[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":814},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages":3,"navigation-en-us":33,"banner-en-us":443,"footer-en-us":453,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Connor Shea":695,"blog-related-posts-en-us-building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages":709,"blog-promotions-en-us":751,"next-steps-en-us":804},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":22,"isFeatured":12,"meta":23,"navigation":24,"path":25,"publishedDate":20,"seo":26,"stem":30,"tagSlugs":31,"__hash__":32},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages.yml","Building A New Gitlab Docs Site With Nanoc Gitlab Ci And Gitlab Pages",[7],"connor-shea",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9},"Building a new GitLab Docs site with Nanoc, GitLab CI, and GitLab Pages","How we built the new GitLab Docs portal from the ground up",[18],"Connor Shea","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749666603/Blog/Hero%20Images/book.jpg","2016-12-07","We recently rebuilt [docs.gitlab.com](https://docs.gitlab.com) from scratch. Where previously the site was generated with a simple Ruby script, we now use a proper static site generator.\n\nCheck out the improvements we made, the structure we now use to deploy from specific directories in multiple repositories to a single website, build with [GitLab CI](/solutions/continuous-integration/) and deployed with [GitLab Pages][pages]. Now our documentation has a nicer look and feel, is more pleasant to read through, and simpler and quicker to maintain.\n\n\u003C!-- more -->\n\n- TOC\n{:toc}\n\n## Improvements\n\nThe old documentation website was pretty much just an HTML file, a stylesheet, and a [Ruby script][genrb] called `generate.rb`. While it worked, it was hard to update and not very flexible. It mostly laid dormant, only occasionally being touched by developers. The docs team really wanted to update the site to use a [static site generator](/blog/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-3-examples-ci/) and take better advantage of [GitLab Pages][pages].\n\nWe chose [Nanoc](https://nanoc.ws/) because it’s fast, it comes with a number of built-in helpers and filters (as well as the ability to create custom ones), and it’s built with Ruby. Overall, we think this was definitely the right choice. The author was very responsive and addressed anything we brought up. Kudos to him on the great project!\n\nOther improvements include syntax highlighting with [Rouge](http://rouge.jneen.net/) (no syntax highlighting was used at all on the old site), breadcrumbs for navigating between pages, and an improved overall design – especially on mobile.\n\n## Requirements\n\nOur documentation site has some unique requirements that I haven’t seen mentioned or solved in any other companies’ blog posts. We have a few products with documentation we want to include in the site: Community Edition, Enterprise Edition, Omnibus GitLab, and GitLab Runner. In the future we’ll likely add more.\n\nEach product has it own repository with its own documentation directory. This allows developers to add documentation in the same merge request they add a new feature or change some behavior, which prevents documentation from becoming outdated.\n\nThe site also needed to be flexible enough that we could add versioning to it in the future. Eventually, our goal is to replace the Help section in CE/EE with this Docs site, so we need to maintain older versions of the documentation on the Docs site for users on older versions of GitLab.\n\n## The build process\n\nGiven the requirements and separate repositories, we decided we’d just need to clone the repositories as part of the build process.\n\nInside Nanoc's config file (`nanoc.yml`), we [have defined][nanocyaml] a hash of each of our products containing all the data we need. Here's an excerpt:\n\n```yaml\nproducts:\n  ce:\n    full_name: 'GitLab Community Edition'\n    short_name: 'Community Edition'\n    abbreviation: 'CE'\n    slug: 'ce'\n    index_file: 'README.*'\n    description: 'Browse user and administration documentation and guides for GitLab Community Edition.'\n    repo: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce.git'\n    dirs:\n      temp_dir: 'tmp/ce/'\n      dest_dir: 'content/ce'\n      doc_dir:  'doc'\n\n...\n\n  runner:\n    full_name: 'GitLab Runner'\n    short_name: 'Runner'\n    abbreviation: 'RU'\n    slug: 'runner'\n    index_file: 'index.*'\n    description: 'Browse installation, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting documentation for GitLab Runner.'\n    repo: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner.git'\n    dirs:\n      temp_dir: 'tmp/runner/'\n      dest_dir: 'content/runner'\n      doc_dir:  'docs'\n\n```\n\nWe then have the [Rakefile] where the repos are cloned and the directories that\nNanoc needs are created:\n\n```ruby\ndesc 'Pulls down the CE, EE, Omnibus and Runner git repos and merges the content of their doc directories into the nanoc site'\ntask :pull_repos do\n  require 'yaml'\n\n  # By default won't delete any directories, requires all relevant directories\n  # be empty. Run `RAKE_FORCE_DELETE=true rake pull_repos` to have directories\n  # deleted.\n  force_delete = ENV['RAKE_FORCE_DELETE']\n\n  # Parse the config file and create a hash.\n  config = YAML.load_file('./nanoc.yaml')\n\n  # Pull products data from the config.\n  ce = config[\"products\"][\"ce\"]\n  ee = config[\"products\"][\"ee\"]\n  omnibus = config[\"products\"][\"omnibus\"]\n  runner = config[\"products\"][\"runner\"]\n\n  products = [ce, ee, omnibus, runner]\n  dirs = []\n  products.each do |product|\n    dirs.push(product['dirs']['temp_dir'])\n    dirs.push(product['dirs']['dest_dir'])\n  end\n\n  if force_delete\n    puts \"WARNING: Are you sure you want to remove #{dirs.join(', ')}? [y/n]\"\n    exit unless STDIN.gets.index(/y/i) == 0\n\n    dirs.each do |dir|\n      puts \"\\n=> Deleting #{dir} if it exists\\n\"\n      FileUtils.rm_r(\"#{dir}\") if File.exist?(\"#{dir}\")\n    end\n  else\n    puts \"NOTE: The following directories must be empty otherwise this task \" +\n      \"will fail:\\n#{dirs.join(', ')}\"\n    puts \"If you want to force-delete the `tmp/` and `content/` folders so \\n\" +\n      \"the task will run without manual intervention, run \\n\" +\n      \"`RAKE_FORCE_DELETE=true rake pull_repos`.\"\n  end\n\n  dirs.each do |dir|\n    unless \"#{dir}\".start_with?(\"tmp\")\n\n      puts \"\\n=> Making an empty #{dir}\"\n      FileUtils.mkdir(\"#{dir}\") unless File.exist?(\"#{dir}\")\n    end\n  end\n\n  products.each do |product|\n    temp_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['temp_dir'])\n    puts \"\\n=> Cloning #{product['repo']} into #{temp_dir}\\n\"\n\n    `git clone #{product['repo']} #{temp_dir} --depth 1 --branch master`\n\n    temp_doc_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['temp_dir'], product['dirs']['doc_dir'], '.')\n    destination_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['dest_dir'])\n    puts \"\\n=> Copying #{temp_doc_dir} into #{destination_dir}\\n\"\n    FileUtils.cp_r(temp_doc_dir, destination_dir)\n  end\nend\n```\n\nThe `pull_repos` task inside the Rakefile is pretty self-explanatory if you know\nsome Ruby, but here's what it does:\n\n1. `nanoc.yml` is loaded since it contains the information we need for the\n   various products:\n\n    ```ruby\n    config = YAML.load_file('./nanoc.yaml')\n    ```\n\n1. The products data are pulled from the config:\n\n    ```ruby\n    ce = config[\"products\"][\"ce\"]\n    ee = config[\"products\"][\"ee\"]\n    omnibus = config[\"products\"][\"omnibus\"]\n    runner = config[\"products\"][\"runner\"]\n    ```\n\n1. The needed directories to be created (or deleted) are populated in an array:\n\n    ```ruby\n    products = [ce, ee, omnibus, runner]\n    dirs = []\n    products.each do |product|\n      dirs.push(product['dirs']['temp_dir'])\n      dirs.push(product['dirs']['dest_dir'])\n    end\n    ```\n\n1. The empty directories are created:\n\n    ```ruby\n    dirs.each do |dir|\n      unless \"#{dir}\".start_with?(\"tmp\")\n\n        puts \"\\n=> Making an empty #{dir}\"\n        FileUtils.mkdir(\"#{dir}\") unless File.exist?(\"#{dir}\")\n      end\n    end\n    ```\n1. We finally copy the contents of the documentation directory (defined by\n   `doc_dir`) for each product from `tmp/` to `content/`:\n\n    ```ruby\n    products.each do |product|\n      temp_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['temp_dir'])\n      puts \"\\n=> Cloning #{product['repo']} into #{temp_dir}\\n\"\n\n      `git clone #{product['repo']} #{temp_dir} --depth 1 --branch master`\n\n      temp_doc_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['temp_dir'], product['dirs']['doc_dir'], '.')