charts/bitnami/gitlab-runner

Bitnami package for Gitlab Runner

Gitlab Runner is an auxiliary application for Gitlab installations. Written in Go, it allows to run CI/CD jobs and send the results back to Gitlab.

Overview of Gitlab Runner

Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

helm install my-release oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts/gitlab-runner

Looking to use Gitlab Runner in production? Try VMware Tanzu Application Catalog, the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.

Introduction

This chart bootstraps a Gitlab Runner deployment on a Kubernetes cluster using the Helm package manager.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.23+
• Helm 3.8.0+

Installing the Chart

To install the chart with the release name my-release:

helm install my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/gitlab-runner

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts.

These commands deploy Gitlab Runner on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. The Parameters section lists the parameters that can be configured during installation.

Tip

: List all releases using helm list

Configuration and installation details

Connect to Gitlab instance

Gitlab Runner requires connecting to an existing Gitlab installation. Follow these steps in your Gitlab installation:

• Create a runner in the CI/CD admin panel
• Obtain the registration token
• Deploy Gitlab Runner setting the runnerToken (or provide a secret with existingSecret) value with the previously obtained token, as well as the gitlabUrl value with the URL of the Gitlab instance.
• Check the registration status in your Gitlab instance.

Setting the runner configuration

The Gitlab Runner chart deploys a runner with kubernetes as the executor. It is possible to modify the default configuration by changing the runners.config value. In the example below we change the default job image:

runners:
  config: |
    [[runners]]
      [runners.kubernetes]
        namespace = "{{ include "common.names.namespace" . }}"
        image = "bitnami/os-shell"

Prometheus metrics

This chart can be integrated with Prometheus by setting metrics.enabled to true. This will expose the Gitlab Runner native Prometheus endpoint in a metrics service, which can be configured under the metrics.service section. It will have the necessary annotations to be automatically scraped by Prometheus.

Prometheus requirements

It is necessary to have a working installation of Prometheus or Prometheus Operator for the integration to work. Install the Bitnami Prometheus helm chart or the Bitnami Kube Prometheus helm chart to easily have a working Prometheus in your cluster.

Integration with Prometheus Operator

The chart can deploy ServiceMonitor objects for integration with Prometheus Operator installations. To do so, set the value metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled=true. Ensure that the Prometheus Operator CustomResourceDefinitions are installed in the cluster or it will fail with the following error:

no matches for kind "ServiceMonitor" in version "monitoring.coreos.com/v1"

Install the Bitnami Kube Prometheus helm chart for having the necessary CRDs and the Prometheus Operator.

Resource requests and limits

Bitnami charts allow setting resource requests and limits for all containers inside the chart deployment. These are inside the resources value (check parameter table). Setting requests is essential for production workloads and these should be adapted to your specific use case.

To make this process easier, the chart contains the resourcesPreset values, which automatically sets the resources section according to different presets. Check these presets in the bitnami/common chart. However, in production workloads using resourcesPreset is discouraged as it may not fully adapt to your specific needs. Find more information on container resource management in the official Kubernetes documentation.

Rolling vs Immutable tags

It is strongly recommended to use immutable tags in a production environment. This ensures your deployment does not change automatically if the same tag is updated with a different image.

Bitnami will release a new chart updating its containers if a new version of the main container, significant changes, or critical vulnerabilities exist.

Enable RBAC security

In order to enable Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for Gitlab Runner, use the following parameter: rbac.create=true.

Set Pod affinity

This chart allows you to set custom Pod affinity using the affinity parameter. Find more information about Pod affinity in the Kubernetes documentation.

As an alternative, you can use one of the preset configurations for pod affinity, pod anti-affinity, and node affinity available at the bitnami/common chart. To do so, set the podAffinityPreset, podAntiAffinityPreset, or nodeAffinityPreset parameters.

Ingress

This chart provides support for Ingress resources for the session server. If you have an ingress controller installed on your cluster, such as nginx-ingress-controller or contour you can utilize the ingress controller to serve your application.To enable Ingress integration, set sessionServer.ingress.enabled to true.

The most common scenario is to have one host name mapped to the deployment. In this case, the sessionServer.ingress.hostname property can be used to set the host name. The sessionServer.ingress.tls parameter can be used to add the TLS configuration for this host.

