certctl/docs/contributor/ci-pipeline.md

CI Pipeline — Operator Guide

Last reviewed: 2026-05-05

Authoritative guide to certctl's CI pipeline shape. Per the ci-pipeline-cleanup spec, Phase 12.

Trigger model

Three triggers, each with its own scope. Don't mix.

Trigger	Workflow	Scope	Wall-clock target
Push to master, PR to master	.github/workflows/ci.yml + .github/workflows/codeql.yml	Blocking — every check earns its keep	<10 min
Daily 06:00 UTC + workflow_dispatch	.github/workflows/security-deep-scan.yml	Slow scans (gosec, osv, trivy, ZAP, schemathesis, nuclei, testssl, semgrep, mutation, -race -count=10); best-effort, never blocks	60 min budget
Tag push (v*)	.github/workflows/release.yml	Cross-platform binaries, ghcr.io push, SLSA provenance, GitHub release	n/a

This guide covers the on-push pipeline only.

On-push pipeline (7 status checks)

flowchart TD
    Push["push to master"]
    CI["CI workflow (5 jobs)"]
    CodeQL["CodeQL workflow (2 jobs)"]
    GoBuild["go-build-and-test<br/>~6-7 min"]
    Frontend["frontend-build<br/>~1 min"]
    HelmLint["helm-lint<br/>~10 sec"]
    Vendor["deploy-vendor-e2e<br/>~5 min, depends on go-build-and-test"]
    Image["image-and-supply-chain<br/>~3 min, parallel"]
    AnalyzeGo["Analyze (go)<br/>~5 min, parallel"]
    AnalyzeJS["Analyze (javascript-typescript)<br/>~5 min, parallel"]
    Push --> CI
    Push --> CodeQL
    CI --> GoBuild
    CI --> Frontend
    CI --> HelmLint
    CI --> Vendor
    CI --> Image
    CodeQL --> AnalyzeGo
    CodeQL --> AnalyzeJS
    GoBuild -.depends on.-> Vendor

End-to-end wall-clock: dominated by go-build-and-test + deploy-vendor-e2e chain (~12 min) running in parallel with CodeQL (~5 min). Target ~10 min.

Per-job deep-dive

go-build-and-test (Ubuntu, ~6-7 min)

Runs the Go build/test suite + 18 of 20 regression guards.

Steps:

1. actions/checkout@v4
2. actions/setup-go@v5 (Go 1.25.10)
3. go build ./cmd/... (server, agent, mcp-server, cli)
4. gofmt drift — gofmt -l . must be empty (Makefile::verify parity)
5. go mod tidy drift — go mod tidy && git diff --exit-code go.mod go.sum
6. go vet ./...
7. Install + run golangci-lint v2.11.4 (--timeout 5m)
8. Install + run govulncheck (hard gate)
9. Install + run staticcheck (hard gate; continue-on-error: false)
10. Race Detection — go test -race -count=1 ./internal/... (9-package list, 5min timeout)
11. Go Test with Coverage — full coverage profile to coverage.out
12. Check Coverage Thresholds — bash scripts/check-coverage-thresholds.sh (reads .github/coverage-thresholds.yml)
13. Upload Coverage Report — artifact (go-coverage, 30-day retention)
14. Coverage PR comment — posts/updates per-PR coverage table (PR builds only)
15. Regression guards — loop runs all scripts/ci-guards/*.sh (18 of 20 guards)

Local equivalent: make verify covers steps 4, 6, 7, 11 (with -short).

frontend-build (Ubuntu, ~1 min)

Vitest tests + tsc check + vite build + 2 of 20 regression guards (already covered by the ci-guards loop in go-build-and-test).

Steps:

1. actions/checkout@v4
2. actions/setup-node@v4 (Node 22)
3. npm ci
4. npx tsc --noEmit
5. npx vitest run
6. npx vite build
7. Regression guards — same scripts/ci-guards/*.sh loop as go-build-and-test (catches frontend-side guards: S-1, P-1, T-1, L-015, L-019, M-009, G-3)

helm-lint (Ubuntu, ~10 sec)

Helm chart validation in 3 modes + inverse fail-loud test:

1. helm lint with existingSecret
2. helm template (existingSecret mode)
3. helm template (cert-manager mode)
4. helm template (no TLS source — MUST fail per fail-loud guard)

deploy-vendor-e2e (Ubuntu, ~5 min, depends on go-build-and-test)

Single-job collapse of the prior 12-job matrix (per ci-pipeline-cleanup Phase 5 / frozen decision 0.4 — revises Bundle II decision 0.9).

