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Step reference/ID format

Abstract

To refer to a Step in a bitrise.yml file, you need to include at least the Step ID. Optionally, you can specify the StepLib source and the Step version, too.

A Step reference can contain three components:

  1. The StepLib source: a library of Step repositories, such as the official Bitrise Step Library.

  2. The Step ID: every Step must have an ID as part of its step.yml definition.

  3. The Step version: the numerical version of the Step you want to include.

Use the following syntax to reference a Step:

<step_lib_source>::<step-id>@<version>:

From these three components only the Step ID is required. For example:

- script:

This could be written as:

https://github.com/bitrise-io/bitrise-steplib.git::script@1:

  • If the version is not defined, the latest version of the step will be used.

  • If the StepLib source is not defined, the default_step_lib_source will be used.

We recommend pinning the major version of a Step when referencing it. In the example above, script@1 means major version 1 of the Script Step is pinned: the Step will run with the latest available minor and patch versions of the Step. For example, if the latest minor version is 1.2, and the latest patch version is 1.2.2 then pinning major version 1 means the Step will use version 1.2.2.

Special Step sources

There are two special Step sources:

  • git::

  • and path::

When you use one of these sources, the Step won’t be identified through a Step Library but through the ID data you specify.

The git:: source

The git:: source is the repository of the Step on your git hosting provider. The script Step’s GitHub source is: https://github.com/bitrise-io/steps-script. To reference the script Step directly through a git reference, you can use the git:: source, the Step’s git clone URL, and the branch or tag in the repository.

To reference the 1.1.3 version tag of the script Step’s repository:

- git::https://github.com/bitrise-io/[email protected]:

In general, whenever you can use a Step version through a Step Library, you should do that, instead of using the git:: source type. Features like local step caching, network caching, or alternative download URLs are only supported for Steps shared in a StepLib.

But this type of referencing allows certain things you can’t get through a StepLib. For example, the git:: source type can be used for not-yet-published or work-in-progress states of a Step. If you develop your own Step, you can use this git:: source type to test your step before you publish it in a StepLib.

To reference soon-to-be-released branch of your repository where you're developing a Step:

- git::https://github.com/bitrise-io/steps-script.git@soon-to-be-released:

The path:: source

The path:: source specifies a local path to a Step's repository, and it requires no version information. Both absolute and relative local paths are supported. A relative path is relative to the folder containing the bitrise.yml file.

- path::/path/to/my/step:

- path::./relative/path:

This is useful for Step development. It can also be used if you want to include your build Steps in your app’s source code.

In this section:

A Step is a block of script execution that encapsulates a build task on Bitrise: the code to perform that task, the inputs and parameters you can define for the task, and the outputs the task generates.

The interface definition of a Bitrise Step. It defines the Step inputs and the generated outputs, as well as any other Step property such as the category and the description of the Step. It also points to the Step's source code.