DataRobot Application Templates CI/CD Skill

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for setting up production-grade CI/CD pipelines for DataRobot application templates, including automated testing, review deployments, and continuous delivery.

Quick Start

Default behavior: When a user asks to "set up CI/CD" without specifying a platform or backend, always use the Simple Path below — three workflow files, two GitHub Secrets, done. Do not create infra/scripts/, do not add CI/CD tasks to infra/Taskfile.yaml, do not involve GPG encryption unless the user explicitly asks for it.

Only deviate from the simple path when the user specifies:

• A specific Pulumi state backend (Azure Blob, S3, GCS) → use scripts/ and see Implementation Pattern
• GitLab CI/CD → see GitLab CI/CD Configuration
• Many secrets to manage → consider GPG approach in scripts/

Simple Path: Pulumi Cloud + GitHub Secrets

For most data scientists and AI engineers, this is all you need. No GPG encryption, no cloud storage account, no extra scripts.

What to create in the user's repository:

1. Copy the three workflow files to .github/workflows/:

   Source	Destination	Trigger
   examples/github-cd-pulumi-cloud.yml	.github/workflows/cd.yml	Automatic — every merge to main
   examples/github-deploy-pulumi-cloud.yml	.github/workflows/deploy-pr.yml	Manual — user picks PR branch + enters stack name (e.g. pr-42)
   examples/github-destroy-pulumi-cloud.yml	.github/workflows/destroy.yml	Manual — user enters stack name to tear down

2. Create .github/workflows/README.md from examples/workflows-README.md. This is the setup guide that tells the user exactly what secrets and variables to add and how.

3. Tell the user to follow the setup guide in .github/workflows/README.md.

That's it. Do not add anything to infra/Taskfile.yaml or create infra/scripts/ for this path.

Required GitHub Secrets (both required — no defaults):

Name	Kind
DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN	Secret
PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN	Secret

Optional GitHub Variable (defaults to ci if not set):

Name	Kind	Default
PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME	Variable	ci

When to use the advanced approach (GPG + DIY backends) instead:

• You have many secrets (GPG encrypts all of .env behind a single passphrase — only one GitHub Secret needed)
• Your organization prohibits Pulumi Cloud and requires a self-managed backend (Azure Blob / S3 / GCS)
• You need GitLab CI/CD

The templates and scripts for all of these are in scripts/ in this skill directory. If the skill has already been propagated to the project's infra/ directory (common in downstream templates), look in infra/scripts/ instead. See the Implementation Pattern section below for full setup guidance.

Scenario	Key files in scripts/
Azure Blob / S3 / GCS Pulumi backend	pulumi-setup.sh, taskfile-snippets.yaml
GitHub Actions + GPG secrets	github-deploy.yml, github-cd.yml, encrypt-secrets.sh, setup-github-secrets.sh
GitLab CI/CD	gitlab-ci.yml, setup-gitlab-variables.sh

Adapting the deploy command

The example workflows use uv run pulumi up --yes directly. Before copying them, check infra/Taskfile.yaml — the project may already wrap the deploy command in a task:

cat infra/Taskfile.yaml   # look for 'up-yes', 'deploy', or similar tasks

What you find	What to use in CI
up-yes task	task up-yes — non-interactive, purpose-built for CI; prefer this over raw Pulumi
deploy task (alias for up)	Avoid — typically runs pulumi up interactively; only safe in CI if you confirm it passes -y internally
No Taskfile or no relevant task	Keep uv run pulumi up --yes as-is

To use task in a workflow, add an install step and swap the run command:

- name: Install Task
  run: pip install go-task-bin

- name: Deploy
  working-directory: infra
  env:
    DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN }}
    PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
  run: |
    uv sync --all-extras
    task up-yes

DataRobot API token (service account)

DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN should come from a DataRobot service account — a DataRobot user created for automation, not tied to anyone's personal login. This prevents CI/CD from breaking when the engineer who originally set it up leaves the team.

To set one up: ask your DataRobot admin to create a dedicated user (e.g. ci-bot@your-org.com). Under that account, go to Developer Tools → API Key and generate a token. Store it as the DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN secret in GitHub.

