cicd-pipeline

name	cicd-pipeline
description	Generate, optimize, and manage CI/CD pipelines for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI. Creates working pipeline configs tailored to your project's tech stack with built-in caching, secret handling, matrix testing, and deployment strategies. Triggered by: CI/CD, pipeline, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, deploy, deployment, workflow, build cache, matrix test, pipeline optimization, environment management, secret handling.
user-invocable	true
argument-hint	[generate|optimize|deploy|secrets|matrix|audit]
tags	["ci-cd"]
tier	core

CI/CD Pipeline

Generate, optimize, and audit CI/CD pipelines for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI.

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Quick Start

/cicd-pipeline generate    # New pipeline tailored to detected stack
/cicd-pipeline optimize    # Improve an existing pipeline
/cicd-pipeline deploy      # Deployment workflow (preview/staging/production)
/cicd-pipeline secrets     # Secret handling and OIDC setup
/cicd-pipeline matrix      # Multi-version/multi-OS matrix testing
/cicd-pipeline audit       # Security and performance audit of existing pipeline

No argument? If no CI config exists, defaults to generate. If one exists, defaults to optimize.

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Context

PROJECT FILES:

!`ls -la .github/workflows/ 2>/dev/null; ls -la .gitlab-ci.yml 2>/dev/null; echo "---"; ls package.json go.mod Cargo.toml pyproject.toml setup.py requirements.txt Makefile Taskfile.yml Dockerfile docker-compose.yml 2>/dev/null`

CURRENT CI CONFIG:

!`cat .github/workflows/*.yml 2>/dev/null | head -200; cat .gitlab-ci.yml 2>/dev/null | head -200; echo "No CI config found" 2>/dev/null`

PROJECT STRUCTURE:

!`find . -maxdepth 2 \( -name "*.go" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.py" -o -name "*.rs" -o -name "Dockerfile" \) 2>/dev/null | head -30`

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Mode: generate

Build a complete CI/CD pipeline from scratch.

Steps:

1. Run scripts/detect-stack.sh to identify language, framework, package manager, and test runner
2. Ask for CI platform preference (GitHub Actions / GitLab CI) -- default: GitHub Actions
3. Ask which pipeline stages to include:
   • Lint (default: yes)
   • Test (default: yes)
   • Build (default: yes)
   • Security scan (default: yes, if dependencies detected)
   • Docker build (default: yes, if Dockerfile detected)
   • Deploy (default: no -- use deploy mode separately)
4. Select the matching template from assets/ and customize it for the detected stack
5. Apply caching strategy from references/caching-strategies.md based on detected package manager
6. Write the generated workflow to .github/workflows/ci.yml or .gitlab-ci.yml
7. Validate the YAML is parseable

Stack-specific customizations:

Stack	Cache Key	Lint	Test	Build
Node.js	node_modules via lockfile hash	eslint/biome	jest/vitest	tsc/esbuild
Go	~/go/pkg/mod + ~/.cache/go-build via go.sum hash	golangci-lint	go test -race ./...	go build ./...
Python	~/.cache/pip via requirements hash	ruff/flake8	pytest	poetry build
Rust	~/.cargo/registry + target/ via Cargo.lock hash	clippy + fmt	cargo test	cargo build --release

Asset templates: assets/github-actions/ and assets/gitlab-ci/

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Mode: optimize

Improve an existing pipeline's performance, reliability, and maintainability.

Steps:

1. Run scripts/analyze-pipeline.sh to parse and summarize the existing config
2. Check for performance issues:
   • Missing dependency caching
   • Sequential jobs that could run in parallel
   • No concurrency controls (duplicate runs on force-push)
   • Overly broad triggers (running on all branches instead of PR + main)
   • Missing fail-fast in matrix jobs
   • Full checkout instead of shallow clone (fetch-depth: 1)
   • No artifact passing between jobs (rebuilding in each job)
   • Missing timeout-minutes on jobs or steps
3. Check for reliability issues:
   • No retry on flaky steps
   • Actions pinned to major version tags (@v4) instead of full SHA
   • Missing permissions block (over-privileged default)
   • Missing continue-on-error for non-critical steps
4. Generate an optimized version with inline comments explaining each change
5. Present a diff between the current config and the optimized version

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Mode: deploy

Generate deployment workflows with environment protection and rollback.

Steps:

1. Ask for deployment target: Kubernetes, AWS/GCP/Azure, PaaS (Vercel/Railway/Fly.io), Docker registry
2. Ask for deployment strategy:
   • Rolling -- Gradual pod replacement, zero-downtime, simple but no instant rollback
   • Blue-Green -- Two identical environments, atomic switch, instant rollback, double infra cost
   • Canary -- Percentage-based rollout, metrics-driven promotion, requires observability
   • Preview -- Per-PR ephemeral environments for testing
3. Generate deployment workflow with:
   • Environment protection rules (manual approval gate for production)
   • Health check verification after each deployment step
   • Automatic rollback on health check failure
   • Deployment status notifications (Slack, GitHub status, etc.)
4. Generate environment-specific config files (staging, production)

Reference: references/deployment-strategies.md

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Mode: secrets

Audit and configure secure secret handling in pipelines.

