• Single string or array of multiple values
• Re-using a before_script template
• Overriding external template values
• Using nested includes

GitLab CI/CD include examples

In addition to the includes examples listed in the GitLab CI YAML reference, this page lists more variations of include usage.

Single string or array of multiple values

You can include your extra YAML file(s) either as a single string or an array of multiple values. The following examples are all valid.

Single string with the include:local method implied:

include: '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'

Array with include method implied:

include:
  - 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'
  - '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'

Single string with include method specified explicitly:

include:
  remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'

Array with include:remote being the single item:

include:
  - remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'

Array with multiple include methods specified explicitly:

include:
  - remote: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'
  - local: '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml

Array mixed syntax:

include:
  - 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'
  - '/templates/.after-script-template.yml'
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
  - project: 'my-group/my-project'
    ref: main
    file: '/templates/.gitlab-ci-template.yml'

Re-using a before_script template

In the following example, the content of .before-script-template.yml is automatically fetched and evaluated along with the content of .gitlab-ci.yml.

Content of https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml:

default:
  before_script:
    - apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev nodejs
    - gem install bundler --no-document
    - bundle install --jobs $(nproc)  "${FLAGS[@]}"

Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:

include: 'https://gitlab.com/awesome-project/raw/main/.before-script-template.yml'

rspec:
  script:
    - bundle exec rspec

Overriding external template values

The following example shows specific YAML-defined variables and details of the production job from an include file being customized in .gitlab-ci.yml.

Content of https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml:

variables:
  POSTGRES_USER: user
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: testing_password
  POSTGRES_DB: $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG

production:
  stage: production
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://$CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG.$KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:

include: 'https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml'

image: alpine:latest

variables:
  POSTGRES_USER: root
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - production

production:
  environment:
    url: https://domain.com

In this case, the variables POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD along with the environment URL of the production job defined in autodevops-template.yml have been overridden by new values defined in .gitlab-ci.yml.

The merging lets you extend and override dictionary mappings, but you cannot add or modify items to an included array. For example, to add an additional item to the production job script, you must repeat the existing script items:

Content of https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml:

production:
  stage: production
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy

Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:

include: 'https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml'

stages:
  - production

production:
  script:
    - install_dependencies
    - deploy
    - notify_owner

In this case, if install_dependencies and deploy were not repeated in .gitlab-ci.yml, they would not be part of the script for the production job in the combined CI configuration.

Using nested includes

The examples below show how includes can be nested from different sources using a combination of different methods.

In this example, .gitlab-ci.yml includes local the file /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml:

include:
  - local: /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml

The /.gitlab-ci/another-config.yml includes a template and the /templates/docker-workflow.yml file from another project:

include:
  - template: Bash.gitlab-ci.yml
  - project: group/my-project
    file: /templates/docker-workflow.yml

The /templates/docker-workflow.yml present in group/my-project includes two local files of the group/my-project:

include:
  - local: /templates/docker-build.yml
  - local: /templates/docker-testing.yml

Our /templates/docker-build.yml present in group/my-project adds a docker-build job:

docker-build:
  script: docker build -t my-image .

Our second /templates/docker-test.yml present in group/my-project adds a docker-test job:

docker-test:
  script: docker run my-image /run/tests.sh