\n      destination_dir = File.join(product['dirs']['dest_dir'])\n      puts \"\\n=> Copying #{temp_doc_dir} into #{destination_dir}\\n\"\n      FileUtils.cp_r(temp_doc_dir, destination_dir)\n    end\n    ```\n\n   `content/` is where Nanoc looks for the actual site’s Markdown files. To prevent the `tmp/` and `content/` subdirectories from being pushed after testing the site locally, they’re excluded by `.gitignore`.\n\nIn the future we may speed this up further by caching the `tmp` folder in CI. The task would need to be updated to check if the local repository is up-to-date with the remote, only cloning if they differ.\n\nNow that all the needed files are in order, we run `nanoc` to build the static sire. Nanoc runs each Markdown file through a series of [filters][nanoc-filters] defined by rules in the [`Rules` file][rules]. We currently use [Redcarpet][] as the Markdown parser along with Rouge for syntax highlighting, as well as some custom filters. We plan on [moving to Kramdown as our Markdown parser in the future](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/issues/50) as it provides some nice stuff like user-defined Table of Contents, etc.\n\nWe also define some filters inside the [`lib/filters/` directory][filtersdir],\nincluding one that [replaces any `.md` extension with `.html`][md2html].\n\nThe Table of Contents (ToC) is generated for each page except when it's named `index.md`\nor `README.md` as we usually use these as landing pages to index other\ndocumentation files and we don't want them to have a ToC. All this and some\nother options that Redcarpet provides [are defined in the `Rules` file][redrules].\n\nFor more on the specifics of building a site with Nanoc, see [the Nanoc tutorial](https://nanoc.ws/doc/tutorial/).\n\n## Taking advantage of GitLab to put everything together\n\nThe new docs portal is hosted on GitLab.com at \u003Chttps://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs>.\nIn that project we create issues, discuss things, open merge requests in feature\nbranches, iterate on feedback and finally merge things in the `master` branch.\nAgain, the documentation source files are not stored in this repository, if\nyou want to contribute, you'd have to open a merge request to the respective\nproject.\n\nThere are 3 key things we use to test, build, deploy and host the Nanoc site\nall built into GitLab: [GitLab CI](/solutions/continuous-integration/), [Review Apps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/review_apps/)\nand [GitLab Pages][pages].\n\nLet's break it down to pieces.\n\n### GitLab CI\n\nGitLab CI is responsible of all the stages that we go through to publish\nnew documentation: test, build and deploy.\n\nNanoc has a built-in system of [Checks](https://nanoc.ws/doc/testing/), including HTML/CSS and internal/external link validation. With GitLab CI we test with the internal link checker (set to [`allow failure`][allowfail]) and also verify that the site compiles without errors. We also run a [SCSS Linter](https://github.com/sasstools/sass-lint) to make sure our SCSS looks uniform.\n\nOur full [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/blob/master/.gitlab-ci.yml) file looks like this. We'll break it down to make it clear what it is doing:\n\n```yaml\nimage: ruby:2.3\n\n## Cache the vendor/ruby directory\ncache:\n  key: \"ruby-231\"\n  paths:\n  - vendor/ruby\n\n## Define the stages\nstages:\n  - test\n  - deploy\n\n## Before each job's script is run, run the commands below\nbefore_script:\n  - ruby -v\n  - bundle install --jobs 4 --path vendor\n\n## Make sure the site builds successfully\nverify_compile:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n      - public\n    expire_in: 1w\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n## Check for dead internal links using Nanoc's built-in tool\ninternal_links:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n    - nanoc check internal_links\n  allow_failure: true\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n## Make sure our SCSS stylesheets are correctly defined\nscss_lint:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - npx sass-lint '**/*.scss' -v\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n## A job that deploys a review app to a dedicated server running Nginx.\nreview:\n  stage: deploy\n  variables:\n    GIT_STRATEGY: none\n  before_script: []\n  cache: {}\n  script:\n    - rsync -av --delete public /srv/nginx/pages/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n  environment:\n    name: review/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n    url: http://$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME.$APPS_DOMAIN\n    on_stop: review_stop\n  only:\n    - branches@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - nginx\n    - review-apps\n\n## Stop the review app\nreview_stop:\n  stage: deploy\n  variables:\n    GIT_STRATEGY: none\n  before_script: []\n  artifacts: {}\n  cache: {}\n  dependencies: []\n  script:\n    - rm -rf public /srv/nginx/pages/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n  when: manual\n  environment:\n    name: review/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n    action: stop\n  only:\n    - branches@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - nginx\n    - review-apps\n\n## Deploy the static site to GitLab Pages\npages:\n  stage: deploy\n  environment:\n    name: production\n    url: https://docs.gitlab.com\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n    # Symlink all README.html to index.html\n    - for i in `find public -name README.html`; do ln -sf README.html $(dirname $i)/index.html; done\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n    - public\n    expire_in: 1h\n  only:\n    - master@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n```\n\nTo better visualize how the jobs are run, take a look at how the pipeline\ngraph looks like for [one of the pipelines][pipeline].\n\n![Pipeline graph example](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/new-gitlab-docs-site/pipeline-graph.png){: .shadow}\n\nLet's see what all these settings mean.\n\nFor more information, you can read the [documentation on `.gitlab-ci.yml`][ciyaml].\n\n\n---\n\nDefine the Docker image to be used:\n\n```yaml\nimage: ruby:2.3\n```\n\n[Cache] the vendor/ruby directory so that we don't have to install the\ngems for each job/pipeline:\n\n```yaml\ncache:\n  key: \"ruby-231\"\n  paths:\n  - vendor/ruby\n\n```\n\nDefine the [stages] the jobs will run:\n\n```yaml\nstages:\n  - test\n  - deploy\n\n```\n\nBefore each job's script is run, run the commands that are defined in the\n[`before_script`][before_script]. Display the Ruby version and install\nthe needed gems:\n\n```yaml\nbefore_script:\n  - ruby -v\n  - bundle install --jobs 4 --path vendor\n\n```\n\nIn the `verify_compile` job we make sure the site builds successfully.\nIt first pulls the repos locally, then runs `nanoc` to compile the site.\nThe `public/` directory where the static site is built, is uploaded as\nan artifact so that it can pass between stages. We define an expire date of\none week. The job runs on all refs except master. The `docker` tag ensures that\nthis job is picked by the shared Runners on GitLab.com:\n\n```yaml\nverify_compile:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n      - public\n    expire_in: 1w\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n```\n\nIn the `internal_links` job we check for dead internal links using Nanoc's\nbuilt-in functionality. We first need to pull the repos and compile the static\nsite. We allow it to fail since the source of the dead links are in a\ndifferent repository, not much related with the current one.\nThe `docker` tag ensures that this job is picked by the shared Runners\non GitLab.com:\n\n```yaml\ninternal_links:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n    - nanoc check internal_links\n  allow_failure: true\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n```\n\nThe `scss_lint` job makes sure our SCSS stylesheets are correctly defined by\nrunning a linter on them. The `docker` tag ensures that this job is picked by\nthe shared Runners on GitLab.com:\n\n```yaml\nscss_lint:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - npx sass-lint '**/*.scss' -v\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n```\n\nNext, we define the Review Apps.\n\n### Review Apps\n\nWhen opening a merge request for the docs site we use a new feature called [Review Apps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/review_apps/) to test changes. This lets us test new features, style changes, new sections, etc., by deploying the updated static site to a test domain. On every merge request that all jobs finished successfully, we can see a link with the URL to the temporary deployed docs site.