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 the status of its most recent pipeline, or shows No pipeline if a pipeline hasn’t run yet:

The bottom status bar, showing the most recent pipeline has failed.

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:

Alert showing a pipeline failure

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:

    A pipeline containing CI/CD jobs that are passing, allowed to fail, and failing.

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:

    The VS Code application, showing the icon for viewing merged results.

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:

    Autocomplete options shown for a string