Nested and Parallel Stages

Updated May 13, 2020 ·

Nested Stages

Nested stages in Jenkins allow you to organize your pipeline into sub-stages, improving readability and structuring complex workflows.

• Helps separate different phases of the build process
• Makes it easier to handle errors and outputs
• Provides a hierarchical structure for better organization
• The nested stages are run in sequential order

You can set nested stages inside the Jenkinsfile as shown below:

Jenkinsfile

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage("Lint and Testing") {
            stages {
                stage('Lint') {
                    steps {
                        // Add the lint steps here
                    }
                }
                stage('Unit Test') {
                    steps {
                        // Add the tests here
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Parallel Stages

Parallel stages allow you to execute multiple stages simultaneously, improving the efficiency of your Jenkins pipeline.

• Reduces overall build time by running tasks concurrently
• Useful for tasks that are independent and can be performed in parallel

The main difference between parallel stages and nested stages is the use of the parallel keyword. All stages defined inside the parallel block will run at the same time.

Jenkinsfile

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('Lint and Testing') {
            parallel {
                stages {
                    stage('Lint') {
                        steps {
                            // Add the lint steps here
                        }
                    }
                    stage('Unit Test') {
                        steps {
                            // Add the tests here
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        stage('Deploy') {
            steps {
                // Add deployment steps here 
            }
        }
    }
}