Add GitLab Runner guided install view to CI/CD settings - MVC
Release notes
When you're not using the shared runners on GitLab.com, getting started with GitLab CI requires installing GitLab Runner and registering the runner to execute jobs in your pipeline. While the GitLab Runner installation process is well-documented, one of our goals is to make it as easy as possible for users to get started with GitLab CI. An initial step on this journey is to release a new GitLab Runner guided install modal window. With this feature, you can select a target platform, copy, and run the install commands without navigating away from the GitLab UI.
Problem to solve
Improving the user experience is a key component of the long term strategy of enabling automated install of self-managed GitLab Runners initiated from within the GitLab UI. Today, in the GitLab UI, there are links for installing a GitLab Runner. For users that need to add a self-managed runner, the current links in the UI redirect to the runner documentation pages. This redirect interrupts the user workflow, is not a seamless user experience, and does not provide a framework for adding automated install capabilities in future iterations
Proposal
- Add an "Install a Runner" button to the
Set up a specific Runner manually
section of the Specific Runners section in the ci/cd settings panel. - Clicking on the "Install a Runner" button will either display a pop-up or a new panel that includes the runner installation instructions by computer architecture and operating systems.
- Change the text of the current "Install GitLab Runner" link to "Runner Install Docs"
- Note: For the GitLab Runner guided install a user still has to complete the installation tasks on their own, but now we have a guided install option directly in the UI.
Navigational Flow
User Interaction details
OS and Architecture combinations
OS | Architecture | Implementation notes |
---|---|---|
Linux | amd64 | For Linux, once the user selects a compute architecture option, the "Download and Install Binary" panel will display the download instructions for the binary that matches the compute architecture chosen. |
Linux | ARM | ... |
Linux | ARM64 | ... |
macOS | amd64 | For macOS, once the user selects a compute architecture option, the "Download and Install Binary" panel will display the download instructions for the binary that matches the compute architecture chosen. For this release, only amd64 is available. Note - in future iterations the instructions for the new ARM based Macs will be added. |
Windows | amd64 | For Windows, once the user selects a compute architecture option, the "Download and Install Binary" panel will display the download instructions for the binary that matches the compute architecture chosen. |
Windows | 386 | ... |
Docker | .. | For Docker, display the text "To install Runner in a container follow the instructions described in the GitLab documentation". For Docker, the View installation instructions will redirect the user to the runner docs page for the docker installation instructions. https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/docker.html |
Kubernetes | . | For Kubernetes, add the text, "To install Runner in Kubernetes follow the instructions described in the GitLab documentation." For Kubernetes, the View installation instructions will redirect the user to the runner docs page for the Kubernetes installation instructions. https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/kubernetes.html |