Steps:

1. actions/checkout@v5
2. actions/setup-go@v5 (Go 1.25.10, cache: true)
3. Build f5-mock-icontrol sidecar — only sidecar without published image
4. Bring up all vendor sidecars — docker compose --profile deploy-e2e up -d (11 sidecars)
5. Run all vendor-edge e2e — go test -tags integration -race -count=1 -run 'VendorEdge_'; output captured to test-output.log
6. Skip-count enforcement — bash scripts/ci-guards/vendor-e2e-skip-check.sh test-output.log (catches sidecar boot failures via skip-count vs allowlist)
7. Tear down sidecars — docker compose down -v (always runs)

The deploy-vendor-e2e-windows matrix was deleted entirely (per ci-pipeline-cleanup Phase 6 / frozen decision 0.5 — revises Bundle II decision 0.4). IIS + WinCertStore validation moved to docs/connector-iis.md::Operator validation playbook.

image-and-supply-chain (Ubuntu, ~3 min, parallel)

Three checks bundled (per ci-pipeline-cleanup Phases 7-9 / frozen decision 0.8):

1. Digest validity — bash scripts/ci-guards/digest-validity.sh. Resolves every @sha256:<digest> ref in deploy/**/*.{yml,Dockerfile*} against its registry. Closes the H-001 lying-field gap.
2. Docker build smoke — builds all 4 Dockerfiles (Dockerfile, Dockerfile.agent, deploy/test/f5-mock-icontrol/Dockerfile, deploy/test/libest/Dockerfile).
3. OpenAPI ↔ handler operationId parity — bash scripts/ci-guards/openapi-handler-parity.sh. Every router route must have a matching operationId in api/openapi.yaml or be documented in api/openapi-handler-exceptions.yaml.

CodeQL (Ubuntu × 2 languages, ~5 min)

.github/workflows/codeql.yml — interprocedural taint tracking. Two matrix jobs: go and javascript-typescript. Triggers on push, PR, and weekly Sunday cron.

The 20 regression guards

Located at scripts/ci-guards/<id>.sh. Each script is callable locally:

bash scripts/ci-guards/G-3-env-docs-drift.sh

Or run all of them:

for g in scripts/ci-guards/*.sh; do
  echo "=== $(basename "$g") ==="
  bash "$g" || echo "  FAILED"
done

ID	Catches
G-1-jwt-auth-literal	JWT silent auth downgrade reappearing
L-001-insecure-skip-verify	Bare InsecureSkipVerify: true without //nolint:gosec
H-001-bare-from	Bare Dockerfile FROM without @sha256: digest pin
M-012-no-root-user	Dockerfile missing terminal USER <non-root>
H-009-readme-jwt	README re-introducing JWT-as-supported claim
G-2-api-key-hash-json	api_key_hash in JSON-emitting surface
U-2-plaintext-healthcheck	Plaintext http:// in HEALTHCHECK
U-3-migration-mount	Migration file mounted into postgres initdb
D-1-D-2-statusbadge-phantom	Dead StatusBadge keys + 8 TS phantom fields across 4 interfaces
L-1-bulk-action-loop	Client-side for ... await bulk action loops
B-1-orphan-crud	8 update/create/delete fns lose page consumers
S-2-strings-contains-err	strings.Contains(err.Error(), ...) brittle dispatch
G-3-env-docs-drift	CERTCTL_* env var defined OR documented but not both
test-naming-convention	func TestXxx lowercase first letter (Go silently skips)
S-1-hardcoded-source-counts	Hardcoded "N issuer connectors" prose
P-1-documented-orphan-fns	16 read-fn names removed from client.ts exports
T-1-frontend-page-coverage	New page in web/src/pages/ without sibling .test.tsx
bundle-8-L-015-target-blank-rel-noopener	target="_blank" without rel="noopener noreferrer"
bundle-8-L-019-dangerously-set-inner-html	dangerouslySetInnerHTML outside safeHtml.ts
bundle-8-M-009-bare-usemutation	Bare useMutation() outside the useTrackedMutation wrapper