\n\n![Review apps](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/gitlab-docs-review-apps-screenshot.png){: .shadow}\n\nWe define two additional jobs for that purpose in `.gitlab-ci.yml`:\n\n```yaml\nreview:\n  stage: deploy\n  variables:\n    GIT_STRATEGY: none\n  before_script: []\n  cache: {}\n  script:\n    - rsync -av --delete public /srv/nginx/pages/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n  environment:\n    name: review/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n    url: http://$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME.$APPS_DOMAIN\n    on_stop: review_stop\n  only:\n    - branches@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - nginx\n    - review-apps\n\nreview_stop:\n  stage: deploy\n  variables:\n    GIT_STRATEGY: none\n  before_script: []\n  artifacts: {}\n  cache: {}\n  dependencies: []\n  script:\n    - rm -rf public /srv/nginx/pages/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n  when: manual\n  environment:\n    name: review/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME\n    action: stop\n  only:\n    - branches@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  except:\n    - master\n  tags:\n    - nginx\n    - review-apps\n\n```\n\nThey both run on all branches except `master` since `master` is deployed straight\nto production. Once someone with write access to the repository pushes a branch\nand creates a merge request, if the jobs in the `test` stage finish successfully,\nthe `review` job deploys the code of that particular branch to a server. The\nserver is set up to [use Nginx with Review Apps][nginx-example], and it uses\nthe artifacts from the previously `verify_compile` job which contain the\n`public/` directory with the HTML files Nanoc compiled.\n\nNotice that both jobs rely on [dynamic environments][environments] and with\nthe `review/` prefix we can group them under the [Environments page](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/environments).\n\nThe `review_stop` job depends on the `review` one and is called whenever we\nwant to clear up the review app. By default it is called every time the related\nbranch is deleted, but you can also manually call it with the buttons that can\nbe found in GitLab.\n\nThe trick of this particular set up is that we use the shared Runners provided\nin GitLab.com to test and build the docs site (using Docker containers) whereas\nwe use a specific Runner that is set up in the server that hosts the Review Apps\nand is configured with the [shell executor]. GitLab CI knows what Runner to use\neach time from the `tags` we provide each job with.\n\nThe `review` job has also some other things specified:\n\n```yaml\nvariables:\n  GIT_STRATEGY: none\nbefore_script: []\ncache: {}\n```\n\nIn this case, [`GIT_STRATEGY`][gitstrategy] is set up to `none` since we don't need to\ncheckout the repository for this job. We only use `rsync` to copy over the\nartifacts that were passed from the previous job to the server where Review\nApps are deployed. We also turn off the `before_script` since we don't need it\nto run, same for `cache`. They both are defined globally, so you need to pass\nan empty array and hash respectively to disable them in a job level.\n\nOn the other hand, setting the `GIT_STRATEGY` to `none` is necessary on the\n`review_stop` job so that the GitLab Runner won't try to checkout the code after\nthe branch is deleted. We also define one additional thing in it:\n\n```yaml\ndependencies: []\n```\n\nSince this is the last job that is performed in the lifecycle of a merge request\n(after it's merged and the branch deleted), we opt to not download any artifacts\nfrom the previous stage with passing an empty array in [`dependencies`][deps].\n\n---\n\nSee [our blog post on Review Apps](/blog/introducing-review-apps/) for\nmore information about how they work and their purpose. Be sure to also check\nthe [Review Apps documentation][radocs] as well as [how dynamic environments work][environments]\nsince they are the basis of the Review Apps.\n\nThe final step after the site gets successfully built is to deploy to\nproduction which is under the URL everybody knows: \u003Chttps://docs.gitlab.com>.\nFor that purpose, we use [GitLab Pages][pages].\n\n### GitLab Pages\n\n[GitLab Pages](https://pages.gitlab.io/) hosts [static websites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_web_page) and can be used with any Static Site Generator, including [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/), [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/), [Middleman](https://middlemanapp.com/), [Pelican](http://blog.getpelican.com/), and of course Nanoc.\n\nGitLab Pages allows us to create the static site dynamically since it just deploys the `public` directory after the GitLab CI task is done. The job responsible for this is named `pages`.\n\nA production environment is set with a url to the of the docs portal.\nThe script pulls the repos, runs `nanoc` to compile the static site.\nThe `public/` directory where the static site is built, is uploaded as\nan artifact so that it can be deployed to GitLab Pages. We define an expire\ndate of one hour and the job runs only on the master branch.\nThe `docker` tag ensures that this job is picked by the shared Runners\non GitLab.com.\n\n```yaml\npages:\n  stage: deploy\n  environment:\n    name: production\n    url: https://docs.gitlab.com\n  script:\n    - rake pull_repos\n    - nanoc\n    # Symlink all README.html to index.html\n    - for i in `find public -name README.html`; do ln -sf README.html $(dirname $i)/index.html; done\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n    - public\n    expire_in: 1h\n  only:\n    - master@gitlab-org/gitlab-docs\n  tags:\n    - docker\n\n```\n\nGitLab Pages deploys our documentation site whenever a commit is made to the master branch of the gitlab-docs repository and is run only on the `master` branch of the gitlab-docs project.\n\nSince the documentation content itself is not hosted under the gitlab-docs repository, we rely to a CI job under all the products we build the docs site from. We specifically [make use of triggers][triggers] where a build for the docs site is triggered whenever CI runs successfully on the master branches of CE, EE, Omnibus GitLab, or Runner. If you go to the [pipelines page of the gitlab-docs project][pipelines-docs], you can notice the **triggered** word next to the pipelines that are re-run because a trigger was initiated.\n\n![Pipeline triggers](https://about.gitlab.com/images/blogimages/new-gitlab-docs-site/pipelines-triggers.png){: .shadow}\n\nHow we specifically use triggers for gitlab-docs is briefly described in the\n[project's readme][readme-triggers].\n\nWe also use a hack to symlink all `README.html` files into `index.html` so that\nthey can be viewed without the extension. Notice how the following links point\nto the same document:\n\n- \u003Chttps://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/index.html>\n- \u003Chttps://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/>\n\nThe line responsible for this is:\n\n```bash\nfor i in `find public -name README.html`; do ln -sf README.html $(dirname $i)/index.html; done\n```\n\nThe artifacts are made to [expire in] an hour since they are deployed to the\nGitLab Pages server, we don't need them lingering in GitLab forever.\n\nIt’s worth noting that GitLab Pages is a [GitLab Enterprise Edition](/stages-devops-lifecycle/)-only feature, but it’s also available for free on GitLab.com.\n\n\n## Conclusion\n\nHopefully this shows some GitLab's power and how having everything integrated into one cohesive product simplifies one's workflow. If you have a complex documentation site you’d like to put together from specific directories in multiple Git repositories, the process described above is the best we've been able to come up with. If you have any ideas to make this system better, let us know!\n\nThe documentation website is [open source](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs), available under the MIT License. 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CI/CD tools can run a build and ship a deployment. Where they diverge is what happens when your delivery needs get real: a monorepo with a dozen services, microservices spread across multiple repositories, deployments to dozens of environments, or a platform team trying to enforce standards without becoming a bottleneck.\n  \nGitLab's pipeline execution model was designed for that complexity. Parent-child pipelines, DAG execution, dynamic pipeline generation, multi-project triggers, merge request pipelines with merged results, and CI/CD Components each solve a distinct class of problems. Because they compose, understanding the full model unlocks something more than a faster pipeline. In this article, you'll learn about the five patterns where that model stands out, each mapped to a real engineering scenario with the configuration to match.