Skipping Pipeline Trigger

When working with GitLab CI/CD, every push by default starts a new pipeline run. However, for non-functional changes—like updating documentation or fixing typos—you can prevent an unnecessary pipeline execution by appending a skip directive to your commit message.

Why Skip CI/CD Pipelines?

Skipping pipelines saves valuable runner minutes and reduces clutter in your pipeline dashboard. Typical use cases include:

• Documentation updates (README.md, CHANGELOG.md)
• Configuration tweaks that don’t affect build/test logic
• Minor formatting or comment changes

Example .gitlab-ci.yml Configuration

Below is a sample CI configuration. Even pure documentation changes will trigger this pipeline unless skipped explicitly:

workflow:
  name: Exploring GitLab CI Concepts
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'

variables:
  DEPLOY_VARIABLE: "PRODUCTION"

deploy-job:
  resource_group: production
  parallel:
    matrix:
      RUNNER_MACHINES:
        - saas-linux-small-amd64
        - saas-linux-medium-amd64
      NODE_TAGS:
        - '20-alpine3.18'
        - '18-alpine3.18'
        - '21-alpine3.18'
  tags:
    - $RUNNER_MACHINES
  image: node:$NODE_TAGS
  script:
    - echo "Deploying to production environment"

Skip Directives Overview

You can use either [ci skip] or [skip ci] in your commit message:

Committing with a Skip Directive

To skip the pipeline for a documentation-only change:

git add README.md
git commit -m "docs: improve installation steps [ci skip]"
git push origin main

Once pushed, GitLab marks the pipeline as Skipped immediately—no jobs are queued or executed.

Verifying the Skipped Pipeline

Navigate to CI/CD > Pipelines in your project’s sidebar. You will see the latest push marked as Skipped:

• No jobs are run.
• Pipeline minutes are preserved.
• Dashboard remains uncluttered.

Additional Resources

• GitLab CI/CD Pipelines
• Skipping Jobs in GitLab CI/CD
• GitLab Workflow Reference