Local pipeline execution

woodpecker-cli exec runs workflow files from your local checkout. Use it to test pipeline changes before pushing them, to debug a workflow without waiting for a server run, or to replay a server pipeline with downloaded metadata.

Requirements

Install woodpecker-cli from the distribution packages or a release archive.
Run the command from the repository checkout, or pass --repo-path to point at it.
Make sure the backend you want to use is available locally. The Docker backend needs access to a Docker daemon. The local backend runs commands directly on your host and does not reproduce the container image environment.

Run a workflow file

Create or edit a workflow file, then run it directly:

woodpecker-cli exec .woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml

You can also run every .yaml and .yml file in a workflow directory:

woodpecker-cli exec .woodpecker/

By default, Woodpecker auto-detects a backend. Select one explicitly when you want the local run to match a specific agent backend:

woodpecker-cli exec --backend-engine docker .woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml
woodpecker-cli exec --backend-engine local .woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml

Pass metadata

Metadata values are set automatically, but you can override them to test conditions such as branches, pull requests, tags, and events:

woodpecker-cli exec \
  --pipeline-event push \
  --commit-branch main \
  --commit-sha "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" \
  --repo octocat/hello-world \
  .woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml

If you downloaded pipeline metadata from the Woodpecker UI, pass it with --metadata-file and adjust individual values with other flags when needed:

woodpecker-cli exec \
  --metadata-file pipeline-metadata.json \
  --pipeline-event pull_request \
  .woodpecker/my-first-workflow.yaml

:::warning The metadata file is not a stable, portable API: its format is only guaranteed for the same server and CLI version it came from. Use it to replay against a matching version, and re-download after upgrades instead of reusing old files. :::

Pass environment variables and secrets

Use --env for regular environment variables:

woodpecker-cli exec \
  --env GOFLAGS=-mod=readonly \
  .woodpecker/test.yaml

Secrets are not downloaded from the server. Pass the values needed for local debugging explicitly:

woodpecker-cli exec \
  --secrets deploy_token="$DEPLOY_TOKEN" \
  .woodpecker/deploy.yaml

For multiple secrets, keep them in a local YAML file that is ignored by Git:

deploy_token: ghp_example
registry_password: example-password

woodpecker-cli exec \
  --secrets-file .woodpecker/local-secrets.yaml \
  .woodpecker/deploy.yaml

More options

See the generated CLI reference for the full list of exec flags.

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