First of all, you need a single script that represents all the build steps. Cider then takes a repository URL and the relative path of that script within that repository and runs the script on one of the build slaves.

So, how to build your project using cider build:

1. Include cider.yml in your repository. This is optional but recommended.
2. Run cider build, either pointing to your cider.yml, or specifying all the required parameters on the command line. The common practice should be to put cider.yml into the top level directory of the repository and simply run cider build there.
3. Enjoy the output being streamed back into your console. You can interrupt the build by simply terminating cider with CTRL + C.

To put it together, there are three levels how to configure the build:

1. Include cider.yml in your project.
2. Use environment variables that cider build understands.
3. Use cider build flags.

Clearly cider.yml is the most practical solution since there is no need to type long commands afterwards. On the other hand, you can trigger a build with cider.yml completely missing, for example without even cloning the project repository, if you specify all the parameters explicitly. The whole cider.yml as presented in this repository could be skipped if cider build is run as

$ cider build \ -master 'wss://cider.example.com:443/connect' \ -token 'secret'\ # not the best thing you can do, though -slave 'any' \ -repository 'git+https://github.com/cider/cider-example#master' \ -script 'scripts/loop' \ -runner 'bash' \ -env 'ITERATIONS=10' -env 'MESSAGE=LOOP'

or

$ export CIDER_MASTER_URL='wss://cider.example.com:443/connect' $ export CIDER_MASTER_TOKEN='secret' $ export CIDER_SLAVE_LABEL='any' $ export CIDER_REPOSITORY_URL='git+https://github.com/cider/cider-example' $ export CIDER_SCRIPT_PATH='scripts/loop' $ export CIDER_SCRIPT_RUNNER='bash' $ export CIDER_SCRIPT_ENV_ITERATIONS='10' $ export CIDER_SCRIPT_ENV_MESSAGE='LOOP' $ cider build

The configuration options can be combined, e.g. you can overwrite the script path on the command line while still getting the rest of the configuration from cider.yml. Environmental variables can be also used to overwrite the static configuration, but the command line flags always win the priority battle.

$ cider build ---> Connecting to wss://cider.example.com:443/connect ---> Sending the build request (using method "cider.any.bash") ---> Locking the project workspace ---> Waiting for a free executor ---> Pulling the sources Cloning into '/tmp/cider/github.com/cider/cider-example/src'... ---> Running the script located at scripts/loop (using runner "bash") LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP LOOP ---> Build succeeded Pull duration: 2.055263854s Build duration: 10.107692225s Total duration: 12.162956079s 

In case the build gets stuck downloading the sources or executing, it can be interrupted by simply terminating cider using CTRL + C or so. In that case cider terminates with a non-zero exit status in much the same way as if the build script itself would have failed:

$ cider build ---> Connecting to wss://cider.example.com:443/connect ---> Sending the build request (using method "cider.any.bash") ---> Locking the project workspace ---> Waiting for a free executor ---> Pulling the sources From https://github.com//cider/cider-example * branch master -> FETCH_HEAD 55b2599..b2f956c master -> origin/master Already on 'master' Your branch is behind 'origin/master' by 1 commit, and can be fast-forwarded. (use "git pull" to update your local branch) Updating 55b2599..b2f956c Fast-forward README.md | 5 ++++- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) ---> Running the script located at scripts/loop (using runner "bash") LOOP LOOP LOOP ^C---> Interrupting the build job, this can take a few seconds ---> Build failed Pull duration: 4.286029948s Build duration: 3.134319047s Total duration: 7.420348995s Error: signal: terminated $ echo $? 1