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In this guide, we’ll extend our GitLab CI pipeline by adding an integration testing job. After deploying to Kubernetes, we’ll extract the Ingress host URL, save it as a dotenv report, and consume it in downstream tests to verify our service endpoints.

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1. Define the Integration Testing Job

Begin by declaring a k8s_dev_integration_testing job in the dev-deploy stage. This job installs curl and jq, then probes the /live and /ready endpoints to confirm service health: 
k8s_dev_integration_testing:
  stage: dev-deploy
  image: alpine:3.7
  before_script:
    - apk --no-cache add curl jq
  script:
    - curl -s -k https://$INGRESS_URL/live  | jq -r .status | grep -i live
    - curl -s -k https://$INGRESS_URL/ready | jq -r .status | grep -i ready

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2. Capture the Ingress Host URL in CI

After your application manifests are applied, list the Ingress resource to confirm its host: 
kubectl -n development get ing

NAME           CLASS    HOSTS                                          ADDRESS         PORTS   AGE
solar-system   <none>   solar-system-development.139.84.208.48.nip.io 139.84.208.48   80,443  39m
Extract the hostname via JSONPath: 
kubectl -n development get ing -o jsonpath="{.items[0].spec.tls[0].hosts[0]}"
Automate this in your deploy job and append the result to a dotenv file: 
k8s_dev_deploy:
  stage: dev-deploy
  image: alpine:3.7
  script:
    - export KUBECONFIG=$DEV_KUBE_CONFIG
    - kubectl version -o yaml
    - kubectl config get-contexts
    - kubectl get nodes
    - export INGRESS_IP=$(kubectl -n ingress-nginx get svc ingress-nginx-controller \
        -o jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}")
    - echo "🔍 Ingress IP: $INGRESS_IP"
    - kubectl -n $NAMESPACE create secret generic mongo-db-creds \
        --from-literal=MONGO_URI=$MONGO_URI \
        --from-literal=MONGO_USERNAME=$MONGO_USERNAME \
        --from-literal=MONGO_PASSWORD=$MONGO_PASSWORD \
        --save-config --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
    - for manifest in kubernetes/manifest/*.yaml; do
        envsubst < "$manifest" | kubectl apply -f -
      done
    - echo "INGRESS_URL=$(kubectl -n $NAMESPACE get ing \
        -o jsonpath='{.items[0].spec.tls[0].hosts[0]}')" >> app_ingress_url.env
  artifacts:
    reports:
      dotenv: app_ingress_url.env
By registering app_ingress_url.env as a dotenv report, GitLab exposes INGRESS_URL as a CI variable for subsequent jobs.
The image shows a GitLab documentation page about artifacts:reports:dotenv, detailing how environment variables are collected and used in CI/CD pipelines. The page includes rules and exceptions for handling .env files.

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3. Consume the Ingress URL in Integration Tests

Now update the integration testing job to depend on the deploy job. This ensures that INGRESS_URL is available: 
k8s_dev_integration_testing:
  stage: dev-deploy
  needs:
    - k8s_dev_deploy
  image: alpine:3.7
  before_script:
    - apk --no-cache add curl jq
  script:
    - echo "Using Ingress URL: $INGRESS_URL"
    - curl -s -k https://$INGRESS_URL/live  | jq -r .status | grep -i live
    - curl -s -k https://$INGRESS_URL/ready | jq -r .status | grep -i ready

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4. Visualize the Pipeline

After committing your .gitlab-ci.yml, your pipeline in the dev-deploy stage will include two sequential jobs:
The image shows a GitLab Pipeline Editor interface with a successful pipeline visualization, including stages for containerization and deployment.
Upon completion, both jobs report success:
The image shows a GitLab CI/CD pipeline interface for a NodeJS project called "Solar System," displaying successful stages for containerization and deployment.

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References

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