Git Integration
Jenkins connects to Git repositories to fetch your code before every build.
Syntax
git branch: 'main', url: 'https://github.com/user/repo.git'Jenkins integrates tightly with Git through the built-in Git plugin. Almost every pipeline starts by checking out code from a repository.
Ways to configure Git
- Freestyle job — fill in the repository URL under Source Code Management.
- Pipeline — use the
gitstep or the more flexiblecheckoutstep. - Pipeline from SCM — Jenkins checks out the repo just to find and run the Jenkinsfile.
Authentication
For private repositories, store an SSH key or a personal access token in the Jenkins credentials store and reference it by ID.
Example
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('Checkout') {
steps {
git branch: 'main',
url: 'https://github.com/example/my-app.git',
credentialsId: 'github-token'
}
}
stage('Show commit') {
steps {
sh 'git log -1 --oneline'
}
}
}
}When to use it
- A pipeline checks out a private GitHub repo using an SSH key credential stored in the Jenkins credentials store.
- A team configures the Git SCM step with a refspec to fetch only the branch that triggered the build.
- Jenkins checks out a shallow clone with a depth of 1 to speed up builds on a repository with a very long history.
More examples
Checkout via pipeline SCM
Clones a private GitHub repository using a stored HTTPS token credential.
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('Checkout') {
steps {
git url: 'https://github.com/org/myapp.git',
branch: 'main',
credentialsId: 'github-https-token'
}
}
}
}Shallow clone for speed
Performs a shallow Git clone with depth 1 to avoid downloading the full repository history.
steps {
checkout([
$class: 'GitSCM',
branches: [[name: '*/main']],
extensions: [[$class: 'CloneOption', depth: 1, shallow: true]],
userRemoteConfigs: [[url: '[email protected]:org/myapp.git',
credentialsId: 'github-ssh']]
])
}Checkout specific tag
Checks out a specific Git tag provided as a pipeline parameter, useful for release builds.
steps {
checkout([
$class: 'GitSCM',
branches: [[name: "refs/tags/v${params.VERSION}"]],
userRemoteConfigs: [[url: 'https://github.com/org/myapp.git',
credentialsId: 'github-https-token']]
])
}
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