GitLab CI Standards Audit

Analyze a repository's .gitlab-ci.yml for compliance with GitLab CI standards.

Usage

• •/gitlab-ci:standards-audit — Audit against all standards
• •/gitlab-ci:standards-audit job-ordering — Audit job ordering only
• •/gitlab-ci:standards-audit topic1 topic2 — Audit multiple specific topics

Available Topics

• •job-ordering — Pipeline job ordering with needs vs dependencies

Argument Handling

Valid topics: job-ordering

• •If arguments are provided in $ARGUMENTS, validate each one against the valid topics list above
• •For any invalid topic, respond with:

  Invalid topic: [topic]. Valid topics: job-ordering. Run /gitlab-ci:standards-list to see all available topics.

• •If all provided topics are valid, audit only those topics
• •If no arguments are provided, audit all topics

Related Commands

• •/gitlab-ci:standards-list — List available standards topics
• •/gitlab-ci:standards-view — Display standards summary to the user
• •/gitlab-ci:standards-load — Load full standards into context

References

@${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/core-rules.md

Audit Process

1. •Find the pipeline file: Search for .gitlab-ci.yml in the repository root
2. •Validate arguments: Check that requested topics are valid (see Argument Handling above)
3. •Load relevant standards: Based on validated topics or all standards if none specified
4. •Analyze the pipeline: Check each job against the standards
5. •Report findings:

Report Format

## Standards Audit Report

### Summary
- **Compliant**: X patterns
- **Violations**: Y issues found
- **Recommendations**: Z suggestions

### Violations

#### [VIOLATION] Cross-stage `needs` detected
- **File**: .gitlab-ci.yml
- **Line**: 45
- **Job**: `push-docker-images-prod`
- **Issue**: Job has `needs: [manual-approval-prod]` which is in a different stage (prod-gate)
- **Impact**: Job will bypass stage gate and may run before all prod-gate jobs complete
- **Fix**: Remove the `needs` entry and use `dependencies` if artifacts are required

### Compliant Patterns

- `deploy-prod-job` correctly uses intra-stage `needs` for `push-docker-images-prod`
- Entry-point jobs in `deploy-lower` have no cross-stage `needs`

### Recommendations

- Consider adding `optional: true` to migration job dependencies

Job Ordering Audit Checks

When auditing job-ordering, check for:

1. •Cross-stage needs: Any job with needs pointing to a job in a different stage
2. •Entry-point jobs with needs: First jobs in each stage should have no needs
3. •Missing optional: true: Jobs that need conditional jobs (like migrations)
4. •Incorrect artifact handling: Using needs when dependencies would suffice

For each violation, provide:

• •Exact line number
• •The problematic configuration
• •Why it violates the standard
• •Specific fix with corrected YAML