Jenkins Build Management Skill

Comprehensive Jenkins integration for triggering builds, monitoring progress, and diagnosing failures.

Description

This skill provides Claude Code with the ability to interact with Jenkins CI/CD pipelines:

•Start builds with parameterized configurations
•Monitor builds in the background for long-running jobs (20-30+ minutes)
•Diagnose failures by identifying failed stages and analyzing their logs
•Query build status and get detailed stage information
•View logs for specific stages to troubleshoot issues

Perfect for repos that need to trigger Jenkins builds, wait for results, and analyze failures automatically.

Prerequisites

•

Jenkins credentials configured via bt vault, environment variables, or yaml: Add jenkins-api to your personal vault"

bash

mkdir -p ~/.sra-con/env
cat <<EOF > ~/.sra-con/env/jenkins.env
JENKINS_HOST=bt-vault://personal/jenkins-api/description
JENKINS_USER=bt-vault://personal/jenkins-api/username
JENKINS_KEY=bt-vault://personal/jenkins-api/password
EOF

alias jenkins="$HOME/.sra-con/CLI/bt vault run $HOME/.sra-con/env/jenkins.env -- jenkins"

bash

export JENKINS_HOST=https://your-jenkins-server.com
export JENKINS_USER=your-username
export JENKINS_KEY=your-api-key

•
Jenkins binary installed:
- •Build from source: go install in this repo
- •Or copy the compiled jenkins binary to your PATH

Configuration

Create ~/.jenkins.yaml with your defaults:

yaml

host: https://jenkins.example.com
user: your-username
key: your-api-key
pipeline: master  # default pipeline name

# Optional: Product configurations (for multi-product repos)
products:
  rs:
    search_name: "ingredi"
    display_name: "RS"
  pra:
    search_name: "bpam"
    display_name: "PRA"

deployment:
  domain: "dev.example.com"

Commands

Trigger a New Build

bash

# Build the current branch
jenkins build <product> <branch>

# Products: ingredi (or rs), bpam (or pra)
# Branch: automatically prepends "origin/" if not provided
jenkins build ingredi feature/my-changes      # Uses origin/feature/my-changes
jenkins build rs main                         # Uses origin/main
jenkins build bpam origin/bugfix/issue-123    # Uses origin/bugfix/issue-123 (already has prefix)

Skill Usage: When Claude triggers a build, it should:

•Get the current git branch: git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
•Check for unpushed changes: git log @{u}.. --oneline
•If unpushed changes exist, warn and ask for confirmation
•Check for running builds with: jenkins status or tracking prior builds from this session
•If prior builds are running, ask for confirmation before starting another

Deploy an Existing Build

bash

# Deploy a specific build to an environment
jenkins push <build_number_or_product> <subdomain>

# Monitor an existing build
jenkins monitor <build_id> [<build_id2>...]

Skill Usage: When Claude pushes a build, it should:

•Look for debug_license.ini at the root of the source tree
•If that file does not exist, ask for confirmation of the product and subdomain
•Read the existing INI file. In the [General] section, the PRODUCT key will have the product
•Also in the [General] section, the WWWHOST key will have the full URL. Strip off the ending .dev.bomgar.com to get the subdomain.

Diagnose Build Failures

bash

# Comprehensive analysis: show all failed stages with logs
jenkins diagnose <build_id>

# Show more log context
jenkins diagnose <build_id> --log-lines 100

# Show all log context
jenkins diagnose <build_id> --log-lines 0

# Show all stages (not just failures)
jenkins diagnose <build_id> --all

Query Build Information

bash

# List all failed stages
jenkins failed <build_id>

# Get log for a specific stage
jenkins stage-log <build_id> <stage_id>

# Show only last 50 lines of a stage log
jenkins stage-log <build_id> <stage_id> --tail 50

# Get the entire log (not the default trucated version) NOTE: this will return a lot of text, try the shorter logs first
jenkins stage-log <build_id> <stage_id> --full

# Get build status
jenkins status -b <build_id>

Analyze Performance

bash

# Show average stage times across recent builds
jenkins timing

# Filter specific stages
jenkins timing -f "Build" -f "Test"

# Show longest stage executions
jenkins timing --longest

Typical Workflows

Workflow 1: Build Current Branch

bash

# Get current branch (without origin/ prefix)
BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)

# Check for unpushed changes
git log @{u}.. --oneline

# Trigger build for current branch (origin/ will be added automatically)
jenkins build ingredi "$BRANCH"

# Example: If BRANCH=feature/my-work, Jenkins receives TRYMAX_BRANCH=origin/feature/my-work
# Automatically monitors in background
# You'll get a notification when complete