Steps:

1. Detect current secret usage in the existing pipeline config
2. Recommend the appropriate secret storage mechanism:
   • GitHub Actions: Repository secrets vs environment-scoped secrets vs OIDC
   • GitLab CI: CI/CD variables, protected variables, masked variables, Vault integration
3. Generate OIDC trust policies for cloud providers (if applicable):
   • AWS: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials with role-to-assume
   • GCP: google-github-actions/auth with Workload Identity Federation
   • Azure: azure/login with federated credentials
4. Generate environment protection rules with required reviewers
5. Audit for secret anti-patterns:
   • Secrets echoed or printed to logs
   • Secrets not scoped to environments (repo-wide when they should be env-scoped)
   • Over-broad permissions block
   • Long-lived credentials when OIDC is available

Reference: references/pipeline-security-checklist.md

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Mode: matrix

Generate matrix testing strategies for multi-version and multi-OS coverage.

Steps:

1. Detect dimensions that make sense for the project:
   • Language versions (Node 18/20/22, Go 1.22/1.23/1.24, Python 3.10/3.11/3.12/3.13)
   • OS targets (ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest)
   • Database versions (Postgres 14/15/16, MySQL 8.0/8.4)
   • Build modes (debug/release)
2. Generate matrix strategy with:
   • fail-fast: false or true with trade-off explanation
   • max-parallel to control runner cost
   • include/exclude for targeted combinations (e.g., Windows only on LTS version)
   • Service containers for database testing
3. Show estimated runner minutes impact for the matrix
4. Identify which combinations are highest priority vs nice-to-have

Reference: references/matrix-testing-guide.md

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Mode: audit

Score an existing pipeline against security, performance, reliability, and maintainability criteria.

Steps:

1. Parse the existing pipeline config using scripts/analyze-pipeline.sh
2. Score against four categories:
   • Security: Permissions block, pinned action SHAs, no secrets in logs, OIDC usage, supply chain protections
   • Performance: Caching, concurrency groups, parallelism, shallow clone, artifact reuse
   • Reliability: Timeouts, retries, fail-fast, health checks, rollback capability
   • Maintainability: Reusable workflows, DRY config, clear job naming, inline comments
3. Generate a report with:
   • Pass/warn/fail status per checklist item
   • Priority-ordered recommendations
   • Estimated time savings per optimization
4. Provide a remediation roadmap ordered by impact vs effort

References: references/pipeline-security-checklist.md, references/caching-strategies.md

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Modes Reference

Mode	When to Use	Primary Output
generate	No CI config exists, or starting fresh	Complete .github/workflows/ci.yml or .gitlab-ci.yml
optimize	Existing pipeline is slow or fragile	Optimized config with diff and explanation
deploy	Need preview, staging, or production deployment	Deployment workflow with protection rules
secrets	Secrets stored unsafely or need OIDC	Secret config, OIDC policy, environment rules
matrix	Need multi-version or multi-OS coverage	Matrix strategy with cost estimate
audit	Want a pipeline health check	Scored report with remediation roadmap

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Scope

In scope:

• GitHub Actions workflows (primary)
• GitLab CI pipelines (secondary)
• Caching, matrix, secrets, deployment strategies
• Pipeline security (supply chain, OIDC, permissions)

Out of scope:

• Kubernetes manifests and Helm charts (use infrastructure tools)
• Cloud IaC (Terraform, Pulumi)
• Application-level vulnerability scanning (see security-review skill)
• Docker Compose orchestration

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Key References

Reference	Contents
references/github-actions-patterns.md	Reusable workflows, OIDC, concurrency, permissions
references/gitlab-ci-patterns.md	Includes, rules, DAG, review apps
references/deployment-strategies.md	Rolling, blue-green, canary comparison and decision guide
references/pipeline-security-checklist.md	20-item security checklist
references/caching-strategies.md	Per-language cache configs and anti-patterns
references/matrix-testing-guide.md	Matrix dimensions, fail-fast, cost control

Asset Templates

Template	Stack	Platform
assets/github-actions/node.yml	Node.js / TypeScript	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/go.yml	Go	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/python.yml	Python	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/rust.yml	Rust	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/docker-build.yml	Docker	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/deploy-preview.yml	Any	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/release.yml	Any	GitHub Actions
assets/github-actions/reusable-ci.yml	Any	GitHub Actions
assets/gitlab-ci/node.gitlab-ci.yml	Node.js / TypeScript	GitLab CI
assets/gitlab-ci/go.gitlab-ci.yml	Go	GitLab CI
assets/gitlab-ci/python.gitlab-ci.yml	Python	GitLab CI
assets/gitlab-ci/docker.gitlab-ci.yml	Docker	GitLab CI
assets/production-readiness-checklist.md	Any	Platform-agnostic