- Validate the CI/CD configuration for a namespace
- Validate a project’s CI configuration
- Use jq to create and process YAML & JSON payloads
CI Lint API
Validate the CI/CD configuration for a namespace
Checks if CI/CD YAML configuration is valid. This endpoint has namespace specific context.
POST /projects/:id/ci/lint
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
content | string | Yes | The CI/CD configuration content. |
dry_run | boolean | No | Run pipeline creation simulation, or only do static check. Default: false . |
include_jobs | boolean | No | If the list of jobs that would exist in a static check or pipeline simulation should be included in the response. Default: false . |
ref | string | No | When dry_run is true , sets the branch or tag to use. Defaults to the project’s default branch when not set. |
Example request:
curl --header "Content-Type: application/json" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/:id/ci/lint" --data '{"content": "{ \"image\": \"ruby:2.6\", \"services\": [\"postgres\"], \"before_script\": [\"bundle install\", \"bundle exec rake db:create\"], \"variables\": {\"DB_NAME\": \"postgres\"}, \"types\": [\"test\", \"deploy\", \"notify\"], \"rspec\": { \"script\": \"rake spec\", \"tags\": [\"ruby\", \"postgres\"], \"only\": [\"branches\"]}}"}'
Example responses:
-
Valid configuration:
{ "valid": true, "merged_yaml": "---\n:test_job:\n :script: echo 1\n", "errors": [], "warnings": [] }
-
Invalid configuration:
{ "valid": false, "merged_yaml": "---\n:test_job:\n :script: echo 1\n", "errors": [ "jobs config should contain at least one visible job" ], "warnings": [] }
Validate a project’s CI configuration
sha
attribute introduced in GitLab 16.5.
Checks if a project’s .gitlab-ci.yml
configuration in a given commit
(by default HEAD
of the project’s default branch) is valid. This
endpoint uses all namespace specific data available, including variables
and local includes.
GET /projects/:id/ci/lint
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
dry_run | boolean | No | Run pipeline creation simulation, or only do static check. |
include_jobs | boolean | No | If the list of jobs that would exist in a static check or pipeline simulation should be included in the response. Default: false . |
ref | string | No | When dry_run is true , sets the branch or tag to use. Defaults to the project’s default branch when not set. |
sha | string | No | The commit SHA of a branch or tag. Defaults to the SHA of the head of the project’s default branch when not set. |
Example request:
curl "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/:id/ci/lint"
Example responses:
- Valid configuration:
{
"valid": true,
"merged_yaml": "---\n:test_job:\n :script: echo 1\n",
"errors": [],
"warnings": []
}
- Invalid configuration:
{
"valid": false,
"merged_yaml": "---\n:test_job:\n :script: echo 1\n",
"errors": [
"jobs config should contain at least one visible job"
],
"warnings": []
}
Use jq to create and process YAML & JSON payloads
To POST
a YAML configuration to the CI Lint endpoint, it must be properly escaped and JSON encoded.
You can use jq
and curl
to escape and upload YAML to the GitLab API.
Escape YAML for JSON encoding
To escape quotes and encode your YAML in a format suitable for embedding within
a JSON payload, you can use jq
. For example, create a file named example-gitlab-ci.yml
:
.api_test:
rules:
- if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE=="merge_request_event"
changes:
- src/api/*
deploy:
extends:
- .api_test
rules:
- when: manual
allow_failure: true
script:
- echo "hello world"
Next, use jq
to escape and encode the YAML file into JSON:
jq --raw-input --slurp < example-gitlab-ci.yml
To escape and encode an input YAML file (example-gitlab-ci.yml
), and POST
it to the
GitLab API using curl
and jq
in a one-line command:
jq --null-input --arg yaml "$(<example-gitlab-ci.yml)" '.content=$yaml' \
| curl "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/ci/lint?include_merged_yaml=true" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data @-
Parse a CI Lint response
To reformat the CI Lint response, you can use jq
. You can pipe the CI Lint response to jq
,
or store the API response as a text file and provide it as an argument:
jq --raw-output '.merged_yaml | fromjson' <your_input_here>
Example input:
{"status":"valid","errors":[],"merged_yaml":"---\n:.api_test:\n :rules:\n - :if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE==\"merge_request_event\"\n :changes:\n - src/api/*\n:deploy:\n :rules:\n - :when: manual\n :allow_failure: true\n :extends:\n - \".api_test\"\n :script:\n - echo \"hello world\"\n"}
Becomes:
:.api_test:
:rules:
- :if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE=="merge_request_event"
:changes:
- src/api/*
:deploy:
:rules:
- :when: manual
:allow_failure: true
:extends:
- ".api_test"
:script:
- echo "hello world"
With a one-line command, you can:
- Escape the YAML
- Encode it in JSON
- POST it to the API with curl
- Format the response
jq --null-input --arg yaml "$(<example-gitlab-ci.yml)" '.content=$yaml' \
| curl "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/ci/lint?include_merged_yaml=true" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data @- \
| jq --raw-output '.merged_yaml | fromjson'