Google Cloud Build Tutorial

Introduction

Google Cloud Build is a CI/CD service that executes your builds on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure. It provides a fast, consistent, and reliable way to build, test, and deploy code. In this tutorial, we will walk through the process of setting up and using Cloud Build to automate your development workflows.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• A Google Cloud Platform project with billing enabled.
• Cloud Build API enabled in your project.
• Google Cloud SDK installed on your local machine.
• Basic understanding of Docker and YAML files.

Setting Up Cloud Build

First, let's set up Cloud Build in your GCP project:

This command enables the Cloud Build API for your project.

Creating a Cloud Build Configuration File

Cloud Build uses a configuration file to define the steps of your build process. This file is usually named cloudbuild.yaml. Below is an example configuration file:

steps:
- name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
  args: ['build', '-t', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/my-app', '.']
- name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
  args: ['push', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/my-app']
images:
- 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/my-app'
                

This configuration file contains two steps: building a Docker image and pushing it to Google Container Registry (GCR).

Running a Build

To run a build using the configuration file, use the following command:

This command submits your build to Cloud Build using the specified cloudbuild.yaml file.

Viewing Build Results

After your build is submitted, you can view the build results in the Google Cloud Console:

Integrating with GitHub

Cloud Build can be integrated with GitHub to automatically trigger builds on code changes. Here’s how to set it up:

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to the Triggers page.
2. Click on Create Trigger.
3. Follow the prompts to connect your GitHub repository.
4. Define the trigger settings, such as the branch or tag patterns and the build configuration file.

Once set up, Cloud Build will automatically run builds based on the defined trigger conditions.

Advanced Configuration

Cloud Build supports advanced configurations, including:

• Using build secrets to securely pass sensitive data.
• Running parallel builds and managing dependencies.
• Defining custom build steps using community-contributed builders.

Refer to the official Cloud Build documentation for more details on advanced configurations.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we covered the basics of setting up and using Google Cloud Build. We discussed how to create a build configuration file, run a build, view build results, and integrate with GitHub. With Cloud Build, you can automate your build, test, and deploy processes, making your development workflows more efficient and reliable.