GitLab CI for Rails

The same principles as GitHub Actions, different YAML. If you're on GitLab, use the platform's native CI rather than mixing in Jenkins / GitHub Actions. Auto DevOps is tempting but opinionated — overrides are common.

The opinion

One .gitlab-ci.yml per repo, stages in order (build → test → security → deploy). Use cache for gems / yarn. Use services for Postgres + Redis. Use parallel: N for RSpec sharding. Deploy via Kamal in a deploy stage gated on protected main branch + manual approval for production. Use OIDC (GitLab CI ID Token) for cloud auth — never static keys in CI variables.

Pattern 1: Top-level structure