\n  \nThe configs below are illustrative. The scripts use echo commands to keep the signal-to-noise ratio low. Swap them out for your actual build, test, and deploy steps and they are ready to use.\n\n\n## 1. Monorepos: Parent-child pipelines + DAG execution\n\n\nThe problem: Your monorepo has a frontend, a backend, and a docs site. Every commit triggers a full rebuild of everything, even when only a README changed.\n\n\nGitLab solves this with two complementary features: [parent-child pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/downstream_pipelines/#parent-child-pipelines) (which let a top-level pipeline spawn isolated sub-pipelines) and [DAG execution via `needs`](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/#needs) (which breaks rigid stage-by-stage ordering and lets jobs start the moment their dependencies finish).\n\n\nA parent pipeline detects what changed and triggers only the relevant child pipelines:\n\n```yaml\n# .gitlab-ci.yml\nstages:\n  - trigger\n\ntrigger-services:\n  stage: trigger\n  trigger:\n    include:\n      - local: '.gitlab/ci/api-service.yml'\n      - local: '.gitlab/ci/web-service.yml'\n      - local: '.gitlab/ci/worker-service.yml'\n    strategy: depend\n```\n\n\nEach child pipeline is a fully independent pipeline with its own stages, jobs, and artifacts. The parent waits for all of them via [strategy: depend](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/downstream_pipelines/#wait-for-downstream-pipeline-to-complete) so you get a single green/red signal at the top level, with full drill-down into each service's pipeline. This organizational separation is the bigger win for large teams: each service owns its pipeline config, changes in one cannot break another, and the complexity stays manageable as the repo grows.\n\n\nOne thing worth knowing: when you pass [multiple files to a single `trigger: include:`](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/downstream_pipelines/#combine-multiple-child-pipeline-configuration-files), GitLab merges them into a single child pipeline configuration. This means jobs defined across those files share the same pipeline context and can reference each other with `needs:`, which is what makes the DAG optimization possible. If you split them into separate trigger jobs instead, each would be its own isolated pipeline and cross-file `needs:` references would not work.\n\n\nCombine this with `needs:` inside each child pipeline and you get DAG execution. Your integration tests can start the moment the build finishes, without waiting for other jobs in the same stage.\n\n```yaml\n# .gitlab/ci/api-service.yml\nstages:\n  - build\n  - test\n\nbuild-api:\n  stage: build\n  script:\n    - echo \"Building API service\"\n\ntest-api:\n  stage: test\n  needs: [build-api]\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running API tests\"\n```\n\n\nWhy it matters: Teams with large monorepos typically report significant reductions in pipeline runtime after switching to DAG execution, since jobs no longer wait on unrelated work in the same stage. Parent-child pipelines add the organizational layer that keeps the configuration maintainable as the repo and team grow.\n\n![Local downstream pipelines](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738759/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image3_vwj3rz.png \"Local downstream pipelines\")\n\n## 2. Microservices: Cross-repo, multi-project pipelines\n\n\nThe problem: Your frontend lives in one repo, your backend in another. When the frontend team ships a change, they have no visibility into whether it broke the backend integration and vice versa.\n\n\nGitLab's [multi-project pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/downstream_pipelines/#multi-project-pipelines) let one project trigger a pipeline in a completely separate project and wait for the result. The triggering project gets a linked downstream pipeline right in its own pipeline view.\n\n\nThe frontend pipeline builds an API contract artifact and publishes it, then triggers the backend pipeline. The backend fetches that artifact directly using the [Jobs API](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/jobs.html#download-a-single-artifact-file-from-specific-tag-or-branch) and validates it before allowing anything to proceed. If a breaking change is detected, the backend pipeline fails and the frontend pipeline fails with it.\n\n```yaml\n# frontend repo: .gitlab-ci.yml\nstages:\n  - build\n  - test\n  - trigger-backend\n\nbuild-frontend:\n  stage: build\n  script:\n    - echo \"Building frontend and generating API contract...\"\n    - mkdir -p dist\n    - |\n      echo '{\n        \"api_version\": \"v2\",\n        \"breaking_changes\": false\n      }' > dist/api-contract.json\n    - cat dist/api-contract.json\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n      - dist/api-contract.json\n    expire_in: 1 hour\n\ntest-frontend:\n  stage: test\n  script:\n    - echo \"All frontend tests passed!\"\n\ntrigger-backend-pipeline:\n  stage: trigger-backend\n  trigger:\n    project: my-org/backend-service\n    branch: main\n    strategy: depend\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n```\n\n```yaml\n# backend repo: .gitlab-ci.yml\nstages:\n  - build\n  - test\n\nbuild-backend:\n  stage: build\n  script:\n    - echo \"All backend tests passed!\"\n\nintegration-test:\n  stage: test\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"pipeline\"\n  script:\n    - echo \"Fetching API contract from frontend...\"\n    - |\n      curl --silent --fail \\\n        --header \"JOB-TOKEN: $CI_JOB_TOKEN\" \\\n        --output api-contract.json \\\n        \"${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${FRONTEND_PROJECT_ID}/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/dist/api-contract.json?job=build-frontend\"\n    - cat api-contract.json\n    - |\n      if grep -q '\"breaking_changes\": true' api-contract.json; then\n        echo \"FAIL: Breaking API changes detected - backend integration blocked!\"\n        exit 1\n      fi\n      echo \"PASS: API contract is compatible!\"\n```\n\n\nA few things worth noting in this config. The `integration-test` job uses `$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"pipeline\"` to ensure it only runs when triggered by an upstream pipeline, not on a standalone push to the backend repo. The frontend project ID is referenced via `$FRONTEND_PROJECT_ID`, which should be set as a [CI/CD variable](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/variables/) in the backend project settings to avoid hardcoding it.\n\n\nWhy it matters: Cross-service breakage that previously surfaced in production gets caught in the pipeline instead. The dependency between services stops being invisible and becomes something teams can see, track, and act on.\n\n\n![Cross-project pipelines](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738762/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image4_h6mfsb.png \"Cross-project pipelines\")\n\n\n## 3. Multi-tenant / matrix deployments: Dynamic child pipelines\n\n\nThe problem: You deploy the same application to 15 customer environments, or three cloud regions, or dev/staging/prod. Updating a deploy stage across all of them one by one is the kind of work that leads to configuration drift. Writing a separate pipeline for each environment is unmaintainable from day one.\n\n\nGitLab's [dynamic child pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/downstream_pipelines/#dynamic-child-pipelines) let you generate a pipeline at runtime. A job runs a script that produces a YAML file, and that YAML becomes the pipeline for the next stage. The pipeline structure itself becomes data.\n\n\n```yaml\n# .gitlab-ci.yml\nstages:\n  - generate\n  - trigger-environments\n\ngenerate-config:\n  stage: generate\n  script:\n    - |\n      # ENVIRONMENTS can be passed as a CI variable or read from a config file.\n      # Default to dev, staging, prod if not set.