CI/CD Pipeline Templates for Java Projects Using GitLab and Kubernetes

The repository follows a simple directory layout where the jobs folder stores individual job templates and the templates folder contains the base pipeline template ( default-pipeline.yml) used by all jobs.

Job Templates

Four main job groups are defined:

Build jobs ( jobs/build.yml) – includes standard Maven/NPM/Gradle builds and a Docker image build stage.

Test jobs ( jobs/test.yml) – runs unit tests and publishes JUnit reports.

Code analysis jobs ( jobs/codeanalysis.yml) – executes SonarQube scans with configurable parameters.

Artifact jobs ( jobs/artifactory.yml) – uploads and downloads artifacts from an Artifactory repository.

Deploy jobs ( jobs/deploy.yml) – applies Kubernetes manifests and performs rollbacks.

Each job template uses the rules keyword to enable or disable execution based on pipeline variables such as RUN_PIPELINE_BUILD, RUN_CODE_ANALYSIS, and RUN_DEPLOY_K8S.

Default Pipeline Template

The templates/default-pipeline.yml file assembles the pipeline with the following sections:

include:
  - project: 'cidevops/cidevops-newci-service'
    ref: master
    file: 'jobs/build.yml'
  - project: 'cidevops/cidevops-newci-service'
    ref: master
    file: 'jobs/test.yml'
  - project: 'cidevops/cidevops-newci-service'
    ref: master
    file: 'jobs/codeanalysis.yml'
  - project: 'cidevops/cidevops-newci-service'
    ref: master
    file: 'jobs/deploy.yml'
  - project: 'cidevops/cidevops-newci-service'
    ref: master
    file: 'jobs/artifactory.yml'

Global variables are defined under variables: to control repository paths, Docker image names, SonarQube credentials, and Kubernetes deployment parameters.

The workflow: section restricts pipeline execution to merge‑request events, web triggers, and excludes version‑branch commits, while the stages: list orders the execution order (build, test, code_analysis, deploy‑artifact, deploy‑feature, rollout‑feature, etc.).

Example Build Job

build:
  image: ${BUILD_IMAGE}
  extends: .build

Kubernetes Deployment

.deploy_k8s:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - kubectl config set-cluster my-cluster --server=${KUBE_URL} --certificate-authority="${KUBE_CA_PEM_FILE}"
    - kubectl config set-credentials admin --token=${KUBE_TOKEN}
    - sed -i "s#__namespace__#${NAMESPACE}#g" ${DEPLOY_FILE}
    - kubectl apply -f ${DEPLOY_FILE}
  environment:
    name: "${ENV_NAME}"
    url: "http://${ENV_NAME}.${CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE}.${CI_PROJECT_NAME}.devops.com"
  rules:
    - if: "$RUN_DEPLOY_K8S == 'no'"
      when: never
    - when: manual

The guide also shows how to configure feature, UAT, staging, and production environments with corresponding rollout jobs, and provides sample variable settings for a Java project (Maven build, SonarQube analysis, Docker image creation, and Kubernetes deployment).

Overall, the document serves as a comprehensive reference for setting up a cloud‑native CI/CD pipeline that automates building, testing, scanning, artifact management, and Kubernetes‑based deployment of Java applications.