Build Metadata Guide
Additional metadata can be sent up with your Bazel invocation to give BuildBuddy more information about your build.
Repository URL
BuildBuddy allows you to group invocations by the repository on which they were run. In order to perform this grouping, BuildBuddy needs the repository's git url. There are three ways of providing this information to BuildBuddy:
Build metadata
The first method is simple - just provide the repo URL with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key REPO_URL. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc:
build --build_metadata=REPO_URL=https://github.com/buildbuddy-io/buildbuddy.git
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace. You can copy the contents of this one. This will populate your repo url, git branch, commit sha, and other build metadata automatically for every invocation.
Environment variables
BuildBuddy will automatically pull your repo URL from environment variables if you're using a common CI platform like Github Actions, CircleCI, Travis, Jenkins, Gitlab CI, Bitrise, or BuildKite. The environment variables currently supported are GITHUB_REPOSITORY, CIRCLE_REPOSITORY_URL, TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG, GIT_URL, CI_REPOSITORY_URL, REPO_URL, GIT_REPOSITORY_URL, and BUILDKITE_REPO.
Git Branch
BuildBuddy allows you to group invocations by the git branch on which they were run. In order to perform this grouping, BuildBuddy needs the branch name. There are three ways of providing this information to BuildBuddy:
Build metadata
You can provide the current git branch with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key BRANCH_NAME. You can do this by adding the flag to your bazel invocations:
--build_metadata=BRANCH_NAME=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
Note: you cannot add this particular flag to your .bazelrc file because it does not support parameter substitution. If you're looking for a solution that supports your .bazelrc file, try the Workspace info method below.
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace. You can copy the contents of this one. This will populate your repo url, git branch, commit sha, and other build metadata automatically for every invocation.
Environment variables
BuildBuddy will automatically pull your git branch from environment variables if you're using a common CI platform like Github Actions, CircleCI, Travis, Jenkins, Gitlab CI, Bitrise, or BuildKite. The environment variables currently supported are GITHUB_REF, GITHUB_HEAD_REF, CIRCLE_BRANCH, BUILDKITE_BRANCH, BITRISE_GIT_BRANCH, TRAVIS_BRANCH, GIT_BRANCH, and CI_COMMIT_BRANCH. Note that GITHUB_REF will be ignored when it refers to a tag, or overridden by GITHUB_HEAD_REF for pull requests.
Commit SHA
Build metadata
You can provide the current commit SHA with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key COMMIT_SHA. You can do this by adding the flag to your bazel invocations:
--build_metadata=COMMIT_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
Note: you cannot add this particular flag to your .bazelrc file because it does not support parameter substitution. If you're looking for a solution that supports your .bazelrc file, try the Workspace info method below.
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace. You can copy the contents of this one. This will populate your repo url, git branch, commit sha, and other build metadata automatically for every invocation.
Environment variables
BuildBuddy will automatically pull your commit SHA from environment variables if you're using a common CI platform like Github Actions, CircleCI, Travis, Jenkins, Gitlab CI, Bitrise, or BuildKite. The environment variables currently supported are GITHUB_SHA, CIRCLE_SHA1, TRAVIS_COMMIT, BITRISE_GIT_COMMIT, VOLATILE_GIT_COMMIT, CI_COMMIT_SHA, COMMIT_SHA and BUILDKITE_COMMIT.
Role
The role metadata field allows you to specify whether this invocation was done on behalf of a CI (continuous integration) system. If set, this enables features like Github commit status reporting (if a Github account is linked).
For CI builds, you can add the following line to your .bazelrc and run your CI builds with the --config=ci flag:
build:ci --build_metadata=ROLE=CI
This role will automatically be populated if the environment variable CI is set, which it is in most CI systems like Github Actions, CircleCI, Travis, Gitlab CI, BuildKite, Bitrise, and others.
Test groups
If using Github commit status reporting, you can use the test groups metadata field to specify how tests are grouped in your Github commit statuses. Test groups are specified as a comma separated list of test path prefixes that should be grouped together.
build --build_metadata=TEST_GROUPS=//foo/bar,//foo/baz
Visibility
The visibility metadata field determines who is allowed to view your build results. By default, unauthenticated builds are publicly visible to anyone with a link, while authenticated builds are only available to members of your organization.