Workflow 2: Deploy Existing Build

bash

# Deploy a specific build to environment
jenkins push 1234 dev-subdomain

# It automatically monitors in background
# You'll get a notification when complete

Workflow 3: Investigate a Failed Build

bash

# Get comprehensive diagnosis
jenkins diagnose 5678

# This shows:
# - Build summary (status, duration, URL)
# - List of failed stages
# - Logs for each failed stage
# - Summary for AI analysis

Workflow 4: Deep Dive on Specific Stage

bash

# List all failed stages
jenkins failed 5678

# Get full log for specific stage
jenkins stage-log 5678 stage-id-123

Integration with Claude Code

When used as a skill in other repos:

•
Claude can trigger builds when you ask to "build my changes" or "start a build"
- •Automatically detects current git branch
- •Checks for unpushed changes and warns before building
- •Asks for confirmation if prior builds are still running
•Claude monitors builds in the background and notifies you when done
•Claude diagnoses failures automatically, showing you exactly what went wrong
•Claude analyzes logs to suggest fixes for common failure patterns

Safety Checks for Build Command

Before triggering a build, Claude should:

•Check git status: git status --porcelain to ensure no uncommitted changes
•
Check for unpushed commits: git log @{u}.. --oneline
- •If unpushed changes exist, ask: "You have unpushed commits. Push them first or continue anyway?"
•
Track running builds: Keep track of builds started in this session
- •Before starting a new build, check if prior builds are complete
- •If prior builds are running, ask: "Build #1234 is still running. Start another build anyway?"

Examples

Example 1: Ask Claude to build your changes

code

You: "Build my changes for RS"

Claude checks:
1. Current branch: feature/new-api
2. Unpushed commits: 2 commits ahead of origin
3. Asks: "You have 2 unpushed commits. Would you like to push them first?"

You: "Yes, push them"

Claude: git push
Claude uses: jenkins build ingredi feature/new-api
Claude monitors the build and notifies you when complete

Example 2: Ask Claude to deploy an existing build

code

You: "Deploy build 1234 to dev-testing"

Claude uses: jenkins push 1234 dev-testing
Claude monitors the build and notifies you when complete

Example 3: Ask Claude to investigate a failure

code

You: "Build 1234 failed, can you figure out why?"

Claude uses: jenkins diagnose 1234
Claude analyzes the output and tells you:
- Which stages failed
- What errors were in the logs
- Potential causes and fixes

Example 4: Monitor long-running build

code

You: "Monitor build 5678 and let me know when it's done"

Claude uses: jenkins monitor 5678
Claude continues in background, notifies when complete (20-30 min later)

Error Handling

The skill provides helpful error messages:

•Missing credentials → Shows how to set JENKINS_* env vars
•Build not found → Suggests checking pipeline name
•API errors → Shows status code and URL for debugging

Advanced Usage

Multiple Pipelines

bash

# Use different pipeline
jenkins --pipeline production status -b 1234

# Override in config file
jenkins --config ~/.jenkins-prod.yaml diagnose 5678

Verbose Output

bash

# Debug mode
jenkins -vv diagnose 1234

# Shows:
# - API requests being made
# - Response parsing details
# - Timing information

Output Formats

All commands provide:

•Human-readable output with colors and formatting
•Structured data that's easy for AI to parse
•Actionable information (stage IDs, build URLs, log excerpts)

Performance

•Fast queries: Most commands complete in <2 seconds
•Background monitoring: Doesn't block Claude or terminal
•Efficient log fetching: Only fetches what's needed
•Smart defaults: Shows most relevant information first

Troubleshooting

"authentication error" → Check JENKINS_HOST, JENKINS_USER, JENKINS_KEY env vars

"build not found" → Verify pipeline name with --pipeline flag

"no log available" → Some stages don't produce logs (e.g., parallel wrappers)

"stage not found" → Use jenkins failed <build_id> to list all failed stages and their IDs

Notes

•Build monitoring happens in background (perfect for long builds)
•All stage logs are available for AI analysis
•Recursive stage search (finds failures in nested parallel stages)
•Smart log truncation (shows first/last lines of very long logs)
•Color-coded output (green=success, red=failure, orange=warning)