Pipeline Development Tools

Jenkins Pipeline includes built-in documentation and the Snippet Generator which are key resources when developing Pipelines. They provide detailed help and information that is customized to the currently installed version of Jenkins and related plugins. In this section, we’ll discuss other tools and resources that may help with development of Jenkins Pipelines.

Command-line Pipeline Linter

Jenkins can validate, or "lint", a Declarative Pipeline from the command line before actually running it. This can be done using a Jenkins CLI command or by making an HTTP POST request with appropriate parameters. We recommended using the SSH interface to run the linter. See the Jenkins CLI documentation for details on how to properly configure Jenkins for secure command-line access.

Linting via the CLI with SSH
# ssh (Jenkins CLI)
# JENKINS_PORT=[sshd port on controller]
# JENKINS_HOST=[Jenkins controller hostname]
ssh -p $JENKINS_PORT $JENKINS_HOST declarative-linter < Jenkinsfile
Linting via HTTP POST using curl
# curl (REST API)
# Assuming "anonymous read access" has been enabled on your Jenkins instance.
# JENKINS_URL=[root URL of Jenkins controller]
# JENKINS_CRUMB is needed if your Jenkins controller has CRSF protection enabled as it should
JENKINS_CRUMB=`curl "$JENKINS_URL/crumbIssuer/api/xml?xpath=concat(//crumbRequestField,\":\",//crumb)"`
curl -X POST -H $JENKINS_CRUMB -F "jenkinsfile=<Jenkinsfile" $JENKINS_URL/pipeline-model-converter/validate

Examples

Below are two examples of the Pipeline Linter in action. This first example shows the output of the linter when it is passed an invalid Jenkinsfile, one that is missing part of the agent declaration.

Jenkinsfile
pipeline {
  agent
  stages {
    stage ('Initialize') {
      steps {
        echo 'Placeholder.'
      }
    }
  }
}
Linter output for invalid Jenkinsfile
# pass a Jenkinsfile that does not contain an "agent" section
ssh -p 8675 localhost declarative-linter < ./Jenkinsfile
Errors encountered validating Jenkinsfile:
WorkflowScript: 2: Not a valid section definition: "agent". Some extra configuration is required. @ line 2, column 3.
     agent
     ^

WorkflowScript: 1: Missing required section "agent" @ line 1, column 1.
   pipeline &#125;
   ^

In this second example, the Jenkinsfile has been updated to include the missing any on agent. The linter now reports that the Pipeline is valid.

Jenkinsfile
pipeline {
  agent any
  stages {
    stage ('Initialize') {
      steps {
        echo 'Placeholder.'
      }
    }
  }
}
Linter output for valid Jenkinsfile
ssh -p 8675 localhost declarative-linter < ./Jenkinsfile
Jenkinsfile successfully validated.

Blue Ocean Editor

The Blue Ocean Pipeline Editor provides a WYSIWYG way to create Declarative Pipelines. The editor offers a structural view of all the stages, parallel branches, and steps in a Pipeline. The editor validates Pipeline changes as they are made, eliminating many errors before they are even committed. Behind the scenes it still generates Declarative Pipeline code.

Unresolved include directive in modules/pipeline/pages/development.adoc - include::doc/book/blueocean/_blue-ocean-status.adoc[]

"Replay" Pipeline Runs with Modifications

Typically a Pipeline will be defined inside of the classic Jenkins web UI, or by committing to a Jenkinsfile in source control. Unfortunately, neither approach is ideal for rapid iteration, or prototyping, of a Pipeline. The "Replay" feature allows for quick modifications and execution of an existing Pipeline without changing the Pipeline configuration or creating a new commit.

Usage

To use the "Replay" feature:

  1. Select a previously completed run in the build history.

    Previous Pipeline Run

  2. Click "Replay" in the left menu

    Replay Left-menu Button

  3. Make modifications and click "Run". In this example, we changed "ruby-2.3" to "ruby-2.4".

    Replay Left-menu Button

  4. Check the results of changes

Once you are satisfied with the changes, you can use Replay to view them again, copy them back to your Pipeline job or Jenkinsfile, and then commit them using your usual engineering processes.

Features

  • Can be called multiple times on the same run - allows for easy parallel testing of different changes.

  • Can also be called on Pipeline runs that are still in-progress - As long as a Pipeline contained syntactically correct Groovy and was able to start, it can be Replayed.

  • Referenced Shared Library code is also modifiable - If a Pipeline run references a Shared Library, the code from the shared library will also be shown and modifiable as part of the Replay page.

  • Access Control via dedicated "Run / Replay" permission - implied by "Job / Configure". If Pipeline is not configurable (e.g. Branch Pipeline of a Multibranch) or "Job / Configure" is not granted, users still can experiment with Pipeline Definition via Replay

  • Can be used for Re-run - users lacking "Run / Replay" but who are granted "Job / Build" can still use Replay to run a build again with the same definition.

Limitations

  • Pipeline runs with syntax errors cannot be replayed - meaning their code cannot be viewed and any changes made in them cannot be retrieved. When using Replay for more significant modifications, save your changes to a file or editor outside of Jenkins before running them. See JENKINS-37589

  • Replayed Pipeline behavior may differ from runs started by other methods - For Pipelines that are not part of a Multi-branch Pipeline, the commit information may differ for the original run and the Replayed run. See JENKINS-36453

IDE Integrations

Eclipse Jenkins Editor

The Jenkins Editor Eclipse plugin can be found on Eclipse Marketplace. This special text editor provides some features for defining pipelines e.g:

  • Validate pipeline scripts by Jenkins Linter Validation. Failures are shown as eclipse markers

  • An Outline with dedicated icons (for declarative Jenkins pipelines )

  • Syntax / keyword highlighting

  • Groovy validation

The Jenkins Editor Plugin is a third-party tool that is not supported by the Jenkins Project.

VisualStudio Code Jenkins Pipeline Linter Connector

The Jenkins Pipeline Linter Connector extension for VisualStudio Code takes the file that you have currently opened, pushes it to your Jenkins Server and displays the validation result in VS Code.

​You can find the extension from within the VS Code extension browser or at the following url: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=janjoerke.jenkins-pipeline-linter-connector

The extension adds four settings entries to VS Code which select the Jenkins server you want to use for validation.

Neovim nvim-jenkinsfile-linter plugin

The nvim-jenkinsfile-linter Neovim plugin allows you to validate a Jenkinsfile by using the Pipeline Linter API of your Jenkins instance and report any existing diagnostics in your editor.

Atom linter-jenkins package

The linter-jenkins Atom package allows you to validate a Jenkins file by using the Pipeline Linter API of a running Jenkins. You can install it directly from the Atom package manager. It needs also to install Jenkinsfile language support in Atom

Sublime Text Jenkinsfile package

The Jenkinsfile Sublime Text package allows you to validate a Jenkinsfile by using the Pipeline Linter API of a running Jenkins instance over a secure channel (SSH). You can install it directly from the Sublime Text package manager.

​You can find the package from within the Sublime Text interface via the Package Control package, at GitHub, or packagecontrol.io:

Pipeline Unit Testing Framework

The Pipeline Unit Testing Framework allows you to unit test Pipelines and Shared Libraries before running them in full. It provides a mock execution environment where real Pipeline steps are replaced with mock objects that you can use to check for expected behavior. New and rough around the edges, but promising. The README for that project contains examples and usage instructions.