However, it is also possible to have more than one host. To facilitate this, the sessionServer.ingress.extraHosts parameter (if available) can be set with the host names specified as an array. The sessionServer.ingress.extraTLS parameter (if available) can also be used to add the TLS configuration for extra hosts.

NOTE: For each host specified in the sessionServer.ingress.extraHosts parameter, it is necessary to set a name, path, and any annotations that the Ingress controller should know about. Not all annotations are supported by all Ingress controllers, but this annotation reference document lists the annotations supported by many popular Ingress controllers.

Adding the TLS parameter (where available) will cause the chart to generate HTTPS URLs, and the application will be available on port 443. The actual TLS secrets do not have to be generated by this chart. However, if TLS is enabled, the Ingress record will not work until the TLS secret exists.

Learn more about Ingress controllers.

Parameters

Global parameters

Name	Description	Value
global.imageRegistry	Global Docker image registry	""
global.imagePullSecrets	Global Docker registry secret names as an array	[]
global.security.allowInsecureImages	Allows skipping image verification	false
global.compatibility.openshift.adaptSecurityContext	Adapt the securityContext sections of the deployment to make them compatible with Openshift restricted-v2 SCC: remove runAsUser, runAsGroup and fsGroup and let the platform use their allowed default IDs. Possible values: auto (apply if the detected running cluster is Openshift), force (perform the adaptation always), disabled (do not perform adaptation)	auto

Common parameters

Name	Description	Value
kubeVersion	Force target Kubernetes version (using Helm capabilities if not set)	""
apiVersions	Override Kubernetes API versions reported by .Capabilities	[]
clusterDomain	Kubernetes Cluster Domain	cluster.local
nameOverride	String to partially override common.names.fullname template (will maintain the release name)	""
fullnameOverride	String to fully override common.names.fullname template	""
namespaceOverride	String to fully override common.names.namespace	""
commonLabels	Add labels to all the deployed resources	{}
commonAnnotations	Add annotations to all the deployed resources	{}
extraDeploy	Array of extra objects to deploy with the release	[]
diagnosticMode.enabled	Enable diagnostic mode (all probes will be disabled and the command will be overridden)	false
diagnosticMode.command	Command to override all containers in the the deployment(s)/statefulset(s)	["sleep"]
diagnosticMode.args	Args to override all containers in the the deployment(s)/statefulset(s)	["infinity"]