\n      ENVIRONMENTS=${ENVIRONMENTS:-\"dev staging prod\"}\n      for ENV in $ENVIRONMENTS; do\n        cat > ${ENV}-pipeline.yml \u003C\u003C EOF\n      stages:\n        - deploy\n        - verify\n      deploy-${ENV}:\n        stage: deploy\n        script:\n          - echo \"Deploying to ${ENV} environment\"\n      verify-${ENV}:\n        stage: verify\n        script:\n          - echo \"Running smoke tests on ${ENV}\"\n      EOF\n      done\n  artifacts:\n    paths:\n      - \"*.yml\"\n    exclude:\n      - \".gitlab-ci.yml\"\n\n.trigger-template:\n  stage: trigger-environments\n  trigger:\n    strategy: depend\n\ntrigger-dev:\n  extends: .trigger-template\n  trigger:\n    include:\n      - artifact: dev-pipeline.yml\n        job: generate-config\n\ntrigger-staging:\n  extends: .trigger-template\n  needs: [trigger-dev]\n  trigger:\n    include:\n      - artifact: staging-pipeline.yml\n        job: generate-config\n\ntrigger-prod:\n  extends: .trigger-template\n  needs: [trigger-staging]\n  trigger:\n    include:\n      - artifact: prod-pipeline.yml\n        job: generate-config\n  when: manual\n```\n\n\nThe generation script loops over an `ENVIRONMENTS` variable rather than hardcoding each environment separately. Pass in a different list via a CI variable or read it from a config file and the pipeline adapts without touching the YAML. The trigger jobs use [extends:](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/#extends) to inherit shared configuration from `.trigger-template`, so `strategy: depend` is defined once rather than repeated on every trigger job. Add a new environment by updating the variable, not by duplicating pipeline config. Add [when: manual](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/#when) to the production trigger and you get a promotion gate baked right into the pipeline graph.\n\n\nWhy it matters: SaaS companies and platform teams use this pattern to manage dozens of environments without duplicating pipeline logic. The pipeline structure itself stays lean as the deployment matrix grows.\n\n\n![Dynamic pipeline](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738765/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image7_wr0kx2.png \"Dynamic pipeline\")\n\n\n## 4. MR-first delivery: Merge request pipelines, merged results, and workflow routing\n\n\nThe problem: Your pipeline runs on every push to every branch. Expensive tests run on feature branches that will never merge. Meanwhile, you have no guarantee that what you tested is actually what will land on `main` after a merge.\n\n\nGitLab has three interlocking features that solve this together:\n\n\n*   [Merge request pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/merge_request_pipelines/) run only when a merge request exists, not on every branch push. This alone eliminates a significant amount of wasted compute.\n\n*   [Merged results pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/merged_results_pipelines/) go further. GitLab creates a temporary merge commit (your branch plus the current target branch) and runs the pipeline against that. You are testing what will actually exist after the merge, not just your branch in isolation.\n\n*   [Workflow rules](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/workflow/) let you define exactly which pipeline type runs under which conditions and suppress everything else. The `$CI_OPEN_MERGE_REQUESTS` guard below prevents duplicate pipelines firing for both a branch and its open MR simultaneously.\n\n\nWith those three working together, here is what a tiered pipeline looks like:\n\n```yaml\n# .gitlab-ci.yml\nworkflow:\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"merge_request_event\"\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH && $CI_OPEN_MERGE_REQUESTS\n      when: never\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"schedule\"\n\nstages:\n  - fast-checks\n  - expensive-tests\n  - deploy\n\nlint-code:\n  stage: fast-checks\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running linter\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"push\"\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"merge_request_event\"\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n\nunit-tests:\n  stage: fast-checks\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running unit tests\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"push\"\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"merge_request_event\"\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n\nintegration-tests:\n  stage: expensive-tests\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running integration tests (15 min)\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"merge_request_event\"\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n\ne2e-tests:\n  stage: expensive-tests\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running E2E tests (30 min)\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"merge_request_event\"\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n\nnightly-comprehensive-scan:\n  stage: expensive-tests\n  script:\n    - echo \"Running full nightly suite (2 hours)\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == \"schedule\"\n\ndeploy-production:\n  stage: deploy\n  script:\n    - echo \"Deploying to production\"\n  rules:\n    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == \"main\"\n      when: manual\n```\n\nWith this setup, the pipeline behaves differently depending on context. A push to a feature branch with no open MR runs lint and unit tests only. Once an MR is opened, the workflow rules switch from a branch pipeline to an MR pipeline, and the full integration and E2E suite runs against the merged result. Merging to `main` queues a manual production deployment. A nightly schedule runs the comprehensive scan once, not on every commit.\n\n\nWhy it matters: Teams routinely cut CI costs significantly with this pattern, not by running fewer tests, but by running the right tests at the right time. Merged results pipelines catch the class of bugs that only appear after a merge, before they ever reach `main`.\n\n\n![Conditional pipelines (within a branch with no MR)](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738768/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image6_dnfcny.png \"Conditional pipelines (within a branch with no MR)\")\n\n\n\n![Conditional pipelines (within an MR)](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738772/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image1_wyiafu.png \"Conditional pipelines (within an MR)\")\n\n\n\n![Conditional pipelines (on the main branch)](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738774/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image5_r6lkfd.png \"Conditional pipelines (on the main branch)\")\n\n## 5. Governed pipelines: CI/CD Components\n\n\nThe problem: Your platform team has defined the right way to build, test, and deploy. But every team has their own `.gitlab-ci.yml` with subtle variations. Security scanning gets skipped. Deployment standards drift. Audits are painful.\n\n\nGitLab [CI/CD Components](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/components/) let platform teams publish versioned, reusable pipeline building blocks. Application teams consume them with a single `include:` line and optional inputs — no copy-paste, no drift. Components are discoverable through the [CI/CD Catalog](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/components/#cicd-catalog), which means teams can find and adopt approved building blocks without needing to go through the platform team directly.\n\n\nHere is a component definition from a shared library:\n\n```yaml\n# templates/deploy.yml\nspec:\n  inputs:\n    stage:\n      default: deploy\n    environment:\n      default: production\n---\ndeploy-job:\n  stage: $[[ inputs.stage ]]\n  script:\n    - echo \"Deploying $APP_NAME to $[[ inputs.environment ]]\"\n    - echo \"Deploy URL: $DEPLOY_URL\"\n  environment:\n    name: $[[ inputs.environment ]]\n```\nAnd here is how an application team consumes it:\n\n```yaml\n# Application repo: .gitlab-ci.yml\nvariables:\n  APP_NAME: \"my-awesome-app\"\n  DEPLOY_URL: \"https://api.example.com\"\n\ninclude:\n  - component: gitlab.com/my-org/component-library/build@v1.0.6\n  - component: gitlab.com/my-org/component-library/test@v1.0.6\n  - component: gitlab.com/my-org/component-library/deploy@v1.0.6\n    inputs:\n      environment: staging\n\nstages:\n  - build\n  - test\n  - deploy\n```\n\nThree lines of `include:` replace hundreds of lines of duplicated YAML. The platform team can push a security fix to `v1.0.7` and teams opt in on their own schedule — or the platform team can pin everyone to a minimum version. Either way, one change propagates everywhere instead of needing to be applied repo by repo.\n\n\nPair this with [resource groups](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/resource_groups/) to prevent concurrent deployments to the same environment, and [protected environments](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/environments/protected_environments/) to enforce approval gates - and you have a governed delivery platform where compliance is the default, not the exception.\n\n\nWhy it matters: This is the pattern that makes GitLab CI/CD scale across hundreds of teams. Platform engineering teams enforce compliance without becoming a bottleneck. Application teams get a fast path to a working pipeline without reinventing the wheel.