How to install gitlab-runner using docker-compose

First, choose a directory where the service will reside in. I recommend /opt/gitlab-runner. Then create docker-compose.yml in said directory with this content:

example-13.yaml

  gitlab-runner:
    image: 'gitlab/gitlab-runner:latest'
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab-runner
    restart: unless-stopped

  gitlab-runner:
    image: 'gitlab/gitlab-runner:latest'
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab-runner
    restart: unless-stopped

then run this command to configure the runner:

example-12.sh

docker-compose exec gitlab-runner gitlab-runner register

docker-compose exec gitlab-runner gitlab-runner register

It will ask you for details about the GitLab instance you want to attach to. You will find this information at https://<your-gitlab-domain>/admin/runners. This example is for my GitLab instance:

example-11.txt

Running in system-mode.

Enter the GitLab instance URL (for example, https://gitlab.com/):
https://gitlab.techoverflow.net/
Enter the registration token:
Loo2lahf9Shoogheiyae
Enter a description for the runner:
[148a53203df8]: My-Runner
Enter tags for the runner (comma-separated):

Registering runner... succeeded                     runner=oc-oKWMH
Enter an executor: custom, docker-ssh, shell, virtualbox, docker-ssh+machine, docker, parallels, ssh, docker+machine, kubernetes:
shell
Runner registered successfully. Feel free to start it, but if it's running already the config should be automatically reloaded!

Running in system-mode.

Enter the GitLab instance URL (for example, https://gitlab.com/):
https://gitlab.techoverflow.net/
Enter the registration token:
Loo2lahf9Shoogheiyae
Enter a description for the runner:
[148a53203df8]: My-Runner
Enter tags for the runner (comma-separated):

Registering runner... succeeded                     runner=oc-oKWMH
Enter an executor: custom, docker-ssh, shell, virtualbox, docker-ssh+machine, docker, parallels, ssh, docker+machine, kubernetes:
shell
Runner registered successfully. Feel free to start it, but if it's running already the config should be automatically reloaded!

Now, restart the runner that is running with the old config (i.e. with no gitlab instance being attached):

example-10.sh

After that’s finished, you can run the script from our previous post Create a systemd service for your docker-compose project in 10 seconds in the directory where docker-compose.yml is located.

example-9.sh

This will automatically generate a systemd service and start the runner (also on boot). For more details, see the corresponding blogpost. If your directory is named gitlab-runner, the service file will be stored in /etc/systemd/systemd/gitlab-runner.service, hence these are commands you can use to control the service:

Note that the script that creates the systemd service will automatically start the runner, so you don’t need to start it manually. !

Start by

example-8.sh

Restart by

example-7.sh

Stop by

example-6.sh

View status:

example-5.sh

View & follow logs:

example-4.sh

View logs in less: