CI/CD: Run Test Packs from Jenkins

Overview

The Shift-Left API Jenkins plugin adds a build step, Shift-Left API Automation Integration: Run Test Pack, to Freestyle jobs. The step signs in to your Shift-Left API server, starts one of your test run packs, waits for that run to finish, applies a quality gate, and can write JUnit XML and a JSON summary into the workspace. If the gate fails, the build is marked FAILURE (or UNSTABLE, if you choose).

The plugin applies the same gate rules as the GitHub Action and the Azure DevOps task.

Note: The plugin is not in the Jenkins Update Center, so you will not find it by searching under Available plugins. You install it from its .hpi file, as below.

Before you begin

1. A test run pack with its environment chosen in the pack. See Test Run Pack Wizard.
2. The Public API switched on, with the CI user's role in Allowed Roles, under Settings → Integrations → Public API. See Public API.
3. A CI user (email and password), saved in Jenkins as a Username with password credential.
4. A server the Jenkins agent can reach. The pack itself runs on your Shift-Left API server.

Step 1 — Install the plugin

1. Download the .hpi from the jenkins release in Total-Shift-Left/Shift-Left-API-Integrations. You can also build it from the plugin source with mvn -B -ntp verify; the file lands in target/.
2. In Jenkins, go to Manage Jenkins → Plugins and open Advanced settings.
3. Under Deploy Plugin, click Choose File, select the .hpi, then Deploy.
4. Restart Jenkins when prompted, and check that Shift-Left API Automation Integration is listed under Installed plugins.

Step 2 — Add the build step

In a Freestyle job, add the build step Shift-Left API Automation Integration: Run Test Pack and fill in its sections:

Step 3 — Publish the results

If you write JUnit XML, add the post-build action Publish JUnit test result report and point it at the same path, so each test shows on the build's Test Result page. After a build, the Shift-Left API Automation Integration link in the build's sidebar shows the run summary and links to the files.

Declarative pipelines (Jenkinsfile)

The plugin provides a Freestyle build step only. In a Jenkinsfile, call the REST API from a shell step instead. Any CI via the REST API has a script you can save as ci/run-shiftleft-pack.sh and call like this:

// Jenkinsfile
pipeline {
  agent any
  environment {
    SHIFTLEFT_URL          = 'https://shiftleft.yourcompany.com'
    SHIFTLEFT_TEST_PACK_ID = 'your_pack_id'
  }
  stages {
    stage('API Tests') {
      steps {
        withCredentials([usernamePassword(credentialsId: 'shiftleft-api',
                         usernameVariable: 'SHIFTLEFT_EMAIL', passwordVariable: 'SHIFTLEFT_PASSWORD')]) {
          sh 'bash ci/run-shiftleft-pack.sh'
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Good to know

• The environment comes from the pack. Keep one pack per environment and choose the pack per job or branch.
• One run per pack at a time. A second start of a running pack is refused (HTTP 409).
• It grades the run it started, not the pack's previous run.
• CI sign-ins and CI-started runs are recorded in the audit log.

Related articles

• CI/CD integrations on the product site
• Jenkins integration overview
• Any CI via the REST API
• Public API
• Plans and editions