Custom CI/CD pipelines give you complete control over your deployment workflow. Use them when you need approval gates, multi-stage deployments, or tests that must pass before any deployment.
GitHub Users
If you use GitHub, you likely don't need custom CI/CD. The built-in integration deploys automatically, and you can add deployment testing to run tests after each deploy.
Custom pipelines unlock:
- Pre-deployment testing — Tests must pass before anything deploys
- Approval gates — Require human approval for production
- Tag-based releases — Deploy only when you tag a release
- Multi-stage workflows — Staging → production with validation between
Choose Your CI/CD Provider
- GitHub Actions — Workflows with approval gates and multi-stage deployments
- Azure Pipelines — Enterprise pipelines with environment approvals
- GitLab CI/CD — Integrated pipelines with protected environments
- Bitbucket Pipelines — Repository-native deployments with manual triggers
- CircleCI — Flexible workflows with approval jobs
How It Works
Every Zuplo project can be deployed via the Zuplo CLI. The CLI commands integrate into any CI/CD system:
zuplo deploy— Deploy your API to Zuplozuplo test— Run your test suite against any endpointzuplo delete— Remove an environment when no longer neededzuplo dev— Start a local server for testing in CI
Branch names become environment names automatically. Push to feature-auth and
you get a feature-auth environment. This
branch-based model makes preview environments
trivial to implement.
GitHub Users: Disconnect Automatic Deployments
If you're using GitHub with custom CI/CD, disconnect the built-in integration to prevent double deployments:
Settings > Source Control > Disconnect
GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps don't have automatic deployments, so no disconnection is needed.
Getting Your API Key
The CLI authenticates with an API key:
- Go to portal.zuplo.com
- Select your account
- Navigate to Settings > API Keys
Store this as a secret in your CI/CD provider (typically ZUPLO_API_KEY). Never
commit API keys to your repository.
Related Resources
- Branch-Based Deployments — How branches map to environments
- Zuplo CLI Reference — Complete CLI documentation
- Testing — Writing tests for your API