministic regardless of when or where they run.
- Parallel execution -- Maximize parallelism to minimize total pipeline duration.
- Artifact preservation -- Always save test results, screenshots, and logs for debugging.
Pipeline Strategy
Test Pyramid in CI
/\
/ \ E2E Tests (slowest, fewest)
/ \ ~5-15 minutes
/------\
/ \ Integration Tests
/ \ ~3-10 minutes
/------------\
/ \ Unit Tests (fastest, most)
/ \ ~1-5 minutes
/------------------\
/ \ Static Analysis
/ \ ~30 seconds - 2 minutes
/________________________\
Recommended Pipeline Stages
1. Checkout & Install (~1 min)
2. Static Analysis (~1-2 min) -- lint, type check, format check
3. Unit Tests (~2-5 min) -- jest, pytest, junit
4. Build (~2-5 min) -- compile, bundle
5. Integration Tests (~3-10 min) -- API tests, database tests
6. E2E Tests (~5-15 min) -- browser tests, mobile tests
7. Performance Tests (~5-30 min) -- only on main/release branches
8. Security Scan (~3-10 min) -- SAST, dependency audit
9. Deploy to Staging (~2-5 min)
10. Smoke Tests (~2-3 min)
11. Report & Notify (~1 min)
GitHub Actions
Complete Testing Pipeline
name: Test Pipeline
on:
push:
branches: [main, develop]
pull_request:
branches: [main, develop]
concurrency:
group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
cancel-in-progress: true
env:
NODE_VERSION: '20'
CI: true
jobs:
lint-and-typecheck:
name: Lint & Type Check
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 5
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
cache: 'npm'
- run: npm ci
- name: ESLint
run: npx eslint . --max-warnings=0
- name: TypeScript Check
run: npx tsc --noEmit
- name: Prettier Check
run: npx prettier --check .
unit-tests:
name: Unit Tests
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 10
needs: [lint-and-typecheck]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
cache: 'npm'
- run: npm ci
- name: Run Unit Tests
run: npx jest --coverage --ci --reporters=default --reporters=jest-junit
env:
JEST_JUNIT_OUTPUT_DIR: ./test-results/unit
- name: Upload Coverage
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: unit-coverage
path: coverage/
retention-days: 7
- name: Upload Test Results
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: unit-test-results
path: test-results/unit/
api-tests:
name: API Tests
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 15
needs: [unit-tests]
services:
postgres:
image: postgres:16
env:
POSTGRES_USER: test
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
POSTGRES_DB: testdb
ports:
- 5432:5432
options: >-
--health-cmd pg_isready
--health-interval 10s
--health-timeout 5s
--health-retries 5
redis:
image: redis:7
ports:
- 6379:6379
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
cache: 'npm'
- run: npm ci
- name: Run Database Migrations
run: npx prisma migrate deploy
env:
DATABASE_URL: postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/testdb
- name: Start Application
run: npm run start:test &
env:
DATABASE_URL: postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/testdb
REDIS_URL: redis://localhost:6379
PORT: 3000
- name: Wait for Application
run: npx wait-on http://localhost:3000/health --timeout 30000
- name: Run API Tests
run: npx playwright test --project=api
env:
API_BASE_URL: http://localhost:3000
- name: Upload Results
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: api-test-results
path: test-results/
e2e-tests:
name: E2E Tests (${{ matrix.shard }})
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 30
needs: [unit-tests]
strategy:
fail-fast: false
matrix:
shard: [1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
cache: 'npm'
- run: npm ci
- name: Install Playwright Browsers
run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
- name: Start Application
run: npm run start:test &
- name: Wait for Application
run: npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 --timeout 30000
- name: Run E2E Tests (Shard ${{ matrix.shard }})
run: npx playwright test --shard=${{ matrix.shard }}
- name: Upload Test Results
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: e2e-results-${{ strategy.job-index }}
path: |
test-results/
playwright-report/
merge-e2e-reports:
name: Merge E2E Reports
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
if: always()
needs: [e2e-tests]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
- run: npm ci
- name: Download All Reports
uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
with:
pattern: e2e-results-*
path: all-results/
- name: Merge Reports
run: npx playwright merge-reports --reporter=html all-results/
- name: Upload Merged Report
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: e2e-report-merged
path: playwright-report/
retention-days: 14
security-scan:
name: Security Scan
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 10
needs: [lint-and-typecheck]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
cache: 'npm'
- run: npm ci
- name: npm audit
run: npm audit --audit-level=high
continue-on-error: true
- name: Run Snyk
uses: snyk/actions/node@master
continue-on-error: true
env:
SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}
performance-tests:
name: Performance Tests
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
timeout-minutes: 30
if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
needs: [api-tests, e2e-tests]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Install k6
run: |
sudo gpg -k
sudo gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/k6-archive-keyring.gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys C5AD17C747E3415A3642D57D77C6C491D6AC1D68
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/k6-archive-keyring.gpg] https://dl.k6.io/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/k6.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install k6