Note: This is purely a DataRobot concept — it has no relation to Pulumi state management or backend configuration. "Service account" here just means a non-personal DataRobot user.

Implementation Pattern

When implementing CI/CD for an application template, follow this structure:

Project Structure:

application-template-root/
├── infra/
│   ├── README.md                   # ⚠️ GENERATE THIS — tailored to the chosen CI/CD platform and Pulumi backend
│   ├── Taskfile.yaml               # ⚠️ CI/CD tasks go HERE — copy from infra/scripts/taskfile-snippets.yaml
│   └── scripts/                    # Copy entire scripts/ directory here
│       ├── README.md               # Copy from scripts/infra-README.md
│       ├── setup-github-secrets.sh
│       ├── setup-gitlab-variables.sh
│       ├── encrypt-secrets.sh
│       ├── decrypt-secrets.sh
│       ├── pulumi-setup.sh
│       ├── gitlab-ci.yml
│       ├── github-deploy.yml
│       ├── github-cd.yml
│       ├── github-destroy.yml
│       └── taskfile-snippets.yaml
├── .env                            # User's secrets (never commit!)
├── .env.gpg                        # Encrypted secrets (commit for GitHub)
├── .gitlab-ci.yml                  # Copy from infra/scripts/gitlab-ci.yml
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       ├── deploy.yml              # Copy from infra/scripts/github-deploy.yml (PR review deploys)
│       ├── cd.yml                  # Copy from infra/scripts/github-cd.yml (push-to-main CD)
│       └── destroy.yml             # Copy from infra/scripts/github-destroy.yml
└── Taskfile.yml                    # Root Taskfile — ADD ONLY one `includes` entry (see below). DO NOT add tasks here.

Key Points:

• ⚠️ ALWAYS generate infra/README.md tailored to the chosen platform and backend — see "Generating infra/README.md" below
• All CI/CD scripts go in infra/scripts/ directory
• ⚠️ CRITICAL: All CI/CD tasks go in infra/Taskfile.yaml — NEVER add CI/CD tasks directly to the root Taskfile.yml
• .env and .env.gpg stay in project root
• Scripts in infra/scripts/ reference ../../.env (two levels up)
• Root Taskfile.yml gets exactly ONE addition: an includes entry pointing to ./infra/Taskfile.yaml
• CI/CD configs (.gitlab-ci.yml, .github/workflows/) are copied to standard locations

Root Taskfile.yml — the only change needed:

# Add this includes block to the existing root Taskfile.yml:
includes:
  infra:
    taskfile: ./infra/Taskfile.yaml
    dir: infra
# Tasks are then run as: task infra:encrypt-secrets, task infra:setup-github-secrets, etc.

Generating infra/README.md

After determining the user's CI/CD platform (GitHub/GitLab) and Pulumi backend, always create infra/README.md with content tailored to their choices. It should cover:

1. Architecture overview — which platform was chosen and why, and which Pulumi backend
2. First-time setup — the exact sequence of task infra:* commands needed to bootstrap
3. Day-to-day tasks — a table or list of the task infra:* commands relevant to their platform
4. How deployments work — short description of each trigger:
   • GitHub: deploy.yml fires on PR open/sync (review stack), cd.yml fires on push to main (CI stack), destroy.yml is manual
   • GitLab: review_app is manual on MR, deploy_ci fires on push to default branch, destroy_review_app is manual
5. Secrets / credentials — what variables/secrets are needed and where they live (GitHub Secrets, GitLab CI/CD variables, .env.gpg)
6. Stack migration note — if backend was migrated from a local stack, document what was done so future contributors understand the history

Adjust section titles, task names, and stack-naming strategy to match what was actually configured. The README should be accurate enough that a new contributor can set up CI/CD without referring to any other document.

Workflow examples

See references/workflow-examples.md for step-by-step examples covering GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions with GPG secrets, and continuous delivery setup.

Using Task for workflow management

Application templates use Task to simplify local development and CI/CD workflows. Task provides a unified interface for Python and TypeScript/React components.

Example Taskfile.yaml

See references/example-taskfile.yaml for a complete example.

