Local backend

danger

The local backend executes pipelines on the local system without any isolation.

note

Currently we do not support services for this backend. Read more here.

Since the commands run directly in the same context as the agent (same user, same filesystem), a malicious pipeline could be used to access the agent configuration especially the WOODPECKER_AGENT_SECRET variable.

It is recommended to use this backend only for private setup where the code and pipeline can be trusted. It should not be used in a public instance where anyone can submit code or add new repositories. The agent should not run as a privileged user (root).

The local backend will use a random directory in $TMPDIR to store the cloned code and execute commands.

In order to use this backend, you need to download (or build) the agent, configure it and run it on the host machine.

Usage

To enable the local backend, set the following:

WOODPECKER_BACKEND=local

Shell

The image entrypoint is used to specify the shell, such as bash or fish, that is used to run the commands.

.woodpecker.yaml

steps:
  - name: build
    image: bash
    commands: [...]

Plugins

steps:
  - name: build
    image: /usr/bin/tree

If no commands are provided, plugins are treated in the usual manner. In the context of the local backend, plugins are simply executable binaries, which can be located using their name if they are listed in $PATH, or through an absolute path.

Options

WOODPECKER_BACKEND_LOCAL_TEMP_DIR

Default: default temp directory

Directory to create folders for workflows.