\n\n\n![Component pipeline (imported jobs)](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1775738776/Blog/Imported/hackathon-fake-blog-post-s/image2_pizuxd.png \"Component pipeline (imported jobs)\")\n\n## Putting it all together\n\nNone of these features exist in isolation. The reason GitLab's pipeline model is worth understanding deeply is that these primitives compose:\n\n*   A monorepo uses parent-child pipelines, and each child uses DAG execution\n\n*   A microservices platform uses multi-project pipelines, and each project uses MR pipelines with merged results\n\n*   A governed platform uses CI/CD components to standardize the patterns above across every team\n\n\nMost teams discover one of these features when they hit a specific pain point. The ones who invest in understanding the full model end up with a delivery system that actually reflects how their engineering organization works, not a pipeline that fights it.\n\n## Other patterns worth exploring\n\n\nThe five patterns above cover the most common structural pain points, but GitLab's pipeline model goes further. A few others worth looking into as your needs grow:\n\n\n*   [Review apps with dynamic environments](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/environments/) let you spin up a live preview for every feature branch and tear it down automatically when the MR closes. Useful for teams doing frontend work or API changes that need stakeholder sign-off before merging.\n\n*   [Caching and artifact strategies](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/caching/) are often the fastest way to cut pipeline runtime after the structural work is done. Structuring `cache:` keys around dependency lockfiles and being deliberate about what gets passed between jobs with [artifacts:](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/yaml/#artifacts) can make a significant difference without changing your pipeline shape at all.\n\n*   [Scheduled and API-triggered pipelines](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/pipelines/schedules/) are worth knowing about because not everything should run on a code push. Nightly security scans, compliance reports, and release automation are better modeled as scheduled or [API-triggered](https://docs.gitlab.com/ci/triggers/) pipelines with `$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE` routing the right jobs for each context.\n\n## How to get started\n\nModern software delivery is complex. Teams are managing monorepos with dozens of services, coordinating across multiple repositories, deploying to many environments at once, and trying to keep standards consistent as organizations grow. GitLab's pipeline model was built with all of that in mind.\n\nWhat makes it worth investing time in is how well the pieces fit together. Parent-child pipelines bring structure to large codebases. Multi-project pipelines make cross-team dependencies visible and testable. Dynamic pipelines turn environment management into something that scales gracefully. MR-first delivery with merged results ensures confidence at every step of the review process. And CI/CD Components give platform teams a way to share best practices across an entire organization without becoming a bottleneck.\n\nEach of these features is powerful on its own, and even more so when combined. GitLab gives you the building blocks to design a delivery system that fits how your team actually works, and grows with you as your needs evolve.\n\n> [Start a free trial of GitLab Ultimate](https://about.gitlab.com/free-trial/) to use pipeline logic today.\n\n## Read more\n\n*   [Variable and artifact sharing in GitLab parent-child pipelines](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/variable-and-artifact-sharing-in-gitlab-parent-child-pipelines/)\n*   [CI/CD inputs: Secure and preferred method to pass parameters to a pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/ci-cd-inputs-secure-and-preferred-method-to-pass-parameters-to-a-pipeline/)\n*   [Tutorial: How to set up your first GitLab CI/CD component](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/tutorial-how-to-set-up-your-first-gitlab-ci-cd-component/)\n*   [How to include file references in your CI/CD components](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/how-to-include-file-references-in-your-ci-cd-components/)\n*   [FAQ: GitLab CI/CD Catalog](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/faq-gitlab-ci-cd-catalog/)\n*   [Building a GitLab CI/CD pipeline for a monorepo the easy way](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/building-a-gitlab-ci-cd-pipeline-for-a-monorepo-the-easy-way/)\n*   [A CI/CD component builder's journey](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/a-ci-component-builders-journey/)\n*   [CI/CD Catalog goes GA: No more building pipelines from scratch](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/ci-cd-catalog-goes-ga-no-more-building-pipelines-from-scratch/)","5 ways GitLab pipeline logic solves real engineering problems","Learn how to scale CI/CD with composable patterns for monorepos, microservices, environments, and governance.",[716],"Omid Khan","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772721753/frfsm1qfscwrmsyzj1qn.png","2026-04-09",[102,720,721,722],"DevOps platform","tutorial","features",{"featured":24,"template":13,"slug":724},"5-ways-gitlab-pipeline-logic-solves-real-engineering-problems",{"content":726,"config":736},{"title":727,"description":728,"authors":729,"heroImage":731,"date":732,"body":733,"category":9,"tags":734},"How to use GitLab Container Virtual Registry with Docker Hardened Images","Learn how to simplify container image management with this step-by-step guide.",[730],"Tim Rizzi","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772111172/mwhgbjawn62kymfwrhle.png","2026-03-12","If you're a platform engineer, you've probably had this conversation:\n  \n*\"Security says we need to use hardened base images.\"*\n\n*\"Great, where do I configure credentials for yet another registry?\"*\n\n*\"Also, how do we make sure everyone actually uses them?\"*\n\nOr this one:\n\n*\"Why are our builds so slow?\"*\n\n*\"We're pulling the same 500MB image from Docker Hub in every single job.\"*\n\n*\"Can't we just cache these somewhere?\"*\n\nI've been working on [Container Virtual Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/) at GitLab specifically to solve these problems. It's a pull-through cache that sits in front of your upstream registries — Docker Hub, dhi.io (Docker Hardened Images), MCR, and Quay — and gives your teams a single endpoint to pull from. Images get cached on the first pull. Subsequent pulls come from the cache. Your developers don't need to know or care which upstream a particular image came from.\n\nThis article shows you how to set up Container Virtual Registry, specifically with Docker Hardened Images in mind, since that's a combination that makes a lot of sense for teams concerned about security and not making their developers' lives harder.\n\n## What problem are we actually solving?\n\nThe Platform teams I usually talk to manage container images across three to five registries:\n\n* **Docker Hub** for most base images\n* **dhi.io** for Docker Hardened Images (security-conscious workloads)\n* **MCR** for .NET and Azure tooling\n* **Quay.io** for Red Hat ecosystem stuff\n* **Internal registries** for proprietary images\n\nEach one has its own:\n\n* Authentication mechanism\n* Network latency characteristics\n* Way of organizing image paths\n\nYour CI/CD configs end up littered with registry-specific logic. Credential management becomes a project unto itself. And every pipeline job pulls the same base images over the network, even though they haven't changed in weeks.\n\nContainer Virtual Registry consolidates this. One registry URL. One authentication flow (GitLab's). Cached images are served from GitLab's infrastructure rather than traversing the internet each time.\n\n## How it works\n\nThe model is straightforward:\n\n```text\nYour pipeline pulls:\n  gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/1000016/python:3.13\n\nVirtual registry checks:\n  1. Do I have this cached? → Return it\n  2. No? → Fetch from upstream, cache it, return it\n\n```\n\nYou configure upstreams in priority order. When a pull request comes in, the virtual registry checks each upstream until it finds the image. The result gets cached for a configurable period (default 24 hours).