Can Jenkins pipelines have variable stages? - jenkins

Question

From my experience with Jenkins declarative-syntax pipelines, I'm aware that you can conditionally skip a stage with a when clause. E.g.:
run_one = true
run_two = false
run_three = true
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('one') {
when {
expression { run_one }
}
steps {
echo 'one'
}
}
stage('two') {
when {
expression { run_two }
}
steps {
echo 'two'
}
}
stage('three') {
when {
expression { run_three }
}
steps {
echo 'three'
}
}
}
}
...in the above code block, there are three stages, one, two, and three, each of whose execution is conditional on a boolean variable.
I.e. the paradigm is that there is a fixed superset of known stages, of which individual stages may be conditionally skipped.
Does Jenkins pipeline script support a model where there is no fixed superset of known stages, and stages can be "looked up" for conditional execution?
To phrase it as pseudocode, is something along the lines of the following possible:
my_list = list populated _somehow_, maybe reading a file, maybe Jenkins build params, etc.
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
if (stage(my_list[0]) exists) {
run(stage(my_list[0]))
}
if (stage(my_list[1]) exists) {
run(stage(my_list[1]))
}
if (stage(my_list[2]) exists) {
run(stage(my_list[2]))
}
}
}
?
I think another way to think about what I'm asking is: is there a way to dynamically build a pipeline from some dynamic assembly of stages?

Answer 1

For dynamic stages you could write either a fully scripted pipeline or use a declarative pipeline with a scripted section (e. g. by using the script {…} step or calling your own function). For an overview see Declarative versus Scripted Pipeline syntax and Pipeline syntax overview.
Declarative pipeline is better supported by Blue Ocean so I personally would use that as a starting point. Disadvantage might be that you need to have a fixed root stage, but I usually name that "start" or "init" so it doesn't look too awkward.
In scripted sections you can call stage as a function, so it can be used completely dynamic.
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('start') {
steps {
createDynamicStages()
}
}
}
}
void createDynamicStages() {
// Stage list could be read from a file or whatever
def stageList = ['foo', 'bar']
for( stageName in stageList ) {
stage( stageName ) {
echo "Hello from stage $stageName"
}
}
}
This shows in Blue Ocean like this: