CI/CD pipelines in the VS Code extension

If your GitLab project uses CI/CD pipelines, you can start, watch, and debug CI/CD pipelines from the GitLab Workflow extension for VS Code. When you work locally on a Git branch, the bottom status bar shows either:

• The status of its most recent pipeline.
• No pipeline if a pipeline hasn’t run yet.

Possible statuses include:

• Pipeline canceled
• Pipeline failed
• Pipeline passed
• Pipeline pending
• Pipeline running
• Pipeline skipped

View pipeline information

Use this extension to start, monitor, and debug CI/CD pipelines in GitLab.

Prerequisites:

• Your project uses CI/CD pipelines.
• A merge request exists for your current Git branch.
• The most recent commit on your current Git branch has a CI/CD pipeline.

To view pipeline information:

1. In VS Code, on the bottom status bar, select the pipeline status to display actions in the Command Palette.

2. In the Command Palette, select your desired action:

   • Create New Pipeline From Current Branch: Start a new pipeline.
   • Cancel Last Pipeline
   • Download Artifacts from Latest Pipeline: Download the pipeline artifact in ZIP or JSON format.
   • Retry Last Pipeline
   • View Latest Pipeline on GitLab: Open the pipeline’s page in a browser tab.

Show pipeline alerts

This extension can display an alert in VS Code when a pipeline for your current branch completes:

To show alerts for your current Git branch:

1. In VS Code, on the top menu, select Code > Settings > Settings.
2. Depending on your configuration, select either User or Workplace settings.
3. In the main tab, select Extensions > GitLab Workflow to view this extension’s settings.
4. Under Show Pipeline Update Notifications, select the Show notification in VS Code when the pipeline status changes checkbox.

View CI/CD job output

To view the output for a CI/CD job for your current branch:

1. On the left vertical menu bar, select GitLab Workflow ( ) to display the extension sidebar.

2. On the sidebar, expand For current branch to show its most recent pipeline.

3. Select your desired job to open it in a new VS Code tab:

   

Test GitLab CI/CD configuration

Use the GitLab: Validate GitLab CI Config command to test your project’s GitLab CI/CD configuration locally.

1. In VS Code, open your .gitlab-ci.yml file, and ensure the file’s tab is in focus.
2. Open the Command Palette:
   • For macOS, press Command+Shift+P.
   • For Windows or Linux, press Ctrl+Shift+P.
3. In the Command Palette, search for GitLab: Validate GitLab CI Config and press Enter.

The extension shows an alert if it detects a problem with your configuration.

Show merged GitLab CI/CD configuration

Use this command to see a preview of your merged CI/CD configuration file, with all includes and references resolved.

1. In VS Code, open your .gitlab-ci.yml file, and ensure the file’s tab is in focus.

2. On the top right, select Show Merged GitLab CI/CD Configuration:

   

VS Code opens a new tab (.gitlab-ci (Merged).yml) with full information.

CI/CD variable autocompletion

Quickly find the CI/CD variable you are looking for with the CI/CD variable autocompletion.

Prerequisites:

• Your file is named either:
  • .gitlab-ci.yml.
  • Beginning with .gitlab-ci and ending with .yml or .yaml, like .gitlab-ci.production.yml.

To autocomplete a variable:

1. In VS Code, open your .gitlab-ci.yml file, and ensure the file’s tab is in focus.

2. Begin entering the name of a variable to display auto-complete options.

3. Select an option to use it: