container Run

Description

Run a command in a container image, e.g. in a Kubernetes namespace (when used with the kubernetes provider).

This is a simplified abstraction, which can be convenient for simple tasks, but has limited features compared to more platform-specific types. For example, you cannot specify replicas for redundancy, and various platform-specific options are not included. For more flexibility, please look at other Run types like kubernetes-pod.

Below is the full schema reference for the action. For an introduction to configuring Garden, please look at our Configuration guide.

container actions also export values that are available in template strings. See the Outputs section below for details.

Configuration Keys

type

The type of action, e.g. exec, container or kubernetes. Some are built into Garden but mostly these will be defined by your configured providers.

Type	Required
string	Yes

name

A valid name for the action. Must be unique across all actions of the same kind in your project.

Type	Required
string	Yes

description

A description of the action.

Type	Required
string	No

source

By default, the directory where the action is defined is used as the source for the build context.

You can override this by setting either source.path to another (POSIX-style) path relative to the action source directory, or source.repository to get the source from an external repository.

If using source.path, you must make sure the target path is in a git repository.

For source.repository behavior, please refer to the Remote Sources guide.

Type	Required
object	No

source.path

source > path

A relative POSIX-style path to the source directory for this action. You must make sure this path exists and is in a git repository!

Type	Required
posixPath	No

source.repository

source > repository

When set, Garden will import the action source from this repository, but use this action configuration (and not scan for configs in the separate repository).

Type	Required
object	No

source.repository.url

source > repository > url

A remote repository URL. Currently only supports git servers. Must contain a hash suffix pointing to a specific branch or tag, with the format: #<branch|tag>

Type	Required
gitUrl | string	Yes

Example:

source:
  ...
  repository:
    ...
    url: "git+https://github.com/org/repo.git#v2.0"

dependencies[]

A list of other actions that this action depends on, and should be built, deployed or run (depending on the action type) before processing this action.

Each dependency should generally be expressed as a "<kind>.<name>" string, where is one of build, deploy, run or test, and is the name of the action to depend on.

You may also optionally specify a dependency as an object, e.g. { kind: "Build", name: "some-image" }.

Any empty values (i.e. null or empty strings) are ignored, so that you can conditionally add in a dependency via template expressions.

Type	Default	Required
array[actionReference]	[]	No

Example:

dependencies:
  - build.my-image
  - deploy.api

disabled

Set this to true to disable the action. You can use this with conditional template strings to disable actions based on, for example, the current environment or other variables (e.g. disabled: ${environment.name == "prod"}). This can be handy when you only need certain actions for specific environments, e.g. only for development.

For Build actions, this means the build is not performed unless it is declared as a dependency by another enabled action (in which case the Build is assumed to be necessary for the dependant action to be run or built).

For other action kinds, the action is skipped in all scenarios, and dependency declarations to it are ignored. Note however that template strings referencing outputs (i.e. runtime outputs) will fail to resolve when the action is disabled, so you need to make sure to provide alternate values for those if you're using them, using conditional expressions.

Type	Default	Required
boolean	false	No

environments[]

If set, the action is only enabled for the listed environment types. This is effectively a cleaner shorthand for the disabled field with an expression for environments. For example, environments: ["prod"] is equivalent to disabled: ${environment.name != "prod"}.

Type	Required
array[string]	No

include[]

Specify a list of POSIX-style paths or globs that should be regarded as source files for this action, and thus will affect the computed version of the action.

For actions other than Build actions, this is usually not necessary to specify, or is implicitly inferred. An exception would be e.g. an exec action without a build reference, where the relevant files cannot be inferred and you want to define which files should affect the version of the action, e.g. to make sure a Test action is run when certain files are modified.

Build actions have a different behavior, since they generally are based on some files in the source tree, so please reference the docs for more information on those.

Note that you can also exclude files using the exclude field or by placing .gardenignore files in your source tree, which use the same format as .gitignore files. See the Configuration Files guide for details.

Type	Required
array[posixPath]	No

Example:

include:
  - my-app.js
  - some-assets/**/*

exclude[]

Specify a list of POSIX-style paths or glob patterns that should be explicitly excluded from the action's version.

For actions other than Build actions, this is usually not necessary to specify, or is implicitly inferred. For Deploy, Run and Test actions, the exclusions specified here only applied on top of explicitly set include paths, or such paths inferred by providers. See the Configuration Files guide for details.

Unlike the scan.exclude field in the project config, the filters here have no effect on which files and directories are watched for changes when watching is enabled. Use the project scan.exclude field to affect those, if you have large directories that should not be watched for changes.

