Install Any Additional Tool

If you need something you can’t find a Step for, you can always install & use tools with scripts or Script steps.

Just add a Script step to your Workflow, and either write your script there, or run a script from your repository.

Passwordless _sudo_ is enabled on all of our build virtual machines, so you can freely use _sudo_ if you need it.

Once you have a working script, you can also transform it into a Step and optionally share it with others (through our StepLib). You can find a template and more information about how you can create your own Step at: https://github.com/bitrise-steplib/step-template

Step by step setup ⚓

1. Open your app on Bitrise.io
2. Open the app’s Workflow Editor (on the Workflow tab -> click Manage Workflows)
3. Select a Workflow
4. Click on the + sign (you can see this between every step), where you want to insert your Script step
5. In the step list search for “script”, and click the Add to Workflow button on the “Script” step item.
6. Now that you have the Script step in your workflow, you just have to select it and write your script into the Script content input (on the right side of the Workflow Editor).

Note: you can drag-and-drop reorder the steps in the Workflow, so you don’t have to delete and re-add a step if you’d want to change the order.

If you want to run a script from your repository you can run it from this Script step. Paths are relative to your repository’s root. So, for example, if you have a Bash script at path/to/script.sh you can run it with this Script content:

bash ./path/to/script.sh

Or, in a more robust form (which is better if you want to extend the content in the future):

#!/bin/bash
set -ex
bash ./path/to/script.sh

The _set -ex_ line is recommended for every multi-line Bash script, to make your scripts easier to debug.

You can of course run non Bash scripts too, e.g. a Ruby script:

#!/bin/bash
set -ex
ruby ./path/to/script.rb

Examples ⚓

At this point you already have the Script step in your Workflow, and you just have to write the script to install the dependency. How do you do that? Exactly the same way you would on your own Mac / Linux, in your Terminal / Command Line!

brew on macOS ⚓

For example, to install cmake with a script step, on macOS, using brew:

#!/bin/bash
set -ex
brew install cmake

Actually, the whole Script content could be as short as:

brew install cmake

Which is exactly how you would use brew on your Mac, but you’ll most likely add more content to the Script step sooner or later; the first example is a more future proof Bash script template.

apt-get on Linux ⚓

For example, to install cmake with a script step, on Linux, using apt-get:

#!/bin/bash
set -ex
sudo apt-get install -y cmake

Advanced option: use deps in bitrise.yml ⚓

Instead of installing your tool inside the Script step, you can use the deps option of the bitrise.yml. If you declare deps for a given Step, the Bitrise CLI will check if that tool is installed, and will install it for you if required.

An example, installing cmake with either apt-get (where apt-get is available), or with brew (on macOS):

deps:
  brew:
  - name: cmake
  apt_get:
  - name: cmake

A minimal bitrise.yml for demonstration:

format_version: 1.2.0
default_step_lib_source: https://github.com/bitrise-io/bitrise-steplib.git

workflows:
  test:
    steps:
    - script:
        deps:
          brew:
          - name: cmake
          apt_get:
          - name: cmake
        inputs:
          - content: |-
              #!/bin/bash
              set -ex
              which cmake

An advanced tip: if you want to declare a dependency which might be available from another source (not through the package manager), then you might also want to declare the related binary name. If that matches the package name (like in case of cmake) this is completely optional, but in case the package does not match the binary name you can declare it with bin_name. An example is AWS CLI, where the package name in both package managers is awscli, but the binary itself is aws.

A minimal bitrise.yml for demonstration:

format_version: 1.3.0
default_step_lib_source: https://github.com/bitrise-io/bitrise-steplib.git

workflows:
  test:
    steps:
    - script:
        deps:
          brew:
          - name: awscli
            bin_name: aws
          apt_get:
          - name: awscli
            bin_name: aws
        inputs:
          - content: |-
              #!/bin/bash
              set -ex
              which aws

Conditional execution ⚓

Additionally, you can use Environment Variables in your scripts too. As an example, using the PR environment variable (but you can use any Available Environment Variable, like the ones exposed by previous steps in the Workflow), to run different scripts in case of a Pull Request and a non Pull Request build:

#!/bin/bash
set -ex

if [[ "$PR" == "true" ]] ; then
  echo "=> Pull Request mode/build!"
  bash ./path/to/in-case-of-pull-request.sh
else
  echo "=> Not Pull Request mode/build!"
  bash ./path/to/not-pull-request.sh
fi

Note: if you don’t want to run any part of the Step/script based on a variable (like _$PR_), you don’t have to implement the check in the script. You can use the __run_if_ expression in the _bitrise.yml_ _directly to declare in which case(s) the Step should run. Additionally, _run_if__ can be added to any step, not just to Script steps. You can find more information about _run_if_ expressions in _this guide_._