Using Task in CI/CD

# Install Task
pip install go-task-bin

# Install dependencies
task install

# Run linters (with fixes)
task lint

# Run linters (check only)
task lint-check

# Run tests
task test

GitLab CI/CD Configuration

The complete pipeline configuration lives in scripts/gitlab-ci.yml. Copy it to your repository root:

cp infra/scripts/gitlab-ci.yml .gitlab-ci.yml

Key pipeline jobs:

• lint / test — run on every same-project MR
• review_app — manual deploy per MR; stack name driven by the PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME CI/CD variable
• deploy_ci — automatic deploy on merge to default branch; stack name driven by PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME
• destroy_review_app — manual cleanup of review stacks

PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME and PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME must be set as plain CI/CD variables in GitLab (Settings → CI/CD → Variables). The pipeline file includes sensible defaults that project-level variables override.

GitHub Actions Configuration

The complete workflow files live in scripts/:

• scripts/github-deploy.yml → copy to .github/workflows/deploy.yml
• scripts/github-destroy.yml → copy to .github/workflows/destroy.yml

mkdir -p .github/workflows
cp infra/scripts/github-deploy.yml .github/workflows/deploy.yml
cp infra/scripts/github-destroy.yml .github/workflows/destroy.yml

The deploy workflow triggers on pull requests and derives PULUMI_STACK_NAME from the PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME Actions variable and the PR number. Set PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME and PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME as repository variables (Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → Variables tab), not secrets.

Pulumi State Management

Pulumi Cloud Backend (Recommended)

The simplest approach for managing Pulumi state:

# Install Pulumi (macOS; other platforms: https://www.pulumi.com/docs/install/)
brew install pulumi/tap/pulumi

# Login to Pulumi Cloud
pulumi login

# Create/select stack
pulumi stack select --create dev

# Deploy
pulumi up

CI/CD Setup: Add PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN to your CI/CD secrets. Get token from Pulumi Console.

DIY Backend Options

For organizations that cannot use Pulumi Cloud:

Azure Blob Storage

# Login to Azure backend
pulumi login azblob://container-name

# Set Azure credentials
export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT=myaccount
export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY=mykey

AWS S3

# Login to S3 backend
pulumi login s3://bucket-name

# AWS credentials from environment
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

Google Cloud Storage

# Login to GCS backend
pulumi login gs://bucket-name

# GCP credentials from environment
export GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS=...

Migrating Stacks to a Different Backend

When a developer has an existing local stack (a Pulumi.<stackname>.yaml file) that was created against a different backend than the CI/CD destination, the stack state must be exported and re-imported before switching.

pulumi-setup.sh handles this automatically: it checks pulumi whoami --verbose for the Backend URL and compares it with the target URL. If they differ and local stack files exist, it offers to migrate them.

Manual migration steps (if not using the script):

# 1. Confirm current backend and stacks
pulumi whoami --verbose        # note "Backend URL:"
pulumi stack ls -a             # list stacks on current backend

# 2. Export each stack that exists locally (Pulumi.<name>.yaml)
pulumi stack export --stack <stackname> --file <stackname>-backup.json

# 3. Login to the new backend (set any required credentials first)
#    Examples:
pulumi login                           # Pulumi Cloud
pulumi login azblob://my-container     # Azure Blob
pulumi login s3://my-bucket            # AWS S3

# 4. Create the stack in the new backend and import state
pulumi stack select --create <stackname>
pulumi stack import --file <stackname>-backup.json

# 5. Clean up the backup
rm <stackname>-backup.json

Key signals that migration is needed:

• pulumi whoami --verbose shows Backend URL: file:// (local) but CI/CD uses cloud storage
• Backend URL domain/scheme differs between developer machine and CI target

Managing Stacks Across Environments

# List all stacks
pulumi stack ls -a

# Output:
# NAME                                 LAST UPDATE   RESOURCE COUNT
# organization/project/prod            1 day ago     15
# organization/project/staging         2 days ago    12
# organization/project/dev             1 hour ago    10
# github-pr-repo-42                    3 hours ago   13

# Select and update a stack
pulumi stack select dev
pulumi up

# View stack outputs
pulumi stack output --json

# Delete a stack
pulumi stack rm review-app-123 --yes

Secrets Management

All credentials (DataRobot API token, Pulumi access token, LLM keys, cloud storage keys) are stored in .env and committed to the repository encrypted as .env.gpg. The only secret that needs to be configured in the CI/CD system directly is CICD_SECRET_PASSPHRASE (the GPG passphrase). Non-sensitive stack name variables (PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME, PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME) are set as plain variables, not secrets.