- name: Run Load Test
run: k6 run k6/scripts/load-test.js --out json=k6-results.json
env:
BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.STAGING_URL }}
- name: Upload Results
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: k6-results
path: k6-results.json
notify:
name: Notify
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
if: always()
needs: [unit-tests, api-tests, e2e-tests, security-scan]
steps:
- name: Slack Notification
uses: 8398a7/action-slack@v3
with:
status: ${{ job.status }}
fields: repo,message,commit,author,action,ref
env:
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
Jenkins Pipeline
pipeline {
agent any
environment {
NODE_VERSION = '20'
CI = 'true'
}
options {
timeout(time: 60, unit: 'MINUTES')
disableConcurrentBuilds()
buildDiscarder(logRotator(numToKeepStr: '20'))
}
stages {
stage('Checkout') {
steps {
checkout scm
}
}
stage('Install') {
steps {
sh 'npm ci'
}
}
stage('Static Analysis') {
parallel {
stage('Lint') {
steps {
sh 'npx eslint . --max-warnings=0'
}
}
stage('Type Check') {
steps {
sh 'npx tsc --noEmit'
}
}
}
}
stage('Unit Tests') {
steps {
sh 'npx jest --coverage --ci --reporters=default --reporters=jest-junit'
}
post {
always {
junit 'test-results/unit/*.xml'
publishHTML(target: [
reportDir: 'coverage/lcov-report',
reportFiles: 'index.html',
reportName: 'Coverage Report'
])
}
}
}
stage('E2E Tests') {
steps {
sh 'npx playwright install --with-deps chromium'
sh 'npm run start:test &'
sh 'npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 --timeout 30000'
sh 'npx playwright test'
}
post {
always {
publishHTML(target: [
reportDir: 'playwright-report',
reportFiles: 'index.html',
reportName: 'E2E Test Report'
])
archiveArtifacts artifacts: 'test-results/**/*', allowEmptyArchive: true
}
}
}
}
post {
always {
cleanWs()
}
failure {
slackSend(
channel: '#test-alerts',
color: 'danger',
message: "Build Failed: ${env.JOB_NAME} #${env.BUILD_NUMBER}"
)
}
success {
slackSend(
channel: '#test-results',
color: 'good',
message: "Build Passed: ${env.JOB_NAME} #${env.BUILD_NUMBER}"
)
}
}
}
GitLab CI
stages:
- lint
- test
- e2e
- report
variables:
NODE_VERSION: "20"
CI: "true"
.node-cache:
cache:
key:
files:
- package-lock.json
paths:
- node_modules/
policy: pull
install:
stage: .pre
image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
script:
- npm ci
cache:
key:
files:
- package-lock.json
paths:
- node_modules/
policy: push
lint:
stage: lint
image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
extends: .node-cache
script:
- npx eslint . --max-warnings=0
- npx tsc --noEmit
unit-tests:
stage: test
image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
extends: .node-cache
script:
- npx jest --coverage --ci
coverage: '/All files[^|]*\|[^|]*\s+([\d\.]+)/'
artifacts:
when: always
reports:
junit: test-results/unit/junit.xml
coverage_report:
coverage_format: cobertura
path: coverage/cobertura-coverage.xml
paths:
- coverage/
e2e-tests:
stage: e2e
image: mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.42.0-jammy
extends: .node-cache
parallel: 4
script:
- npm run start:test &
- npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 --timeout 30000
- npx playwright test --shard=$CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL
artifacts:
when: always
paths:
- playwright-report/
- test-results/
expire_in: 7 days
rules:
- if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
- if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
Test Parallelization Strategies
Shard-Based Parallelization (Playwright)
# Split tests evenly across N machines
strategy:
matrix:
shard: [1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4]
steps:
- run: npx playwright test --shard=${{ matrix.shard }}
File-Based Parallelization (Jest)
# Jest automatically parallelizes by file
steps:
- run: npx jest --maxWorkers=4 --ci
Tag-Based Parallelization
jobs:
smoke-tests:
steps:
- run: npx playwright test --grep @smoke
regression-tests:
steps:
- run: npx playwright test --grep @regression
visual-tests:
steps:
- run: npx playwright test --grep @visual
Best Practices
- Cache dependencies -- Cache
node_modules,.m2, pip packages to speed up installs. - Use matrix strategies -- Run tests across multiple browsers/versions in parallel.
- Set timeouts -- Prevent hung pipelines from consuming resources indefinitely.
- Always upload artifacts -- Use
if: always()to save results even on failure. - Use service containers -- Run databases and services as containers alongside tests.
- Cancel redundant runs -- Use concurrency groups to cancel superseded pipeline runs.
- Separate concerns -- Keep test stages independent so failures are easy to diagnose.
- Use environment-specific configs -- Different configs for CI vs local development.
- Notify on failure -- Integrate Slack, email, or Teams notifications.
- Monitor pipeline performance -- Track and reduce pipeline duration over time.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- Running all tests serially -- Parallelize wherever possible.
- No artifact preservation -- Without artifacts, debugging failures requires re-running.
- Flaky tests in CI -- Fix or quarantine flaky tests immediately.
- No timeout limits -- Hung tests can consume runner minutes for hours.
- Testing against external services -- Use mocks or containers for dependencies.
- Hardcoded secrets -- Always use CI/CD secret management.
- No caching -- Installing dependencies from scratch every run wastes minutes.
- Ignoring CI-specific config -- Some tests need different settings in CI (headless, retries).
- Single point of failure -- If one shard fails, still collect results from others.
- Not cleaning up -- Stale containers, files, or processes can affect subsequent runs.