CircleCI-Runner-Autodeploy

NOTES: I'm no longer maintaining this as i've moved to Jenkins instead coz theres an issue with circleci if you're building multiple projects at the same time (/tmp permission error)

This script is for my personal use, therefore I've only added support for Ubuntu/Debian. If you want CentOS/RHEL, let me know and I'll add it. Alternatively, you can add it yourself and make a PR.

What is this for?

This is a simple script to automatically deploy a CircleCI runner on a server. It installs the runner, configures it, and starts it.

Why did you make this?

I made this because I'm somewhat lazy and I don't want to do it manually. Moreover, it's fun to build automated stuff.

But, why?

In my repository, I have three sub-node projects, and I need to deploy all three of them on the same server. With one runner, it takes a significant amount of time to checkout, build, and deploy all of them one by one. Hence, I made this script to deploy three runners on the same server. I don't want to manually replace all default circleci with my custom runner name because it would take forever. So that's essentially it.

Why should I use this?

It's automated and easy to use. You can just run the script, answer some questions, and it will take care of everything else.

What's the catch?

There is no catch. It's free and open source.

However, I didn't add the option to change the working directory and clean up the working directory after a job finishes, mainly because I didn't need that for my use case. If you want to enable this feature (you must install the runner first), refer to this

How do I use it?

If you want to do the same thing as me (deploying three runners on the same server), you need to do the following:

1. Create a resource class on CircleCI. You need to create a new resource class for every runner you create because you can only specify the self-hosted resource class to use in the workflow config.yml file; you can't specify the runner name to use directly.
2. Save the token (you will need it later).
3. Download the script (circleci-runner-autodeploy.sh) into the /root folder.
4. Run chmod +x circleci-runner-autodeploy.sh (you have to run this as root!).
5. Execute ./circleci-runner-autodeploy.sh (also run this as root!).

Then, just follow the instructions, and you're done!

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner?

I've modified the CircleCI script a bit so that you can create a new runner under a different user. This means you can create infinite runners on one server, given you have sufficient resources.

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner?

This script is for creating runners, not for managing them. If you want to manage your runners, I'll develop a CLI tool for that later.

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner, and I don't want to manage my runners?

In that case, this script is not for you. I'm not sure why you're here.

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner, and I don't want to manage my runners, and I don't want to use this script?

💀

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner, and I don't want to manage my runners, and I don't want to use this script, and I don't want to use CircleCI?

Use GitHub Actions instead.

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner, and I don't want to manage my runners, and I don't want to use this script, and I don't want to use CircleCI, and I don't want to use GitHub Actions?

Just stop.

What if I want to use this on a server that already has a runner, but I don't want to create a new runner, and I don't want to manage my runners, and I don't want to use this script, and I don't want to use CircleCI, and I don't want to use GitHub Actions, and I don't want to stop?

Fr

Ok sorry, no more questions

Thank you

but... I've finished installing, what now?

Replace YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME with the runner username you chose during installation. Please note that the runner username and runner name are different. Don't get confused!

The config file is located at /etc/opt/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME/launch-agent-config.yaml

To disable/enable cleanup of the working directory after the job is finished, or to change the working directory, you need to edit the config file.

Note: You need to restart the runner after you edit the config file. Instructions for restarting can be found below.

You can check the status of your runner by running

sudo systemctl status YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

it should be online.

By default, it's enabled on boot. To disable it, use

sudo systemctl disable YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

To enable it again, use

sudo systemctl enable YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

To start it, use

sudo systemctl start YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

To stop it, use

sudo systemctl stop YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

To restart it, use

sudo systemctl restart YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service

I've installed it, but it's not working

I don't know. You probably did something wrong.

Wait, how do i uninstall runners or remove resource class?

To remove a resource class, read this: https://circleci.com/docs/runner-faqs/#can-i-delete-self-hosted-runner-resource-classes

To remove runners from your server, run the following commands:

sudo systemctl stop YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service
sudo systemctl disable YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service
rm -rf /usr/lib/systemd/system/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service
sudo rm -rf /var/opt/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME /opt/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME /etc/opt/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME /usr/lib/systemd/system/YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME.service
sudo userdel -r YOUR_RUNNER_USERNAME

To remove it from CircleCI, refer to the documentation I linked above. Just to reiterate, runners are removed automatically if they've been inactive for 12 hours (as far as I remember). You can't manually remove it; just wait for it to be removed automatically.