Gitlab Runner parameters

Name	Description	Value
image.registry	Gitlab Runner image registry	REGISTRY_NAME
image.repository	Gitlab Runner image repository	REPOSITORY_NAME/gitlab-runner
image.digest	Gitlab Runner image digest in the way sha256:aa.... Please note this parameter, if set, will override the tag	""
image.pullPolicy	Gitlab Runner image pull policy	IfNotPresent
image.pullSecrets	Gitlab Runner image pull secrets	[]
automountServiceAccountToken	Mount Service Account token in pod	true
hostAliases	Add deployment host aliases	[]
replicaCount	Number of gitlab-runner nodes to deploy	1
gitlabUrl	GitLab Server URL (with protocol) to register the runner	""
runnerToken	Token for adding new Runners to the GitLab Server	""
existingSecret	Name of a secret containing the runner token	""
existingCacheSecret	Name of a secret containing the distributed cache credentials	""
existingConfigMap	Name of a ConfigMap containing the configuration and scripts	""
extraConfig	Append extra configuration to the default config file	""
unregisterRunners	Unregister all runners before termination	true
existingCertsSecret	Name of a secret containing custom certificates to connect to the Gitlab instance.	""
concurrent	Maximum number of concurrent jobs	10
shutdownTimeout	Time in seconds before a forceful shutdown	0
checkInterval	Time in seconds to check for Gitlab builds	3
logLevel	Runner logging level	info
logFormat	Runner logging format	runner
sentryDsn	Runner's Sentry DSN.	""
connectionMaxAge	Maximum connection age for TLS keepalive connections.	15m
preEntrypointScript	Commands to execute prior to the entrypoint	""
updateStrategy.type	Set up update strategy for gitlab-runner installation.	RollingUpdate
autoscaling.vpa.enabled	Enable VPA	false
autoscaling.vpa.annotations	Annotations for VPA resource	{}
autoscaling.vpa.controlledResources	VPA List of resources that the vertical pod autoscaler can control. Defaults to cpu and memory	[]
autoscaling.vpa.maxAllowed	VPA Max allowed resources for the pod	{}
autoscaling.vpa.minAllowed	VPA Min allowed resources for the pod	{}
autoscaling.vpa.updatePolicy.updateMode	Autoscaling update policy Specifies whether recommended updates are applied when a Pod is started and whether recommended updates are applied during the life of a Pod	Auto
autoscaling.hpa.enabled	Enable autoscaling for operator	false
autoscaling.hpa.minReplicas	Minimum number of operator replicas	""
autoscaling.hpa.maxReplicas	Maximum number of operator replicas	""
autoscaling.hpa.targetCPU	Target CPU utilization percentage	""
autoscaling.hpa.targetMemory	Target Memory utilization percentage	""
rbac.create	Enable RBAC authentication	true
rbac.clusterWideAccess	Allow runner cluster-wide access	false
rbac.rules	Define list of rules to be added to the rbac role permissions	[]
serviceAccount.create	Specifies whether a ServiceAccount should be created	true
serviceAccount.name	The name of the ServiceAccount to create	""
serviceAccount.automountServiceAccountToken	Automount API credentials for a service account	false
serviceAccount.annotations	Annotations for service account. Evaluated as a template. Only used if create is true.	{}
containerPorts.metrics	Port where gitlab-runner will expose metrics	9252
containerPorts.sessionServer	Port where gitlab-runner will use the sessionServer	8093
dnsPolicy	Default dnsPolicy setting	ClusterFirst
command	Override default container command (useful when using custom images)	[]
args	Override default container args (useful when using custom images)	[]
lifecycleHooks	for the gitlab-runner container(s) to automate configuration before or after startup	{}
extraEnvVars	Array with extra environment variables to add to gitlab-runner nodes	[]
extraEnvVarsCM	Name of existing ConfigMap containing extra env vars for gitlab-runner nodes	""
extraEnvVarsSecret	Name of existing Secret containing extra env vars for gitlab-runner nodes	""
extraArgs	Extra arguments to pass to gitlab-runner on start up	[]
sidecars	Add additional sidecar containers to the gitlab-runner pod(s)	[]
initContainers	Add additional init containers to the gitlab-runner pod(s)	[]
podLabels	Pod labels	{}
podAnnotations	Pod annotations	{}
priorityClassName	Priority class for pod scheduling	""
schedulerName	Name of the k8s scheduler (other than default)	""
terminationGracePeriodSeconds	In seconds, time the given to the gitlab-runner pod needs to terminate gracefully	""
podAffinityPreset	Pod affinity preset. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard	""
podAntiAffinityPreset	Pod anti-affinity preset. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard	soft
pdb.create	Create a PodDisruptionBudget	true
pdb.minAvailable	Minimum available instances	""
pdb.maxUnavailable	Maximum unavailable instances	""
