gitlab-ci-validator

GitLab CI/CD Validator

Comprehensive toolkit for validating, linting, testing, and securing .gitlab-ci.yml configurations.

Trigger Phrases

Use this skill when requests include intent like:

• "Validate this .gitlab-ci.yml"
• "Why is this GitLab pipeline failing?"
• "Run a security review for our GitLab CI"
• "Check pipeline best practices"
• "Lint GitLab CI config before merge"

Setup And Prerequisites (Run First)

All commands below assume repository root as current working directory.

# Ensure validator scripts are executable
chmod +x devops-skills-plugin/skills/gitlab-ci-validator/scripts/*.sh \
  devops-skills-plugin/skills/gitlab-ci-validator/scripts/*.py

# Required runtime
python3 --version

Use one canonical command path for orchestration:

VALIDATOR="bash devops-skills-plugin/skills/gitlab-ci-validator/scripts/validate_gitlab_ci.sh"

Optional local execution tooling (for --test-only):

bash devops-skills-plugin/skills/gitlab-ci-validator/scripts/install_tools.sh

Quick Start Commands

# 1) Full validation (syntax + best practices + security)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml

# 2) Syntax and schema only (required first gate)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml --syntax-only

# 3) Best-practices only (recommended)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml --best-practices

# 4) Security only (required before merge)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml --security-only

# 5) Optional local pipeline structure test (needs gitlab-ci-local + Docker)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml --test-only

# 6) Strict mode (treat best-practice warnings as failure)
$VALIDATOR .gitlab-ci.yml --strict

Deterministic Validation Workflow

Follow these gates in order:

1. Run Quick Start command 2 (--syntax-only).
2. If syntax fails, stop and fix errors before continuing.
3. Run Quick Start command 3 (--best-practices) and apply relevant improvements.
4. Run Quick Start command 4 (--security-only) and fix all critical/high findings before merge.
5. Optionally run Quick Start command 5 (--test-only) for local execution checks.
6. Run Quick Start command 6 (--strict) for final merge gate.