85 lines
5 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
5 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: index, concepts, howto
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---
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# GitLab ChatOps
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/merge_requests/4466) in [GitLab Ultimate](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 10.6.
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> - [Moved](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/merge_requests/24780) to [GitLab Core](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) in 11.9.
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GitLab ChatOps provides a method to interact with CI/CD jobs through chat services like Slack. Many organizations' discussion, collaboration, and troubleshooting is taking place in chat services these days, and having a method to run CI/CD jobs with output posted back to the channel can significantly augment a team's workflow.
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NOTE: **Note:**
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ChatOps is currently in alpha with some important features missing, like access control.
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## How it works
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GitLab ChatOps is built upon two existing features:
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- [GitLab CI/CD](../README.md).
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- [Slack Slash Commands](../../user/project/integrations/slack_slash_commands.md).
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A new `run` action has been added to the [slash commands](../../integration/slash_commands.md), which takes two arguments: a `<job name>` to execute and the `<job arguments>`. When executed, ChatOps will look up the specified job name and attempt to match it to a corresponding job in [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](../yaml/README.md). If a matching job is found on `master`, a pipeline containing just that job is scheduled. Two additional [CI/CD variables](../variables/README.md#predefined-environment-variables) are passed to the job: `CHAT_INPUT` contains any additional arguments, and `CHAT_CHANNEL` is set to the name of channel the action was triggered in.
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After the job has finished, its output is sent back to Slack provided it has completed within 30 minutes. If a job takes more than 30 minutes to run it must use the Slack API to manually send data back to a channel.
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[Developer access and above](../../user/permissions.html#project-members-permissions) is required to use the `run` command. If a job should not be able to be triggered from chat, it can be set to `except: [chat]`.
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## Creating a ChatOps CI job
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Since ChatOps is built upon GitLab CI/CD, the job has all the same features and functions available. There a few best practices to consider however when creating ChatOps jobs:
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- It is strongly recommended to set `only: [chat]` so the job does not run as part of the standard CI pipeline.
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- If the job is set to `when: manual`, the pipeline will be created however the job will wait to be started.
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- It is important to keep in mind that there is limited support for access control. If the user who triggered the slash command is a developer in the project, the job will run. The job itself can utilize existing [CI/CD variables](../variables/README.html#predefined-environment-variables) like `GITLAB_USER_ID` to perform additional rights validation, however these variables can be [overridden](../variables/README.html#priority-of-environment-variables).
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### Controlling the ChatOps reply
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For jobs with a single command, its output is automatically sent back to the channel as a reply. For example the chat reply of the following job is simply `Hello World.`
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```yaml
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hello-world:
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stage: chatops
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only: [chat]
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script:
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- echo "Hello World."
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```
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Jobs that contain multiple commands, or have a `before_script`, include additional content in the chat reply. In these cases both the commands and their output are included, with the commands wrapped in ANSI colors codes.
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To selectively reply with the output of one command, its output must be bounded by the `chat_reply` section. For example, the following job will list the files in the current directory.
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```yaml
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ls:
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stage: chatops
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only: [chat]
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script:
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- echo "This command will not be shown."
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- echo -e "section_start:$( date +%s ):chat_reply\r\033[0K\n$( ls -la )\nsection_end:$( date +%s ):chat_reply\r\033[0K"
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```
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## GitLab ChatOps Examples
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The GitLab.com team created a repository of [common ChatOps scripts they use to interact with our Production instance of GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/chatops). They are likely useful
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to other adminstrators of GitLab instances and can serve as inspiration for ChatOps scripts you can write to interact with your own applications.
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## GitLab ChatOps icon
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Say Hi to our ChatOps bot.
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You can find and download the official GitLab ChatOps icon here.
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[Download bigger image](img/gitlab-chatops-icon.png)
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