Gitlab pipeline doesn't activate with .gitlab-ci.yml file in repo root

Question

I am using GitLab for my CI/CD. I have a Firebase application where I am trying to deploy the functions. However, the pipeline does not activate/get created, even with the .gitlab-ci.yml file. I have enabled shared runners, my code is in my dev branch which I am referring to in the ci file.

My folder structure looks like (with .gitlab-ci.yml file at the root of the repo):

- .gitlab-ci.yml
- project
  - functions
    - ...
  - src
    - ...

My gitlab-ci.yml file:

image: node:12.13.0-alpine

variables:
  ENV: "dev"

before_script:
  - npm i -g firebase-tools

stages:
  - build
  - deploy

DeployFunctions:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - cd project/functions
    - npm install
    - cd ..
    - firebase deploy --only functions --token $TBT_DEV_FIREBASE_CI
  only:
    refs:
      - dev
    changes:
      - functions/**/*

When I lint the file using the GitLab CI Lint, and I lint it without selecting the option "Simulate a pipeline created for the default branch", the syntax seems to be correct. However, when I select that option, I get the following error:

No stages / jobs for this pipeline.

When I add the Builder job ie the following block, everything works fine:

...

stages:
  - build
  - deploy

Builder:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "Commencing build"

DeployFunctions:
  stage: deploy
  script:

...

This leads me to believe that I'm not correctly defining the DeployFunctions job. Can anyone see what is wrong with it?

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The fact that no pipeline gets created makes it seem that it's an issue with the only: refs tag. I linted your file, the syntax is correct.

Is your CI file included in your dev branch? As far as I'm concerned it should work as long as the .gitlab-ci.yml is tracked on the dev branch and you push to that branch. Did you do all of that?

Answer 2

I was able to get my pipelines to create after removing some configuration from my .gitlab-ci.yml file. In the end I removed the entire only block. Somehow, the configuration under this block was wrong, including the changes block under only , even though the same configuration can be seen in many .gitlab-ci.yml examples.

image: node:12.13.0-alpine

before_script:
  - npm i -g firebase-tools

stages:
  - deploy

DeployFunctions:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - cd project/functions
    - npm install
    - cd ..
    - firebase deploy --only functions --token $DEV_FIREBASE_CI