Lifecycle Meta-argument

The Lifecycle meta-argument in Togomak allows you to define the various phases to which a stage belongs. In Togomak, a pipeline's lifecycle is made up of different phases, each serving a specific purpose. Similar to the Maven Build Lifecycle, Togomak's lifecycle phases help you organize your pipeline stages effectively.

Defining Lifecycle Phases

To define lifecycle phases for a stage, you use the lifecycle meta-argument within the stage or your module block in your Togomak configuration file. Here's the basic structure:

stage "example" {
  script = "echo hello world"
  lifecycle {
    phase = ["default", "validate", "build"]
  }
}

In this example, the stage belongs to the "default", "validate", and "build" phases of the pipeline lifecycle. Each phase signifies a specific stage in your CI/CD process. You can customize these phases based on your workflow requirements.

Understanding Phases in Togomak

• default: The default phase is essential for stages that need to run in every pipeline execution. It represents the baseline phase for all stages.
• validate: The validate phase is typically used for stages that perform validation checks on your code, configurations, or dependencies. It ensures that your project adheres to specific standards or guidelines.
• build: Stages in the build phase are responsible for compiling code, creating binaries, or generating artifacts. This phase is crucial for preparing your application for deployment.
• deploy: The deploy phase includes stages that handle the deployment of your application to various environments. Stages in this phase might involve pushing containers, running Terraform scripts, or deploying to cloud services.

You can also create your own custom lifecycle phases, as of togomak v2.0.0-alpha.1,

stage "example" {
  script = "echo hello world"
  lifecycle {
    phase = ["myphase"]
  }
}

And now your stage.example would run when you run togomak myphase

Overriding Lifecycle Phases

Unless explicitly specified, a stage or a module's lifecycle phase defaults to ["default"]. You can override the lifecycle phases for a specific stage by employing Togomak's flexible rules system. Rules allow you to add, remove, or modify phases dynamically based on specific conditions, giving you fine-grained control over your pipeline execution.

Example

Consider a scenario where you have a stage named "test," and you want it to run only in the "default" and "validate" phases of your pipeline. Here's how you can achieve this:

stage "test" {
  script = "go test ./..."
  lifecycle {
    phase = ["default", "validate"]
  }
}

Similarly, if you have another stage deploy which you would not want to execute by default, but only when requested manually you can:

stage "terraform" {
  script = "terraform apply -auto-approve"
  lifecycle {
    phase = ["deploy"]
  }
}