Skip to content

Matrix expressions in GitLab CI/CD

Version history

Matrix expressions enable dynamic job dependencies based on parallel:matrix identifiers, to create 1:1 mappings between parallel:matrix jobs.

Matrix expressions have some limitations compared to inputs expressions:

  • Compile-time only: Identifiers are resolved when the pipeline is created, not during job execution.
  • String replacement only: No complex logic or transformations.
  • Matrix identifiers only: Cannot reference CI/CD variables or inputs.

Syntax

Matrix expressions use the $[[ matrix.IDENTIFIER ]] syntax to reference a parallel:matrix identifier in job dependencies. For example:

needs:
  - job: build
    parallel:
      matrix:
        - OS: ['$[[ matrix.OS ]]']
          ARCH: ['$[[ matrix.ARCH ]]']

Matrix expressions in needs:parallel:matrix

You can use matrix expressions to dynamically reference matrix identifiers in job dependencies, enabling 1:1 mappings between matrix jobs without manually specifying all combinations.

For example:

linux:build:
  stage: build
  script: echo "Building linux..."
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - PROVIDER: [aws, gcp]
        STACK: [monitoring, app1, app2]

linux:test:
  stage: test
  script: echo "Testing linux..."
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - PROVIDER: [aws, gcp]
        STACK: [monitoring, app1, app2]
  needs:
    - job: linux:build
      parallel:
        matrix:
          - PROVIDER: ['$[[ matrix.PROVIDER ]]']
            STACK: ['$[[ matrix.STACK ]]']

This example creates a 1:1 dependency mapping between all linux:build and linux:test jobs:

  • linux:test: [aws, monitoring] depends on linux:build: [aws, monitoring]
  • linux:test: [aws, app1] depends on linux:build: [aws, app1]
  • The same applies for all 6 parallel:matrix value combinations.

With matrix. expressions you do not need to manually specify each matrix combination.

Matrix expressions reference identifiers from the current job's matrix configuration only.

Use YAML anchors to reuse parallel:matrix configuration

You can use YAML anchors to reuse the parallel:matrix configuration across multiple jobs with complex parallel:matrix configuration and dependencies.

For example:

stages:
  - compile
  - test
  - deploy

.build_matrix: &build_matrix
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - OS: ["ubuntu", "alpine"]
        ARCH: ["amd64", "arm64"]
        VARIANT: ["slim", "full"]

compile_binary:
  stage: compile
  script:
    - echo "Compiling for $OS-$ARCH-$VARIANT"
  <<: *build_matrix

integration_test:
  stage: test
  script:
    - echo "Testing $OS-$ARCH-$VARIANT"
  <<: *build_matrix
  needs:
    - job: compile_binary
      parallel:
        matrix:
          - OS: ['$[[ matrix.OS ]]']
            ARCH: ['$[[ matrix.ARCH ]]']
            VARIANT: ['$[[ matrix.VARIANT ]]']

deploy_artifact:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - echo "Deploying $OS-$ARCH-$VARIANT"
  <<: *build_matrix
  needs:
    - job: integration_test
      parallel:
        matrix:
          - OS: ['$[[ matrix.OS ]]']
            ARCH: ['$[[ matrix.ARCH ]]']
            VARIANT: ['$[[ matrix.VARIANT ]]']

This configuration creates 24 jobs: 8 jobs in each stage (2 OS × 2 ARCH × 2 VARIANT combinations), with 1:1 dependencies between stages.

Use a subset of values

You can combine matrix expressions with specific values to create selective subset of dependencies:

stages:
  - prepare
  - build
  - test

.full_matrix: &full_matrix
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - PLATFORM: ["linux", "windows", "macos"]
        VERSION: ["16", "18", "20"]

.platform_only: &platform_only
  parallel:
    matrix:
      - PLATFORM: ["linux", "windows", "macos"]

prepare_env:
  stage: prepare
  script:
    - echo "Preparing $PLATFORM with Node.js $VERSION"
  <<: *full_matrix

build_project:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "Building on $PLATFORM"
  needs:
    - job: prepare_env
      parallel:
        matrix:
          - PLATFORM: ['$[[ matrix.PLATFORM ]]']
            VERSION: ["18"]  # Only depend on Node.js 18 preparations
  <<: *platform_only

In this example:

  • prepare_env uses parallel:matrix to create 9 jobs: 3 PLATFORM × 3 VERSIONS.
  • build_project use parallel:matrix to create 3 jobs: 3 PLATFORM values only.
  • Each build_project job depends only on Node.js 18 (VERSION) for all platforms (PLATFORM).

Alternatively, you can configure all the dependencies manually.

Related topics