DataRobot API token (service account)

DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN should come from a DataRobot service account — a DataRobot user created for automation, not tied to anyone's personal login. This prevents CI/CD from breaking when the engineer who originally set it up leaves the team.

To set one up: ask your DataRobot admin to create a dedicated user (e.g. ci-bot@your-org.com). Under that account, go to Developer Tools → API Key and generate a token. Store it as the DATAROBOT_API_TOKEN secret in your CI/CD system.

Note: This is purely a DataRobot concept — it has no relation to Pulumi state management or backend configuration. "Service account" here just means a non-personal DataRobot user.

GitHub

Run scripts/setup-github-secrets.sh for interactive setup — it sets CICD_SECRET_PASSPHRASE as a repository secret and PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME / PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME as repository variables.

To encrypt .env for CI:

task infra:encrypt-secrets
# or: ./infra/scripts/encrypt-secrets.sh

Add the resulting .env.gpg to git. For local decryption:

task infra:decrypt-secrets
# or: ./infra/scripts/decrypt-secrets.sh

GitLab

Run scripts/setup-gitlab-variables.sh for interactive setup — it sets:

• CICD_SECRET_PASSPHRASE — masked, for decrypting .env.gpg
• GITLAB_API_TOKEN — masked, for posting MR comments
• PULUMI_STACK_CI_NAME / PULUMI_STACK_REVIEW_NAME — plain variables

Alternatively configure in the UI: Project Settings → CI/CD → Variables. Mark CICD_SECRET_PASSPHRASE and GITLAB_API_TOKEN as Masked and Protected.

Best practices

CI/CD Pipeline Design

1. Fast feedback: Run linting and testing in parallel
2. Manual gates: Make review apps manual to save resources
3. Automatic cleanup: Provide easy ways to destroy test environments
4. Stack isolation: Use unique stack names per PR/MR
5. Idempotent operations: Design deployments to be safely re-runnable

Pulumi State

1. Use centralized backends: Enable collaboration and CI/CD
2. Stack naming conventions: Use consistent patterns (e.g., github-pr-{repo}-{number})
3. Clean up stacks: Remove unused stacks to reduce clutter
4. State locking: Backends handle this automatically
5. Backup state: Cloud backends provide automatic backups

Security

1. Never commit secrets: Use .gitignore for .env files
2. Encrypt sensitive data: Use GPG for GitHub, CI/CD variables for GitLab
3. Rotate credentials: Regularly update API tokens and keys
4. Scope permissions: Use least-privilege access for service accounts
5. Audit access: Monitor who has access to secrets

Resource Management

1. Tag resources: Use consistent tagging for tracking
2. Set TTLs: Consider time-to-live for review environments
3. Monitor costs: Track resource usage per environment
4. Auto-cleanup: Implement automatic deletion of old review apps
5. Resource limits: Set quotas to prevent runaway costs

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Pulumi state conflicts:

• Ensure only one deployment runs at a time per stack
• Use unique stack names for concurrent deployments
• Check backend connection and credentials

Secret decryption failures:

• Verify GPG passphrase is correct
• Check .env.gpg file is in repository
• Ensure GPG is installed in CI environment

Deployment timeouts:

• Increase timeout values in workflow
• Check DataRobot API connectivity
• Verify resource provisioning isn't blocked

Stack not found:

• List stacks: pulumi stack ls -a
• Verify backend connection
• Check stack name matches pattern

Resource conflicts:

• Use unique names per stack
• Check for orphaned resources
• Review Pulumi state for inconsistencies

Example Repositories

Reference implementations:

• GitLab: demo-data-agent - Complete GitLab CI/CD setup
• GitHub: demo-talk-to-my-data-agent - Complete GitHub Actions setup

Resources

• Task Documentation
• Pulumi Documentation
• Pulumi State and Backends
• GitLab CI/CD
• GitHub Actions
• DataRobot Application Templates
• DataRobot Codespaces