Plus three additional scripts for non-guard operator workflows:

• scripts/ci-guards/vendor-e2e-skip-check.sh — vendor-e2e skip-count enforcement (used by deploy-vendor-e2e job)
• scripts/ci-guards/digest-validity.sh — used by image-and-supply-chain job
• scripts/ci-guards/openapi-handler-parity.sh — used by image-and-supply-chain job
• scripts/ci-guards/coverage-pr-comment.sh — used by go-build-and-test job
• scripts/check-coverage-thresholds.sh — used by go-build-and-test job

Coverage thresholds

Manifest at .github/coverage-thresholds.yml. Each entry has floor: (integer percentage) + why: (load-bearing context). Lowering a floor REQUIRES corresponding code-side test work — never lower the gate to make CI green.

To add a new gated package: add an entry to the YAML; no script changes needed.

Make targets — three-tier convention

Target	When	What
make verify	Required pre-commit	gofmt + vet + golangci-lint + go test -short
make verify-deploy	Optional pre-push	digest-validity + OpenAPI parity + Docker build smoke (server + agent only — fast subset)
make verify-docs	Required pre-tag	QA-doc Part-count + seed-count drift checks

Adding a new check

Check type	Where it goes	Auto-picked-up by CI?
Regression guard (grep / shape pattern)	New scripts/ci-guards/<id>.sh script	Yes — loop step iterates *.sh
Coverage threshold (per-package)	New entry in .github/coverage-thresholds.yml	Yes — bash loop reads YAML
OpenAPI route exception	New entry in api/openapi-handler-exceptions.yaml	Yes — parity script reads YAML
Vendor-e2e expected skip	New line in scripts/ci-guards/vendor-e2e-skip-allowlist.txt	Yes — skip-check script reads file
New CI job	Edit .github/workflows/ci.yml directly	n/a (job definition is the source)

Troubleshooting

CI step fails	Likely cause	Fix
gofmt drift	source needs gofmt -w	make fmt locally + commit
go mod tidy drift	imported a package without committing go.mod	go mod tidy + commit
Run staticcheck	new SA1019 deprecated-API site	migrate the API OR add //lint:ignore SA1019 <reason>
Check Coverage Thresholds	per-package coverage dropped below floor	add tests; do NOT lower the floor
Regression guards (any <id>.sh)	the audit-finding the guard pinned reappeared	read the guard's head-comment block for the closure rationale + fix the regression
Skip-count enforcement	a vendor sidecar failed to start	check docker logs; fix sidecar; OR if a new Windows-only test was added, add to scripts/ci-guards/vendor-e2e-skip-allowlist.txt
Digest validity	a @sha256 digest doesn't resolve	re-resolve from registry, replace in compose / Dockerfile
OpenAPI ↔ handler parity	new router route without operationId	add to api/openapi.yaml (preferred) OR api/openapi-handler-exceptions.yaml
Docker build smoke	Dockerfile syntax error or COPY path drift	fix the Dockerfile
CodeQL Analyze	interprocedural dataflow finding	review the SARIF in Security → Code scanning tab

Status check accounting

Current (post-cleanup): 7 status checks per push.

• 1 × Go Build & Test
• 1 × Frontend Build
• 1 × Helm Chart Validation
• 1 × deploy-vendor-e2e
• 1 × image-and-supply-chain
• 2 × CodeQL Analyze (<lang>) (go + javascript-typescript)

Pre-cleanup (HEAD 1de61e91): 19 status checks. The 12-vendor matrix + 2-vendor Windows matrix collapsed to 1 + 0 respectively; the 3 Go/Frontend/Helm jobs unchanged; 2 CodeQL unchanged; 1 new image-and-supply-chain added.

Required GitHub branch protection list

When updating the master branch protection rule (Settings → Branches), the "Require status checks to pass" list should be exactly:

Go Build & Test
Frontend Build
Helm Chart Validation
deploy-vendor-e2e
image-and-supply-chain
Analyze (go)
Analyze (javascript-typescript)

Old-name checks (deploy-vendor-e2e (<vendor>) × 12, deploy-vendor-e2e-windows (<vendor>) × 2) won't appear on new PRs after the workflow change. Operator removes them from the required list.