Pipelines, YAMLs, and endless configs that’s yesterday’s DevOps. Today, speed wins. Imagine pushing your code and watching it build, test, scan, and deploy itself.
That’s not magic that’s Auto DevOps.
GitLab AutoDevOps helps automate this process by providing a set of pre-configured pipeline stages.
What is Gitlab Auto DevOps ?
GitLab Auto DevOps is a collection of pre-defined CI/CD pipeline with build, test, deploy, security and monitor stages that work together to support your software delivery process. In simpler terms GitLab Auto DevOps is like a readymade pipeline that does all the DevOps work for you it builds your code, tests it, deploys it, and keeps an eye on it automatically.
Auto DevOps detects your programming language using Heroku Buildpacks and uses CI/CD templates to create and run default pipelines to build and test your application.
Why should one use it?
Imagine this:
- You manually write Dockerfiles and CI/CD YAMLs for every new app.
- Jenkins pipelines fail because of plugin mismatches.
- Security scans run after deployment too late to fix easily.
- Each team deploys differently to Kubernetes, causing chaos.
- Monitoring dashboards live in another tool nobody checks.
Your team spends more time maintaining pipelines than delivering features.Every change needs multiple approvals, rebuilds, and reconfigurations.The DevOps flow becomes fragmented, slow, and error prone.
Now imagine this instead:
- You push your code; Auto DevOps does the rest.
- Your app is automatically built, tested, and deployed without writing a single pipeline.
- Security scans and code checks run in the same flow, catching issues early.
- Monitoring and metrics are built-in no extra setup needed.
- It works with any Kubernetes cluster, cloud or on-prem.
Everything from code to deployment lives in one platform.
Customize the AutoDevOps Workflow by
Setting specific environment variables in your project settings
Override Specific Auto DevOps Jobs
Combine Auto DevOps with Custom Templates.
Stages in AutoDevops
Let’s see Auto DevOps in action that automates the Build, Deploy, and Security Scan stages.
Pre-Requisites
a. You must have at least the Maintainer role for the project.
b. AutoDevops runs pipeline automatically only if a DockerFile exists.
c. If a .gitlab-ci.yml exists, it overrides the Auto DevOps pipeline.
1. We will be using pre-defined template easily available on gitlab to show how the auto DevOps feature works for a simple application
2. Create a new project -> create from template -> select from available template -> NodeJS Express -> project name -
3. Enable Auto DevOps option – This is the first step towards automating your DevOps pipeline.
Navigate to Settings > CI/CD, click the Expand button next to Auto DevOps. Select 3rd option , you can click on the “?” symbol to get deep understanding
.
In the left-hand navigation pane, click Code > Branches.
In the branch menu, click new branch. ( see figure ).
In the Branch name field, enter new feature.
4. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Build > Pipelines. You’ll see an Auto DevOps pipeline running on the branch you just created.
4.1 Click on the pipeline’s running status icon and note the stages and the jobs that Auto DevOps has created. You can see
4.2 In the build stage it creates the build of the application using existing Dockerfile or Heroku Buildpacks. The docker image is pushed to the container registry and tagged with the commit SHA or tag. We can check by navigating to Deploy > Container Registry to see your app.
4.3 The test stage - which runs various tests on your application code to ensure it is secure and high quality.
Code Quality – It will scan to detect if the code quality has changed between the main and the merge request code. If any code quality issues exist, they will be flagged in this section.
The container scanning (check Docker image), Secret detection and semgrep-SAST jobs will check if any vulnerabilities are found in the code.
Dependency Scan - will scan to detect any new licenses and dependencies added to the project.
The DAST stage - Analyse a deployed version of your web application for known vulnerabilities by examining it from the outside in by running API calls on the app. DAST works by simulating external attacks on your application while it is running. Currently not configured live to check actual results.
What you just saw isn’t limited to a single Node.js app it’s the power of Auto DevOps in motion.
Whether it’s Python, Java, Go, or microservices running across clusters, Auto DevOps brings end-to-end CI/CD automation with zero manual setup. One feature, endless possibilities Auto DevOps scales with your code, not against it.
- Conclusion
GitLab Auto DevOps simplifies the entire CI/CD process by automating repetitive tasks such as building, testing, deploying, and securing applications. It provides a ready-to-use, end-to-end DevOps pipeline that allows teams to focus more on innovation and less on manual configuration. Moreover, we can integrate essential DevSecOps capabilities like SAST, DAST, dependency, and container scanning, making security a built-in part of your pipeline rather than an afterthought.
For organizations and teams looking to accelerate software delivery, maintain code quality, and improve collaboration, GitLab Auto DevOps is a powerful solution. It’s especially helpful for small teams or projects starting their CI/CD journey, as well as enterprises seeking standardized automation at scale.
“Stop Building Pipelines. Start Building Products - Auto DevOps handles the rest”
Venu Sonavane
Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( PSD- GCC )