1---
2stage: Configure
3group: Configure
4info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
5---
6
7# Auto DevOps development guide **(FREE)**
8
9This document provides a development guide for contributors to
10[Auto DevOps](../topics/autodevops/index.md).
11
12<i class="fa fa-youtube-play youtube" aria-hidden="true"></i>
13An [Auto DevOps technical walk-through](https://youtu.be/G7RTLeToz9E)
14is also available on YouTube.
15
16## Development
17
18Auto DevOps builds on top of GitLab CI/CD to create an automatic pipeline
19based on your project contents. When Auto DevOps is enabled for a
20project, the user does not need to explicitly include any pipeline configuration
21through a [`.gitlab-ci.yml` file](../ci/yaml/index.md).
22
23In the absence of a `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, the [Auto DevOps CI
24template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml)
25is used implicitly to configure the pipeline for the project. This
26template is a top-level template that includes other sub-templates,
27which then defines jobs.
28
29Some jobs use images that are built from external projects:
30
31- [Auto Build](../topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-build) uses
32  [configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Jobs/Build.gitlab-ci.yml)
33  in which the `build` job uses an image that is built using the
34  [`auto-build-image`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/auto-build-image)
35  project.
36- [Auto Deploy](../topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-deploy) uses
37  [configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Jobs/Deploy.gitlab-ci.yml)
38  in which the jobs defined in this template use an image that is built using the
39  [`auto-deploy-image`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/auto-deploy-image)
40  project. By default, the Helm chart defined in
41  [`auto-deploy-app`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/auto-deploy-image/-/tree/master/assets/auto-deploy-app) is used to deploy.
42
43There are extra variables that get passed to the CI jobs when Auto
44DevOps is enabled that are not present in a normal CI job. These can be
45found in
46[`ProjectAutoDevops`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/bf69484afa94e091c3e1383945f60dbe4e8681af/app/models/project_auto_devops.rb).
47
48## Development environment
49
50See the [Simple way to develop/test Kubernetes workflows with a local cluster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit/-/issues/1064)
51issue for discussion around setting up Auto DevOps development environments.
52
53## Monitoring on GitLab.com
54
55The metric
56[`auto_devops_completed_pipelines_total`](https://thanos.gitlab.net/graph?g0.range_input=72h&g0.max_source_resolution=0s&g0.expr=sum(increase(auto_devops_pipelines_completed_total%7Benvironment%3D%22gprd%22%7D%5B60m%5D))%20by%20(status)&g0.tab=0)
57(only available to GitLab team members) counts completed Auto DevOps
58pipelines, labeled by status.
59