Using GitLab Pipelines

You can build your custom Continuous Deployment jobs using GitLab Pipelines and Bolt APIs.

To use this feature it is required to have a production environment configured in Paradime.

ℹ️ Check our setup guide here based on your data warehouse provider.

Create a CD Bolt schedule

To start create a new Bolt schedule and make sure to add the deferred_schedule configuration. Depending on your intended behavior you can choose to defer to another production job or defer back to the last CD run.

The deferred_schedule_name set in the configuration should have at least one successful run available, so that Paradime can pick the manifest.json for state comparison.

Example schedule

...
  - name: continuous_deployment_run # the name of your CD job
    deferred_schedule:
      enabled: true # true to enabled this Turbo CI job to run on pull request
      deferred_schedule_name: continuous_deployment_run #the name of the bolt schedule where the CD job will look for the most recent successful run manifest.json for state comparison
    schedule: "OFF" # set the schedule configuration to not run on a schedule (to be used for PR only)
    environment: production #the environment used to run the schedule -> this is always production
    commands:
      - dbt run --select state:modified+ #the dbt™️ command you want to run after the pull request is merged
    owner_email: "john@acme.io" #the email of the CD job owner_email
...

Generate API keys and find you workspace token

API keys are generate at a workspace level.

To be able to trigger Bolt using the API, you will first need to generate API keys for your workspace. Got to account settings and generate your API keys, make sure to save in your password manager:

  • API key

  • API secret

  • API Endpoint

You will need this later when setting up the secret in GitLab pipelines.

Create a GitLab Pipeline

GitLab merged results pipelines is a feature available only on Tier: Premium, Ultimate. Make sure to enable merge results pipelines in GitLab before proceeding to next step.

Now you will need to create a new .gitlab-ci.yml file at the root of your project your dbt™️ repository. Copy the code block below and enter the values required.

Example GitLab pipelines configuration file
.gitlab-ci.yml
# Define the stages of the pipeline. In this case, we only have one stage
stages:
  - paradime_continuous_deployment

# Main job definition
paradime_continuous_deployment:
  # Specify which stage this job belongs to
  stage: paradime_continuous_deployment
  
  # Use Python 3.11 as the base Docker image for this job
  image: python:3.11
  
  # Define when this pipeline should be triggered
  rules:
    # This job will only run when all these conditions are met:
    # - CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event": Triggered by a merge request
    # - CI_MERGE_REQUEST_EVENT_TYPE == "merged": The merge request is being merged
    # - CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "main": The target branch is 'main'
    - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event" && $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_EVENT_TYPE == "merged" && $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "main"'
  
  # Define environment variables needed for the job
  variables:
    # These variables should be configured in GitLab CI/CD settings as protected variables
    PARADIME_API_KEY: ${PARADIME_API_KEY}         # API key for Paradime authentication
    PARADIME_API_SECRET: ${PARADIME_API_SECRET}   # API secret for Paradime authentication
    PARADIME_API_ENDPOINT: ${PARADIME_API_ENDPOINT} # Paradime API endpoint URL
    PARADIME_SCHEDULE_NAME: "continuous_deployment_run" # Name of the Paradime schedule to run
  
  # Commands to run before the main script
  before_script:
    # Install the Paradime Python SDK
    - pip install paradime-io==4.7.1  # Check for latest version of the Paradime Python SDK on https://github.com/paradime-io/paradime-python-sdk/releases
  
  # Main script to execute
  # Run the Paradime bolt schedule with the specified name
  # The --wait flag makes the script wait for the schedule to complete
  script: |
    paradime bolt run "$PARADIME_SCHEDULE_NAME" --wait
  
  # Set a timeout of 60 minutes for this job
  # If the job hasn't completed within this time, it will be terminated
  timeout: 60 minutes

Add the API key and Credential in the GitLab variables

Finally you need to add the API key and credentials generated in the previous step in GitLab CI/CD pipelines.

Set the corresponding values using your credentials for the variable names:

  • PARADIME_API_KEY

  • PARADIME_API_SECRET

  • PARADIME_API_ENDPOINT

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