Cloud Native CI/CD with GitLab

Conditional Execution Based on Predefined Variables

We are going to start with simple examples using the if clause. The if clause allows you to run a job only when a condition is met. These conditions are usually based on predefined variables or custom variables you define in your .gitlab-ci.yml, project, group, or instance settings.

Example:

You want to run a job only when the branch name is main:

build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running build_job"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'

Example:

You want to run a job only when the branch name starts with feature/:

build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running build_job"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^feature\//'

Example:

You want to run a job only when the branch name is not main:

build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running build_job"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH != "main"'

Example:

You want to run a job only when the branch name is main and the commit message contains the word deploy:

build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running build_job"
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"