\n\n```text\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│                    CI/CD Pipeline                       │\n│                          │                              │\n│                          ▼                              │\n│   gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/\u003Cid>/image   │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n                           │\n                           ▼\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│            Container Virtual Registry                   │\n│                                                         │\n│  Upstream 1: Docker Hub ────────────────┐               │\n│  Upstream 2: dhi.io (Hardened) ────────┐│               │\n│  Upstream 3: MCR ─────────────────────┐││               │\n│  Upstream 4: Quay.io ────────────────┐│││               │\n│                                      ││││               │\n│                    ┌─────────────────┴┴┴┴──┐            │\n│                    │        Cache          │            │\n│                    │  (manifests + layers) │            │\n│                    └───────────────────────┘            │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n```\n\n## Why this matters for Docker Hardened Images\n\n[Docker Hardened Images](https://docs.docker.com/dhi/) are great because of the minimal attack surface, near-zero CVEs, proper software bills of materials (SBOMs), and SLSA provenance. If you're evaluating base images for security-sensitive workloads, they should be on your list.\n\nBut adopting them creates the same operational friction as any new registry:\n\n* **Credential distribution**: You need to get Docker credentials to every system that pulls images from dhi.io.\n* **CI/CD changes**: Every pipeline needs to be updated to authenticate with dhi.io.\n* **Developer friction**: People need to remember to use the hardened variants.\n* **Visibility gap**: It's difficult to tell if teams are actually using hardened images vs. regular ones.\n\nVirtual registry addresses each of these:\n\n**Single credential**: Teams authenticate to GitLab. The virtual registry handles upstream authentication. You configure Docker credentials once, at the registry level, and they apply to all pulls.\n\n**No CI/CD changes per-team**: Point pipelines at your virtual registry. Done. The upstream configuration is centralized.\n\n**Gradual adoption**: Since images get cached with their full path, you can see in the cache what's being pulled. If someone's pulling `library/python:3.11` instead of the hardened variant, you'll know.\n\n**Audit trail**: The cache shows you exactly which images are in active use. Useful for compliance, useful for understanding what your fleet actually depends on.\n\n## Setting it up\n\nHere's a real setup using the Python client from this demo project.\n\n### Create the virtual registry\n\n```python\nfrom virtual_registry_client import VirtualRegistryClient\n\nclient = VirtualRegistryClient()\n\nregistry = client.create_virtual_registry(\n    group_id=\"785414\",  # Your top-level group ID\n    name=\"platform-images\",\n    description=\"Cached container images for platform teams\"\n)\n\nprint(f\"Registry ID: {registry['id']}\")\n# You'll need this ID for the pull URL\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hub as an upstream\n\nFor official images like Alpine, Python, etc.:\n\n```python\ndocker_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://registry-1.docker.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hub\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io)\n\nDocker Hardened Images are hosted on `dhi.io`, a separate registry that requires authentication:\n\n```python\ndhi_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-docker-username\",\n    password=\"your-docker-access-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add other upstreams\n\n```python\n# MCR for .NET teams\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://mcr.microsoft.com\",\n    name=\"Microsoft Container Registry\",\n    cache_validity_hours=48\n)\n\n# Quay for Red Hat stuff\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://quay.io\",\n    name=\"Quay.io\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Update your CI/CD\n\nHere's a `.gitlab-ci.yml` that pulls through the virtual registry:\n\n```yaml\nvariables:\n  VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID: \u003Cyour_virtual_registry_ID>\n\n  \nbuild:\n  image: docker:24\n  services:\n    - docker:24-dind\n  before_script:\n    # Authenticate to GitLab (which handles upstream auth for you)\n    - echo \"${CI_JOB_TOKEN}\" | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin gitlab.com\n  script:\n    # All of these go through your single virtual registry\n    \n    # Official Docker Hub images (use library/ prefix)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/library/alpine:latest\n    \n    # Docker Hardened Images from dhi.io (no prefix needed)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/python:3.13\n    \n    # .NET from MCR\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/dotnet/sdk:8.0\n```\n\n### Image path formats\n\nDifferent registries use different path conventions:\n\n| Registry | Pull URL Example |\n|----------|------------------|\n| Docker Hub (official) | `.../library/python:3.11-slim` |\n| Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io) | `.../python:3.13` |\n| MCR | `.../dotnet/sdk:8.0` |\n| Quay.io | `.../prometheus/prometheus:latest` |\n\n### Verify it's working\n\nAfter some pulls, check your cache:\n\n```python\nupstreams = client.list_registry_upstreams(registry['id'])\nfor upstream in upstreams:\n    entries = client.list_cache_entries(upstream['id'])\n    print(f\"{upstream['name']}: {len(entries)} cached entries\")\n\n```\n\n## What the numbers look like\n\nI ran tests pulling images through the virtual registry:\n\n| Metric | Without Cache | With Warm Cache |\n|--------|---------------|-----------------|\n| Pull time (Alpine) | 10.3s | 4.2s |\n| Pull time (Python 3.13 DHI) | 11.6s | ~4s |\n| Network roundtrips to upstream | Every pull | Cache misses only |\n\n\n\n\nThe first pull is the same speed (it has to fetch from upstream). Every pull after that, for the cache validity period, comes straight from GitLab's storage. No network hop to Docker Hub, dhi.io, MCR, or wherever the image lives.\n\nFor a team running hundreds of pipeline jobs per day, that's hours of cumulative build time saved.\n\n## Practical considerations\nHere are some considerations to keep in mind:\n\n### Cache validity\n\n24 hours is the default. For security-sensitive images where you want patches quickly, consider 12 hours or less:\n\n```python\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-username\",\n    password=\"your-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=12\n)\n```\n\nFor stable, infrequently-updated images (like specific version tags), longer validity is fine.\n\n### Upstream priority\n\nUpstreams are checked in order. If you have images with the same name on different registries, the first matching upstream wins.\n\n### Limits\n\n* Maximum of 20 virtual registries per group\n* Maximum of 20 upstreams per virtual registry\n\n## Configuration via UI\n\nYou can also configure virtual registries and upstreams directly from the GitLab UI—no API calls required. Navigate to your group's **Settings > Packages and registries > Virtual Registry** to:\n\n* Create and manage virtual registries\n* Add, edit, and reorder upstream registries\n* View and manage the cache\n* Monitor which images are being pulled\n\n## What's next\n\nWe're actively developing:\n\n* **Allow/deny lists**: Use regex to control which images can be pulled from specific upstreams.\n\nThis is beta software. It works, people are using it in production, but we're still iterating based on feedback.\n\n## Share your feedback\n\nIf you're a platform engineer dealing with container registry sprawl, I'd like to understand your setup:\n\n* How many upstream registries are you managing?\n* What's your biggest pain point with the current state?\n* Would something like this help, and if not, what's missing?\n\nPlease share your experiences in the [Container Virtual Registry feedback issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/589630).\n## Related resources\n- [New GitLab metrics and registry features help reduce CI/CD bottlenecks](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/new-gitlab-metrics-and-registry-features-help-reduce-ci-cd-bottlenecks/#container-virtual-registry)\n- [Container Virtual Registry documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/)\n- [Container Virtual Registry API](https://docs.gitlab.com/api/container_virtual_registries/)",[721,735,722],"product",{"featured":12,"template":13,"slug":737},"using-gitlab-container-virtual-registry-with-docker-hardened-images",{"content":739,"config":749},{"title":740,"description":741,"authors":742,"heroImage":744,"date":745,"category":9,"tags":746,"body":748},"How IIT Bombay students are coding the future with GitLab","At GitLab, we often talk about how software accelerates innovation. But sometimes, you have to step away from the Zoom calls and stand in a crowded university hall to remember why we do this.",[743],"Nick Veenhof","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099013/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2814%29_6VTUA8mUhOZNDaRVNPeKwl_1750099012960.png","2026-01-08",[255,617,747],"open source","The GitLab team recently had the privilege of judging the **iHack Hackathon** at **IIT Bombay's E-Summit**. The energy was electric, the coffee was flowing, and the talent was undeniable. But what struck us most wasn't just the code — it was the sheer determination of students to solve real-world problems, often overcoming significant logistical and financial hurdles to simply be in the room.