You can override these default settings and make authenticated builds visible to anyone with a link by adding the following line to your .bazelrc:
build --build_metadata=VISIBILITY=PUBLIC
User
By default a build's user is determined by the system on which Bazel is run.
BuildBuddy will automatically pull your username from environment variables if you're using a common CI platform like Github Actions, CircleCI, Travis, Jenkins, Gitlab CI, Bitrise, or BuildKite. The environment variables currently supported are USER, GITHUB_ACTOR, GITLAB_USER_NAME, BUILDKITE_BUILD_CREATOR, CIRCLE_USERNAME.
You can override this using build metadata or workspace info.
Build metadata
You can provide your user with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key USER. You can do this by adding the flag to your bazel invocations:
--build_metadata=USER=yourname
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace that prints USER yourname.
Host
By default a build's host is determined by the system on which Bazel is run.
You can override this using build metadata or workspace info.
Build metadata
You can provide your user with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key HOST. You can do this by adding the flag to your bazel invocations:
--build_metadata=HOST=yourhost
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace that prints HOST yourhost.
Pattern
By default a build's pattern is determined by bazel command that is run.
If the bazel command is:
bazel build //...
The pattern would be:
//...
You can override this using build metadata or workspace info.
This is generally only needed for advanced use cases where you want to display a more user friendly or information rich pattern in the UI than was originally used on the command line.
Build metadata
You can provide a custom pattern with Bazel's build_metadata flag with the key PATTERN. You can do this by adding the flag to your bazel invocations:
--build_metadata=PATTERN=yourpattern
Workspace info
The second method is a little more involved, but allows you to populate multiple pieces of metadata at once.
First, you'll need to point your workspace_status_command flag at a workspace_status.sh file at the root of your workspace. You can do this by adding the following line to your .bazelrc.
build --workspace_status_command=$(pwd)/workspace_status.sh
Then you'll need to add a workspace_status.sh file to the root of your workspace that prints PATTERN yourpattern.
Custom Links
You can add custom links to the BuildBuddy overview page using the BUILDBUDDY_LINKS build metadata flag. These links must be comma separated, and in the form [link text](https://linkurl.com). Urls must begin with either http:// or https://.
Example:
--build_metadata=BUILDBUDDY_LINKS="[Search Github](https://github.com/search),[GCP Dashboard](https://console.cloud.google.com/home/dashboard)"
Tags
You can add multiple free-text tags to a build by passing a comma-separated string to the TAGS build metadata flag.
Example:
--build_metadata=TAGS="foo,bar,baz"
You can filter by these tags on build history pages and the trends page. Note that when filtering by tags, you will not see in-progress and disconnected builds.
Environment variable redacting
By default, all environment variables are redacted by BuildBuddy except for USER, GITHUB_ACTOR, GITLAB_USER_NAME, BUILDKITE_BUILD_CREATOR, CIRCLE_USERNAME, GITHUB_REPOSITORY, GITHUB_SHA, GITHUB_RUN_ID, BUILDKITE_BUILD_URL, BUILDKITE_JOB_ID, CIRCLE_REPOSITORY_URL, GITHUB_REPOSITORY, BUILDKITE_REPO, TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG, GIT_REPOSITORY_URL, GIT_URL, CI_REPOSITORY_URL, REPO_URL, CIRCLE_SHA1, GITHUB_SHA, BUILDKITE_COMMIT, TRAVIS_COMMIT, BITRISE_GIT_COMMIT, GIT_COMMIT, CI_COMMIT_SHA, COMMIT_SHA, CI, CI_RUNNER, CIRCLE_BRANCH, GITHUB_HEAD_REF, BUILDKITE_BRANCH, BITRISE_GIT_BRANCH, TRAVIS_BRANCH, GIT_BRANCH, CI_COMMIT_BRANCH, GITHUB_REF, which are displayed in the BuildBuddy UI.
Redacted environment variables are displayed in the BuildBuddy UI as <REDACTED>.
You can optionally allow other environment variables to be displayed using the ALLOW_ENV metadata flag.
The ALLOW_ENV metadata param accepts a comma separated list of allowed environment variables and supports trailing wildcards.
Examples
Don't redact the PATH environment variable:
build --build_metadata=ALLOW_ENV=PATH
Don't redact the PATH environment or any environment variable beginning with BAZEL_
build --build_metadata=ALLOW_ENV=PATH,BAZEL_*
Don't redact any environment variables.
build --build_metadata=ALLOW_ENV=*