GitLab CD Pipeline trigger

Github Action to trigger Gitlab CD pipeline

Credit to digital-blueprint, This clone is adapted to my usecase.

GitHub | GitHub Marketplace

This GitHub action triggers and waits for a GitLab pipeline to complete.

You can for example use this action in your GitHub workflow to trigger a deployment pipeline on a private GitLab server after a successful build pipeline and wait for the deployment (with possible End2End tests) to finish, so you would get a notification if the deployment failed.

Inputs

URL

The GitLab URL to trigger the pipeline on. Default gitlab.com.

PROJECT_ID

Required The ID or path of the project owned by the authenticated user. You will find the Project ID in the General Settings of your GitLab project.

REF_NAME

The branch or tag to run the pipeline on. Default main.

GITLB_TRIGGER_TOKEN

Required The GitLab pipeline trigger token to trigger the pipeline.

ACCESS_TOKEN (optional)

An optional GitLab access token used to retrieve pipeline status via the GitLab API.

If you want to poll your pipeline and get its status (e.g. pending, running, success, failed) after triggering it, you'll need to provide a valid Personal Access Token, Project Access Token, or CI Job Token with the read_api scope.

If not provided, the pipeline will still be triggered, but its status will not be tracked.

💡 Need help generating a token?
See: Creating a Personal Access Token

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🔐 Why use a separate token?

To trigger a pipeline, a token must have the api scope. This scope grants full access to the GitLab API, including write actions like modifying repository files, managing CI/CD settings, and more.

For security reasons, it's best not to reuse the same token for both triggering and polling the pipeline. By using a dedicated token with only the read_api scope for polling status, you:

• Limit exposure of elevated permissions,
• Follow the principle of least privilege,
• Reduce the risk in case the token is accidentally leaked.

Use separate tokens for triggering and polling when possible to ensure a more secure setup.

PIPELINE_VARIABLES

A map of key-valued strings containing the pipeline variables. For example: { VAR1: "value1", VAR2: "value2" }.. Default "World".

Outputs

web_url

The URL of the pipeline, for example https://gitlab.com/foo/bar/pipelines/47.

Example usage

uses: mb-wali/gitlab-cd-trigger@main
with:
  URL: 'gitlab.example.com'
  GITLB_TRIGGER_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_TRIGGER_TOKEN }}
  ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITLAB_PROJECT_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
  PROJECT_ID: '123'
  REF_NAME: 'main'
  PIPELINE_VARIABLES: '{"VAR1":"value1","VAR2":"value2"}'

Development

npm install
npm run build