GitLab Steps ADR 001: Bootstrap Step Runner

Context

GitLab Steps is a new feature that does not have any prior usage at GitLab. We decided that there are two important objectives at this stage of the project:

• Integrate the project into existing CI pipelines for the purpose of user evaluation as part of an experiment phase.
• Provide a contribution framework for other developers in the form of a project with contribution guidelines.

Decision

The GitLab Steps: Iteration 1: Bootstrap Step Runner (MVC) was created to achieve the following objectives:

• We defined the initial plan to bootstrap the project.
• The project will be stored in gitlab-org/step-runner.
• We will implement the Step Definition as a Protocol Buffer. The initial implementation is described in the Baseline Step Proto.
• Usage of Protocol Buffers will provide strong guards for the minimal required definition to be used by the project.
• We will provide documentation on how to use GitLab Steps in existing CI pipelines.

Alternatives

No alternatives were considered at this phase, since there’s no pre-existing work at GitLab for that type of feature.