nodeAffinityPreset.type	Node affinity preset type. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard	""
nodeAffinityPreset.key	Node label key to match. Ignored if affinity is set.	""
nodeAffinityPreset.values	Node label values to match. Ignored if affinity is set.	[]
affinity	Affinity for pod assignment	{}
topologySpreadConstraints	Topology spread constraints for pod	[]
nodeSelector	Node labels for pod assignment	{}
tolerations	Tolerations for pod assignment	[]
networkPolicy.enabled	Enable creation of NetworkPolicy resources	true
networkPolicy.allowExternal	The Policy model to apply	true
networkPolicy.allowExternalEgress	Allow the pod to access any range of port and all destinations.	true
networkPolicy.kubeAPIServerPorts	List of possible endpoints to kubernetes components like kube-apiserver or kubelet (limit to your cluster settings to increase security)	[]
networkPolicy.extraIngress	Add extra ingress rules to the NetworkPolicy	[]
networkPolicy.extraEgress	Add extra ingress rules to the NetworkPolicy	[]
networkPolicy.ingressNSMatchLabels	Labels to match to allow traffic from other namespaces	{}
networkPolicy.ingressNSPodMatchLabels	Pod labels to match to allow traffic from other namespaces	{}
resourcesPreset	Set container resources according to one common preset (allowed values: none, nano, micro, small, medium, large, xlarge, 2xlarge). This is ignored if resources is set (resources is recommended for production).	small
resources	Set container requests and limits for different resources like CPU or memory (essential for production workloads)	{}
startupProbe.enabled	Enable startupProbe	false
startupProbe.initialDelaySeconds	Initial delay seconds for startupProbe	0
startupProbe.periodSeconds	Period seconds for startupProbe	10
startupProbe.timeoutSeconds	Timeout seconds for startupProbe	1
startupProbe.failureThreshold	Failure threshold for startupProbe	3
startupProbe.successThreshold	Success threshold for startupProbe	1
livenessProbe.enabled	Enable livenessProbe	true
livenessProbe.initialDelaySeconds	Initial delay seconds for livenessProbe	0
livenessProbe.periodSeconds	Period seconds for livenessProbe	10
livenessProbe.timeoutSeconds	Timeout seconds for livenessProbe	1
livenessProbe.failureThreshold	Failure threshold for livenessProbe	3
livenessProbe.successThreshold	Success threshold for livenessProbe	1
readinessProbe.enabled	Enable readinessProbe	true
readinessProbe.initialDelaySeconds	Initial delay seconds for readinessProbe	0
readinessProbe.periodSeconds	Period seconds for readinessProbe	10
readinessProbe.timeoutSeconds	Timeout seconds for readinessProbe	1
readinessProbe.failureThreshold	Failure threshold for readinessProbe	3
readinessProbe.successThreshold	Success threshold for readinessProbe	1
customStartupProbe	Custom liveness probe for the Web component	{}
customLivenessProbe	Custom Liveness probes for gitlab-runner	{}
customReadinessProbe	Custom Readiness probes gitlab-runner	{}
containerSecurityContext.enabled	Enabled containers' Security Context	true
containerSecurityContext.seLinuxOptions	Set SELinux options in container	{}
containerSecurityContext.runAsUser	Set containers' Security Context runAsUser	1001
containerSecurityContext.runAsGroup	Set containers' Security Context runAsGroup	1001
containerSecurityContext.runAsNonRoot	Set container's Security Context runAsNonRoot	true
containerSecurityContext.privileged	Set container's Security Context privileged	false
containerSecurityContext.readOnlyRootFilesystem	Set container's Security Context readOnlyRootFilesystem	true
containerSecurityContext.allowPrivilegeEscalation	Set container's Security Context allowPrivilegeEscalation	false
containerSecurityContext.capabilities.drop	List of capabilities to be dropped	["ALL"]
containerSecurityContext.seccompProfile.type	Set container's Security Context seccomp profile	RuntimeDefault
podSecurityContext.enabled	Pod security context	true
podSecurityContext.fsGroupChangePolicy	Set filesystem group change policy	Always
podSecurityContext.sysctls	Set kernel settings using the sysctl interface	[]
podSecurityContext.supplementalGroups	Set filesystem extra groups	[]
podSecurityContext.fsGroup	Set Pod's Security Context fsGroup	1001
extraVolumes	Extra volumes	[]
extraVolumeMounts	Mount extra volume(s)	[]
runners.config	configuration for the pods created by the runner	""
runners.configPath	Absolute path for an existing runner configuration file (to be used with volumes/extraVolumes)	""
runners.executor	Executor to be used by the runner	kubernetes
runners.name	Name of the runner.	""
runners.maximumTimeout	Specify the maximum timeout (in seconds) that will be set for job when using this Runner	""
runners.runUntagged	Allow running jobs without tags	true
runners.protected	Run only in protected branches	true

