codepipeline

name	codepipeline
description	Manage AWS CodePipeline pipelines, stages, actions, executions, and approvals via AWS CLI.
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"🔄","requires":{"bins":["aws"]}}}

AWS CodePipeline

Use this skill for CI/CD pipeline operations: creating and managing pipelines, viewing execution history, approving manual stages, retrying failed actions, and managing pipeline webhooks.

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI v2 configured with valid credentials
• IAM permissions: codepipeline:* for full access, or scoped policies
• Service role for CodePipeline with access to source, build, and deploy services

Common Operations

List and Inspect (Read-Only)

# List all pipelines
aws codepipeline list-pipelines --output table

# Get pipeline details (structure)
aws codepipeline get-pipeline --name <pipeline-name>

# Get pipeline state (current status of all stages)
aws codepipeline get-pipeline-state --name <pipeline-name>

# List pipeline executions
aws codepipeline list-pipeline-executions --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --query 'pipelineExecutionSummaries[*].[pipelineExecutionId,status,startTime,trigger.triggerType]' \
  --output table

# Get details of a specific execution
aws codepipeline get-pipeline-execution \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --pipeline-execution-id <execution-id>

# List action executions (detailed step-by-step)
aws codepipeline list-action-executions \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --query 'actionExecutionDetails[*].[stageName,actionName,status,startTime]' \
  --output table

# List webhooks
aws codepipeline list-webhooks --output table

# List tags
aws codepipeline list-tags-for-resource --resource-arn <pipeline-arn>

Execute and Control

# Start a pipeline execution manually
aws codepipeline start-pipeline-execution --name <pipeline-name>

# Retry a failed stage
aws codepipeline retry-stage-execution \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name <stage-name> \
  --pipeline-execution-id <execution-id> \
  --retry-mode FAILED_ACTIONS

# Stop a pipeline execution
aws codepipeline stop-pipeline-execution \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --pipeline-execution-id <execution-id> \
  --abandon \
  --reason "Stopped by operator"

# Approve a manual approval action
aws codepipeline put-approval-result \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name <stage-name> \
  --action-name <action-name> \
  --result "summary=Approved by admin,status=Approved" \
  --token <approval-token>

# Reject a manual approval
aws codepipeline put-approval-result \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name <stage-name> \
  --action-name <action-name> \
  --result "summary=Rejected: failing tests,status=Rejected" \
  --token <approval-token>

# Disable a stage transition
aws codepipeline disable-stage-transition \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name <stage-name> \
  --transition-type Inbound \
  --reason "Maintenance window"

# Enable a stage transition
aws codepipeline enable-stage-transition \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name <stage-name> \
  --transition-type Inbound

Create and Update

⚠️ Cost note: CodePipeline charges $1.00 per active pipeline per month. V2 type pipelines charge per action execution ($0.002 per action). First pipeline free.

# Create a pipeline from JSON definition
aws codepipeline create-pipeline --cli-input-json file://pipeline.json

# Update a pipeline
aws codepipeline update-pipeline --cli-input-json file://pipeline.json

# Tag a pipeline
aws codepipeline tag-resource \
  --resource-arn <pipeline-arn> \
  --tags key=Environment,value=production

Delete / Destructive

🛑 DESTRUCTIVE — Always confirm with the user before executing any of these commands.

# Delete a pipeline
aws codepipeline delete-pipeline --name <pipeline-name>

# Delete a webhook
aws codepipeline delete-webhook --name <webhook-name>

Safety Rules

1. NEVER delete a pipeline without explicit user confirmation.
2. NEVER expose or log AWS credentials, tokens, or secret keys.
3. ALWAYS confirm the pipeline name before triggering execution.
4. ALWAYS check pipeline state before retrying or stopping executions.
5. WARN before approving manual approval actions — this triggers downstream deployment.
6. WARN about the impact of disabling stage transitions on active executions.

Best Practices

• Use manual approval stages before production deployments.
• Use V2 type pipelines for per-action pricing and advanced features.
• Enable CloudTrail for pipeline audit logging.
• Use pipeline variables and parameter overrides for environment-specific config.
• Store pipeline definitions in source control for version tracking.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Check Why a Pipeline Failed

# Get current state
aws codepipeline get-pipeline-state --name <pipeline-name> \
  --query 'stageStates[?latestExecution.status==`Failed`].[stageName,latestExecution.status,actionStates[?latestExecution.status==`Failed`].[actionName,latestExecution.errorDetails.message]]'

# Get detailed action execution
aws codepipeline list-action-executions --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --filter pipelineExecutionId=<execution-id> \
  --query 'actionExecutionDetails[?status==`Failed`].[stageName,actionName,output.executionResult.externalExecutionSummary]' \
  --output table

Pattern: Promote Through Environments

# Approve staging → production transition
TOKEN=$(aws codepipeline get-pipeline-state --name <pipeline-name> \
  --query 'stageStates[?stageName==`Approval`].actionStates[0].latestExecution.token' \
  --output text)

aws codepipeline put-approval-result \
  --pipeline-name <pipeline-name> \
  --stage-name Approval \
  --action-name ManualApproval \
  --result "summary=Tests passed - promoting to prod,status=Approved" \
  --token "$TOKEN"

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
PipelineNotFoundException	Pipeline doesn't exist	Verify name with list-pipelines
Stage stuck in InProgress	Action hanging or timeout	Check action provider (CodeBuild, Lambda, etc.) logs
InvalidApprovalToken	Token expired or already used	Get fresh token from get-pipeline-state
StageNotRetryable	Stage succeeded or not yet failed	Only failed stages can be retried
Source action failed	Repo/branch not found or auth issue	Check source connection and branch name
ActionTypeNotFoundException	Invalid action provider	Check supported action types for pipeline version