CircleCI Documentation Project

The CircleCI Server installation service is a professional engagement designed to help server administrators set up a new instance of CircleCI Server. A field engineer manages the process through multiple working sessions and phases to ensure an efficient and optimized deployment.

Key benefits include:

• Infrastructure Assessment: Detailed review of prerequisites and infrastructure requirements.
• Optimized Deployment: Installation of the latest Server version tailored to your specific needs.
• Environment Tuning: Configuration and fine-tuning for optimal performance.
• Tool Integration: Integration with your existing tools and systems.
• Validation: Thorough testing to ensure the installation is functional and successful.

Chunk is an AI agent for CI/CD tasks that assists through a natural language chat interface and task scheduling. It connects to your existing CircleCI pipelines and analyzes build history and repository code to understand test, configuration, and dependency behavior.

Core Capabilities:

• Fix flaky tests: Identify and resolve known flaky tests.
• Extend test coverage: Add new tests for untested or under-tested code.
• Fix bugs: Detect and resolve bugs in your code.
• Refactor code: Suggest improvements for maintainability.
• Improve documentation: Enhance documentation for key functions and components.
• Optimize build configs: Review and improve CircleCI configurations.

Note: Chunk is currently in beta. It uses CircleCI credits and your AI model provider tokens.

CircleCI Server 4.9 is an on-premises CI/CD platform designed for enterprise customers with specific compliance or security requirements. It allows organizations to operate within their own firewall, private cloud, or data center by deploying the platform within a Kubernetes cluster on GCP or AWS.

Key characteristics:

• Provides the same features as the CircleCI cloud offering.
• Operates within your own Kubernetes cluster.
• Supports job scheduling via HashiCorp Nomad.
• Uses object storage (S3, Google Cloud Storage, etc.) for job artifacts, outputs, and audit logs.

Config policies allow organization admins to enforce rules and scopes on CircleCI project configurations (config.yml). These policies can mandate specific configuration elements, allow certain patterns, or prohibit others. In strict enforcement modes, pipelines will not trigger until the configuration complies with all associated policy rules. Decisions are stored and auditable, providing visibility into the pipeline definitions used across an organization.

Availability:

• Plan: Scale Plan
• Server: CircleCI Server v4.2+
• Requirement: Must be an organization admin.

CircleCI server is an on-premises CI/CD platform designed for enterprise customers with compliance or security requirements that necessitate operating within a private cloud, data center, or behind a firewall. It provides the same feature set as CircleCI's cloud offering but runs within your own Kubernetes cluster on GCP or AWS.

Core Architecture

• Deployment Target: Kubernetes clusters (EKS, GKE, or local).
• Job Scheduling: Uses HashiCorp Nomad to schedule CI jobs.
• Execution Environments:
  • Nomad for the Docker executor.
  • Machine provisioner for virtual machines (the machine executor).
  • Runner for all executor types.
• Storage: Job artifacts, outputs, and audit logs are sent directly to object storage (e.g., S3, Google Cloud Storage, or MinIO). Both the Kubernetes cluster and Nomad clients require access to this object storage.

CircleCI Server 4.10 is an on-premises CI/CD platform designed for enterprise customers with specific compliance or security requirements. It allows organizations to operate within their own firewall, private cloud, or data center by deploying the platform onto a Kubernetes cluster on GCP or AWS.

Key characteristics:

• Provides the same features as CircleCI's cloud offering.
• Operates within your own Kubernetes cluster.
• Supports job scheduling via HashiCorp Nomad.
• Uses object storage (S3, Google Cloud Storage, etc.) for job artifacts, outputs, and audit logs.

CircleCI provides several tools to enhance the developer experience:

Command Line Interfaces

• CircleCI CLI: The primary tool for interacting with CircleCI from your terminal.
• Chunk CLI: A specialized CLI for managing code chunks.
• Environment CLI: A tool for managing environment-specific configurations.

Integration and IDEs

• VS Code Extension: Bring CircleCI insights and controls directly into your editor.
• MCP (Model Context Protocol): Connect to CircleCI via MCP servers or the CLI MCP for AI-assisted workflows.

APIs and SDKs

• API v2: The standard interface for programmatic interaction with CircleCI.
• Config SDK: Tools for programmatically generating or managing CircleCI configurations.
• Orb Development Kit: Tools for building and testing CircleCI Orbs.

The CircleCI Config SDK allows you to programmatically generate CircleCI YAML configuration files instead of writing them manually. This is useful for:

• Replacing manual YAML writing: Use JavaScript logic to construct your config.
• Generating static YAML: Useful for CLI tools that output configuration files.
• Modularization: Manage your configuration as versioned Node packages.
• Dynamic Configuration: Enhance CircleCI's Dynamic Configuration capabilities.
• Tooling Integrations: Build integrations for CLI tools or browser-based experiences (like the visual config editor).