Session Server Parameters

Name	Description	Value
sessionServer.enabled	Enable Session Server	false
sessionServer.sessionTimeout	Session timeout in seconds	1800
sessionServer.service.type	Session Server service type	ClusterIP
sessionServer.service.ports.sessionServer	Session Server service port	9000
sessionServer.service.nodePorts.sessionServer	Node port for the Session Server	""
sessionServer.service.labels	Service labels	{}
sessionServer.service.clusterIP	Session Server service Cluster IP	""
sessionServer.service.loadBalancerIP	Session Server service Load Balancer IP	""
sessionServer.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges	Session Server service Load Balancer sources	[]
sessionServer.service.externalTrafficPolicy	Session Server service external traffic policy	Cluster
sessionServer.service.annotations	Additional custom annotations for Session Server service	{}
sessionServer.service.extraPorts	Extra ports to expose in Session Server service (normally used with the sidecars value)	[]
sessionServer.service.sessionAffinity	Control where client requests go, to the same pod or round-robin	None
sessionServer.service.sessionAffinityConfig	Additional settings for the sessionAffinity	{}
sessionServer.ingress.enabled	Enable ingress record generation for Session Server	false
sessionServer.ingress.pathType	Ingress path type	ImplementationSpecific
sessionServer.ingress.apiVersion	Force Ingress API version (automatically detected if not set)	""
sessionServer.ingress.hostname	Default host for the ingress record	session-server.local
sessionServer.ingress.ingressClassName	IngressClass that will be be used to implement the Ingress (Kubernetes 1.18+)	""
sessionServer.ingress.path	Default path for the ingress record	/
sessionServer.ingress.annotations	Additional annotations for the Ingress resource. To enable certificate autogeneration, place here your cert-manager annotations.	{}
sessionServer.ingress.tls	Enable TLS configuration for the host defined at sessionServer.ingress.hostname parameter	false
sessionServer.ingress.selfSigned	Create a TLS secret for this ingress record using self-signed certificates generated by Helm	false
sessionServer.ingress.extraHosts	An array with additional hostname(s) to be covered with the ingress record	[]
sessionServer.ingress.extraPaths	An array with additional arbitrary paths that may need to be added to the ingress under the main host	[]
sessionServer.ingress.extraTls	TLS configuration for additional hostname(s) to be covered with this ingress record	[]
sessionServer.ingress.secrets	Custom TLS certificates as secrets	[]
sessionServer.ingress.extraRules	Additional rules to be covered with this ingress record	[]
metrics.enabled	Enable the export of Prometheus metrics	false
metrics.service.type	Session Server service type	ClusterIP
metrics.service.ports.metrics	Session Server service http port	9252
metrics.service.nodePorts.metrics	Node port for HTTP	""
metrics.service.labels	Service labels	{}
metrics.service.clusterIP	Session Server service Cluster IP	""
metrics.service.loadBalancerIP	Session Server service Load Balancer IP	""
metrics.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges	Session Server service Load Balancer sources	[]
metrics.service.externalTrafficPolicy	Session Server service external traffic policy	Cluster
metrics.service.annotations	Additional custom annotations for Session Server service	{}
metrics.service.extraPorts	Extra ports to expose in Session Server service (normally used with the sidecars value)	[]
metrics.service.sessionAffinity	Control where client requests go, to the same pod or round-robin	None
metrics.service.sessionAffinityConfig	Additional settings for the sessionAffinity	{}
metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled	if true, creates a Prometheus Operator ServiceMonitor (also requires metrics.enabled to be true)	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.namespace	Namespace in which Prometheus is running	""
metrics.serviceMonitor.annotations	Additional custom annotations for the ServiceMonitor	{}
metrics.serviceMonitor.labels	Extra labels for the ServiceMonitor	{}
metrics.serviceMonitor.jobLabel	The name of the label on the target service to use as the job name in Prometheus	""
metrics.serviceMonitor.honorLabels	honorLabels chooses the metric's labels on collisions with target labels	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.interval	Interval at which metrics should be scraped.	""
metrics.serviceMonitor.scrapeTimeout	Timeout after which the scrape is ended	""
metrics.serviceMonitor.metricRelabelings	Specify additional relabeling of metrics	[]
metrics.serviceMonitor.relabelings	Specify general relabeling	[]
metrics.serviceMonitor.selector	Prometheus instance selector labels	{}

Specify each parameter using the --set key=value[,key=value] argument to helm install. For example,

helm install my-release \
  --set rbac.create=true oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/gitlab-runner

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts.

The above command enables RBAC authentication.

Alternatively, a YAML file that specifies the values for the parameters can be provided while installing the chart. For example,

helm install my-release -f values.yaml oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/gitlab-runner

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts. Tip: You can use the default values.yaml

Troubleshooting

Find more information about how to deal with common errors related to Bitnami's Helm charts in this troubleshooting guide.

License

Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.