Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are essential for modern software development. They automate the process of building, testing, and deploying applications, ensuring faster delivery and higher quality.

Why CI/CD for Ballerina?

Ballerina is designed for building cloud-native applications, making it a great fit for modern development practices. A CI/CD pipeline for Ballerina offers several benefits.

• Automate testing to catch bugs early.
• Build and package your application for deployment.
• Push your Ballerina modules to Ballerina Central or container registries.
• Ensure consistency across development, testing, and production environments.

With Ballerina, you gain the flexibility to implement CI/CD pipelines universally across automation-supporting platforms. Whether you prefer GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or another CI/CD tool, the core steps remain the same. Below are the sample configurations for popular platforms to get started quickly.

GitHub Actions for Ballerina

GitHub Actions is a powerful CI/CD tool integrated directly into GitHub repositories. Here’s how you can set up a pipeline for your Ballerina project.

1. In your repository, create a .github/workflows/ballerina-ci.yml file.

2. Below is an example workflow that tests, builds, and pushes your Ballerina project.

   name: Ballerina CI/CD Pipeline
   
   on: [push, pull_request]
   
   jobs:
     build-and-deploy:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
   
       steps:
         - name: Checkout Code
           uses: actions/checkout@v3
   
         - name: Set up Ballerina
           uses: ballerina-platform/setup-ballerina@v1
           with:
             version: 2201.11.0 # Specify the Ballerina version
   
         - name: Cache Ballerina Dependencies
           uses: actions/cache@v3
           with:
             path: ~/.ballerina
             key: ballerina-deps-${{ hashFiles('**/Ballerina.toml') }}
             restore-keys: |
               ballerina-deps-
   
         - name: Run Tests
           run: bal test
   
         - name: Build Ballerina Project
           run: bal pack
   
         - name: Push to Ballerina Central
           run: bal push
           env:
             BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
   
         # Optional: Docker Build and Push
         - name: Build Docker Image
           run: bal build --cloud=docker
   
         - name: Push Docker Image
           run: | # Replace the docker image name, version and repository with correct values 
             echo "${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}" | docker login -u "${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}" --password-stdin
             docker push my-ballerina-app:${{ github.sha }}

• Dependency caching: Speeds up builds by caching Ballerina dependencies.
• Ballerina Central integration: Pushes modules to Ballerina Central using a secure token.
• Docker support: Builds and pushes Docker images if your project requires containerization.

To use this workflow, you need to add the BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN and DOCKER_USERNAME and DOCKER_PASSWORD secrets to your repository. Ballerina Central access token can be generated from Ballerina Central. Docker username and password can be obtained from Docker Hub. Replace the docker image name, version, and repository with the correct values.

GitLab CI/CD for Ballerina

GitLab CI/CD is another popular tool for automating software development workflows. Here’s how to set up a pipeline for a Ballerina project.

1. Create a .gitlab-ci.yml file in the root of your repository.

2. Add the following pipeline configuration to the file.

stages:
- test
- build
- push

variables:
   BALLERINA_VERSION: "2201.11.0" # Specify the Ballerina version

cache:
   key: ballerina-deps-$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
   paths:
      - ~/.ballerina/

before_script:
   - apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl unzip
   - curl -L -o ballerina-$BALLERINA_VERSION-swan-lake-linux-x64.deb https://dist.ballerina.io/downloads/$BALLERINA_VERSION/ballerina-$BALLERINA_VERSION-swan-lake-linux-x64.deb
   - dpkg -i ballerina-$BALLERINA_VERSION-swan-lake-linux-x64.deb
   - bal version

test:
   stage: test
   script:
      - bal test

build:
   stage: build
   script:
      - bal build

push:
   stage: push
   script:
      - bal pack
      - bal push
   only:
      - main
   environment:
      name: production
   variables:
      BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: $BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN

• Ballerina setup: Automatically installs the specified Ballerina version.
• Dependency caching: Caches dependencies to speed up builds.
• Ballerina Central integration: Pushes modules to Ballerina Central.

To use this workflow, you need to add the BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN secret to your repository. Ballerina Central access token can be generated from Ballerina Central.

Bitbucket pipelines for Ballerina

Bitbucket Pipelines is a CI/CD tool integrated into Bitbucket repositories. Here’s how to set up a pipeline for your Ballerina project.

1. Create a bitbucket-pipelines.yml file in the root of your repository.

2. Add the following pipeline configuration to the file.

   image: ballerina/ballerina:2201.11.0 # Specify the Ballerina version
   
   pipelines:
     default:
       - step:
           name: Run Tests
           caches:
             - ballerina
           script:
             - bal test
       - step:
           name: Build Project
           caches:
             - ballerina
           script:
             - bal pack
       - step:
           name: Push to Ballerina Central
           script:
             - export BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=$BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN 
             - bal push
   
     pull-requests:
       "**":
         - step:
             name: Build and Test PR
             caches:
               - ballerina
             script:
               - bal test
               - bal pack
   
   definitions:
     caches:
       ballerina: ~/.ballerina

• Dependency caching: Caches Ballerina dependencies for faster builds.
• Pull request support: Runs tests and builds for pull requests.
• Ballerina Central integration: Pushes modules to Ballerina Central.

To use this workflow, you need to add the BALLERINA_CENTRAL_ACCESS_TOKEN secret to your repository. Ballerina Central access token can be generated from Ballerina Central.

Best practices for Ballerina CI/CD pipelines

1. Use environment variables: Store sensitive data like tokens and credentials in environment variables or secrets.

2. Cache dependencies: Cache Ballerina dependencies to speed up builds.

3. Add notifications: Integrate notifications (e.g., Slack, email) to alert teams about build status.

4. Test across multiple Ballerina versions: Use matrix builds to test your project against multiple Ballerina versions.

5. Containerize your application: If your project requires containerization, add Docker build and push steps to your pipeline.

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline for your Ballerina project is a straightforward process that can significantly improve your development workflow. Whether you use GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or Bitbucket Pipelines, automating your build, test, and deployment processes ensures faster delivery and higher-quality applications. By following the steps and best practices outlined in this article, you’ll be well on your way to building a robust CI/CD pipeline for your Ballerina projects.