Type	Required
array[posixPath]	No

Example:

exclude:
  - tmp/**/*
  - '*.log'

variables

A map of variables scoped to this particular action. These are resolved before any other parts of the action configuration and take precedence over group-scoped variables (if applicable) and project-scoped variables, in that order. They may reference group-scoped and project-scoped variables, and generally can use any template strings normally allowed when resolving the action.

Type	Required
object	No

varfiles[]

Specify a list of paths (relative to the directory where the action is defined) to a file containing variables, that we apply on top of the action-level variables field, and take precedence over group-level variables (if applicable) and project-level variables, in that order.

If you specify multiple paths, they are merged in the order specified, i.e. the last one takes precedence over the previous ones.

The format of the files is determined by the configured file's extension:

• .yaml/.yml - YAML. The file must consist of a YAML document, which must be a map (dictionary). Keys may contain any value type. YAML format is used by default.

• .env - Standard "dotenv" format, as defined by dotenv.

• .json - JSON. Must contain a single JSON object (not an array).

NOTE: The default varfile format was changed to YAML in Garden v0.13, since YAML allows for definition of nested objects and arrays.

To use different varfiles in different environments, you can template in the environment name to the varfile name, e.g. varfile: "my-action.${environment.name}.env" (this assumes that the corresponding varfiles exist).

If a listed varfile cannot be found, throwing an error. To add optional varfiles, you can use a list item object with a path and an optional optional boolean field.

varfiles:
  - path: my-action.env
    optional: true

Type	Default	Required
array[alternatives]	[]	No

Example:

varfiles:
  "my-action.env"

varfiles[].path

varfiles > path

Path to a file containing a path.

Type	Required
posixPath	Yes

varfiles[].optional

varfiles > optional

Whether the varfile is optional.

Type	Required
boolean	No

build

Specify a Build action, and resolve this action from the context of that Build.

For example, you might create an exec Build which prepares some manifests, and then reference that in a kubernetes Deploy action, and the resulting manifests from the Build.

This would mean that instead of looking for manifest files relative to this action's location in your project structure, the output directory for the referenced exec Build would be the source.

Type	Required
string	No

kind

Type	Allowed Values	Required
string	"Run"	Yes

timeout

Set a timeout for the run to complete, in seconds.

Type	Default	Required
number	600	No

spec

Type	Required
object	No

spec.command[]

spec > command

The command/entrypoint to run the container with.

Type	Required
array[string]	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  command:
    - /bin/sh
    - '-c'

spec.args[]

spec > args

The arguments (on top of the command, i.e. entrypoint) to run the container with.

Type	Required
array[string]	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  args:
    - npm
    - start

spec.env

spec > env

Key/value map of environment variables. Keys must be valid POSIX environment variable names (must not start with GARDEN) and values must be primitives or references to secrets.

Type	Default	Required
object	{}	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  env:
      - MY_VAR: some-value
        MY_SECRET_VAR:
          secretRef:
            name: my-secret
            key: some-key
      - {}

spec.cpu

spec > cpu

Type	Default	Required
object	{"min":10,"max":1000}	No

spec.cpu.min

spec > cpu > min

The minimum amount of CPU the container needs to be available for it to be deployed, in millicpus (i.e. 1000 = 1 CPU)

Type	Default	Required
number	10	No

spec.cpu.max

spec > cpu > max

The maximum amount of CPU the container can use, in millicpus (i.e. 1000 = 1 CPU). If set to null will result in no limit being set.

Type	Default	Required
number	1000	No

spec.memory

spec > memory

Type	Default	Required
object	{"min":90,"max":1024}	No

spec.memory.min

spec > memory > min

The minimum amount of RAM the container needs to be available for it to be deployed, in megabytes (i.e. 1024 = 1 GB)

Type	Default	Required
number	90	No

spec.memory.max

spec > memory > max

The maximum amount of RAM the container can use, in megabytes (i.e. 1024 = 1 GB) If set to null will result in no limit being set.

Type	Default	Required
number	1024	No

spec.volumes[]

spec > volumes

List of volumes that should be mounted when starting the container.

Note: If neither hostPath nor action is specified, an empty ephemeral volume is created and mounted when deploying the container.

Type	Default	Required
array[object]	[]	No

spec.volumes[].name

spec > volumes > name

The name of the allocated volume.

Type	Required
string	Yes

spec.volumes[].containerPath

spec > volumes > containerPath

The path where the volume should be mounted in the container.