\n\n\nThrough our [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we aim to empower the next generation of developers with tools and opportunity. Here is a look at what the students built, and how they used GitLab to bridge the gap between idea and reality.\n\n## The challenge: Build faster, build securely\n\nThe premise for the GitLab track of the hackathon was simple: Don't just show us a product; show us how you built it. We wanted to see how students utilized GitLab's platform — from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines — to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode — Democratizing Scientific Research\n\n**Project:** FIRE (Fast Integrated Research Environment)\n\nTeam Decode took home the top prize with a solution that warms a developer's heart: a local-first, blazing-fast data processing tool built with [Rust](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/secure-rust-development-with-gitlab/) and Tauri. They identified a massive pain point for data science students: existing tools are fragmented, slow, and expensive.\n\nTheir solution, FIRE, allows researchers to visualize complex formats (like NetCDF) instantly. What impressed the judges most was their \"hacker\" ethos. They didn't just build a tool; they built it to be open and accessible.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** Since the team lived far apart, asynchronous communication was key. They utilized **GitLab Issue Boards** and **Milestones** to track progress and integrated their repo with Telegram to get real-time push notifications. As one team member noted, \"Coordinating all these technologies was really difficult, and what helped us was GitLab... the Issue Board really helped us track who was doing what.\"\n\n![Team Decode](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/epqazj1jc5c7zkgqun9h.jpg)\n\n### 2nd place: Team BichdeHueDost — Reuniting to Solve Payments\n\n**Project:** SemiPay (RFID Cashless Payment for Schools)\n\nThe team name, BichdeHueDost, translates to \"Friends who have been set apart.\" It's a fitting name for a group of friends who went to different colleges but reunited to build this project. They tackled a unique problem: handling cash in schools for young children. Their solution used RFID cards backed by a blockchain ledger to ensure secure, cashless transactions for students.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** They utilized [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/) to automate the build process for their Flutter application (APK), ensuring that every commit resulted in a testable artifact. This allowed them to iterate quickly despite the \"flaky\" nature of cross-platform mobile development.\n\n![Team BichdeHueDost](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/pkukrjgx2miukb6nrj5g.jpg)\n\n### 3rd place: Team ZenYukti — Agentic Repository Intelligence\n\n**Project:** RepoInsight AI (AI-powered, GitLab-native intelligence platform)\n\nTeam ZenYukti impressed us with a solution that tackles a universal developer pain point: understanding unfamiliar codebases. What stood out to the judges was the tool's practical approach to onboarding and code comprehension: RepoInsight-AI automatically generates documentation, visualizes repository structure, and even helps identify bugs, all while maintaining context about the entire codebase.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** The team built a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline that showcased GitLab's security and DevOps capabilities. They integrated [GitLab's Security Templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security) (SAST, Dependency Scanning, and Secret Detection), and utilized [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/container_registry/) to manage their Docker images for backend and frontend components. They created an AI auto-review bot that runs on merge requests, demonstrating an \"agentic workflow\" where AI assists in the development process itself.\n\n![Team ZenYukti](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/ymlzqoruv5al1secatba.jpg)\n\n## Beyond the code: A lesson in inclusion\n\nWhile the code was impressive, the most powerful moment of the event happened away from the keyboard.\n\nDuring the feedback session, we learned about the journey Team ZenYukti took to get to Mumbai. They traveled over 24 hours, covering nearly 1,800 kilometers. Because flights were too expensive and trains were booked, they traveled in the \"General Coach,\" a non-reserved, severely overcrowded carriage.\n\nAs one student described it:\n\n*\"You cannot even imagine something like this... there are no seats... people sit on the top of the train. This is what we have endured.\"*\n\nThis hit home. [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/) are core values at GitLab. We realized that for these students, the barrier to entry wasn't intellect or skill, it was access.\n\nIn that moment, we decided to break that barrier. We committed to reimbursing the travel expenses for the participants who struggled to get there. It's a small step, but it underlines a massive truth: **talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.**\n\n![hackathon class together](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380252/o5aqmboquz8ehusxvgom.jpg)\n\n### The future is bright (and automated)\n\nWe also saw incredible potential in teams like Prometheus, who attempted to build an autonomous patch remediation tool (DevGuardian), and Team Arrakis, who built a voice-first job portal for blue-collar workers using [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo-agent-platform/) to troubleshoot their pipelines.\n\nTo all the students who participated: You are the future. Through [GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we are committed to providing you with the top-tier tools (like GitLab Ultimate) you need to learn, collaborate, and change the world — whether you are coding from a dorm room, a lab, or a train carriage. **Keep shipping.**\n\n> :bulb: Learn more about the [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/).\n",{"slug":750,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"promotions":752},[753,767,778,790],{"id":754,"categories":755,"header":757,"text":758,"button":759,"image":764},"ai-modernization",[756],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":760,"config":761},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":762,"dataGaName":763,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":765},{"src":766},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":768,"categories":769,"header":770,"text":758,"button":771,"image":775},"devops-modernization",[735,563],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":772,"config":773},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":774,"dataGaName":763,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":776},{"src":777},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":779,"categories":780,"header":782,"text":758,"button":783,"image":787},"security-modernization",[781],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":784,"config":785},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":786,"dataGaName":763,"dataGaLocation":237},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":788},{"src":789},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"id":791,"paths":792,"header":795,"text":796,"button":797,"image":802},"github-azure-migration",[793,794],"migration-from-azure-devops-to-gitlab","integrating-azure-devops-scm-and-gitlab","Is your team ready for GitHub's Azure move?","GitHub is already rebuilding around Azure. Find out what it means for you.",{"text":798,"config":799},"See how GitLab compares to GitHub",{"href":800,"dataGaName":801,"dataGaLocation":237},"/compare/gitlab-vs-github/github-azure-migration/","github azure migration",{"config":803},{"src":777},{"header":805,"blurb":806,"button":807,"secondaryButton":812},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":808,"config":809},"Get your free trial",{"href":810,"dataGaName":44,"dataGaLocation":811},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":499,"config":813},{"href":48,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":811},1776458648694]