Type	Required
posixPath	Yes

spec.volumes[].hostPath

spec > volumes > hostPath

NOTE: Usage of hostPath is generally discouraged, since it doesn't work reliably across different platforms and providers. Some providers may not support it at all.

A local path or path on the node that's running the container, to mount in the container, relative to the config source directory (or absolute).

Type	Required
posixPath	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  volumes:
    - hostPath: "/some/dir"

spec.volumes[].action

spec > volumes > action

The action reference to a volume Deploy action that should be mounted at containerPath. The supported action types are persistentvolumeclaim and configmap.

Note: Make sure to pay attention to the supported accessModes of the referenced volume. Unless it supports the ReadWriteMany access mode, you'll need to make sure it is not configured to be mounted by multiple services at the same time. Refer to the documentation of the module type in question to learn more.

Type	Required
actionReference	No

spec.privileged

spec > privileged

If true, run the main container in privileged mode. Processes in privileged containers are essentially equivalent to root on the host. Defaults to false.

Type	Required
boolean	No

spec.addCapabilities[]

spec > addCapabilities

POSIX capabilities to add when running the container.

Type	Required
array[string]	No

spec.dropCapabilities[]

spec > dropCapabilities

POSIX capabilities to remove when running the container.

Type	Required
array[string]	No

spec.tty

spec > tty

Specify if containers in this action have TTY support enabled (which implies having stdin support enabled).

Type	Default	Required
boolean	false	No

spec.deploymentStrategy

spec > deploymentStrategy

Specifies the container's deployment strategy.

Type	Allowed Values	Default	Required
string	"RollingUpdate", "Recreate"	"RollingUpdate"	Yes

spec.artifacts[]

spec > artifacts

Specify artifacts to copy out of the container after the run. The artifacts are stored locally under the .garden/artifacts directory.

Note: Depending on the provider, this may require the container image to include sh tar, in order to enable the file transfer.

Type	Required
array[object]	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  artifacts:
    - source: /report/**/*

spec.artifacts[].source

spec > artifacts > source

A POSIX-style path or glob to copy. Must be an absolute path. May contain wildcards.

Type	Required
posixPath	Yes

Example:

spec:
  ...
  artifacts:
    - source: /report/**/*
    - source: "/output/**/*"

spec.artifacts[].target

spec > artifacts > target

A POSIX-style path to copy the artifacts to, relative to the project artifacts directory at .garden/artifacts.

Type	Default	Required
posixPath	"."	No

Example:

spec:
  ...
  artifacts:
    - source: /report/**/*
    - target: "outputs/foo/"

spec.image

spec > image

Specify an image ID to deploy. Should be a valid Docker image identifier. Required if no build is specified.

Type	Required
string	No

spec.cacheResult

spec > cacheResult

Set to false if you don't want the Runs's result to be cached. Use this if the Run needs to be run any time your project (or one or more of the Run's dependants) is deployed. Otherwise the Run is only re-run when its version changes, or when you run garden run.

Type	Default	Required
boolean	true	No

Outputs

The following keys are available via the ${actions.run.<name>} template string key for container action.

${actions.run.<name>.name}

The name of the action.

Type
string

${actions.run.<name>.disabled}

Whether the action is disabled.

Type
boolean

Example:

my-variable: ${actions.run.my-run.disabled}

${actions.run.<name>.buildPath}

The local path to the action build directory.

Type
string

Example:

my-variable: ${actions.run.my-run.buildPath}

${actions.run.<name>.sourcePath}

The local path to the action source directory.

Type
string

Example:

my-variable: ${actions.run.my-run.sourcePath}

${actions.run.<name>.mode}

The mode that the action should be executed in (e.g. 'sync' or 'local' for Deploy actions). Set to 'default' if no special mode is being used.

Build actions inherit the mode from Deploy actions that depend on them. E.g. If a Deploy action is in 'sync' mode and depends on a Build action, the Build action will inherit the 'sync' mode setting from the Deploy action. This enables installing different tools that may be necessary for different development modes.

Type	Default
string	"default"

Example:

my-variable: ${actions.run.my-run.mode}

${actions.run.<name>.var.*}

The variables configured on the action.

Type	Default
object	{}

${actions.run.<name>.var.<name>}

Type
string | number | boolean | link | array[link]

${actions.run.<name>.outputs.log}

The full log output from the executed action. (Pro-tip: Make it machine readable so it can be parsed by dependants)

Type	Default
string	""