🌌 Valhalla Documentation
Streamline your software releases with automated, error-free deployments
Welcome to Valhalla
🌌 Valhalla is a powerful toolkit designed to automate and streamline the release process for software projects. Say goodbye to manual, error-prone releases and embrace automated workflows that save time, reduce mistakes, and ensure compliance with your release standards.
✨ Key Features
- 🚀 Automated Releases - Create GitLab releases automatically from branch names or environment variables
- 🔄 Git Integration - Automated commits, pushes, and merge request creation
- 📋 Configurable Workflows - Flexible YAML configuration for any release process
- 🔧 Pre/Post Release Scripts - Execute custom commands before and after releases
- 📦 Asset Management - Automatically attach release assets and documentation links
- 🏗️ CI/CD Ready - Seamless integration with GitLab CI/CD pipelines
- 🔗 Configuration Inheritance - Share configurations across multiple repositories
- 🌐 Variable System - Powerful templating with predefined and custom variables
🎯 Why Choose Valhalla?
| Problem | Valhalla Solution |
|---|---|
| Manual release complexity | Automated multi-step release workflows |
| Human errors & inconsistency | Standardized, repeatable processes |
| Time-consuming manual steps | One-click releases triggered by branch creation |
| Compliance & audit trails | Consistent release documentation and history |
| Multi-repository management | Configuration inheritance and templates |
📚 Documentation
🚀 Getting Started
New to Valhalla? Start here for installation, basic setup, and your first release.
- Installation options (Docker & source)
- Initial configuration
- GitLab CI/CD integration
- Your first automated release
- Prerequisites and setup
📖 Usage Guide
Ready for more? Explore advanced usage patterns, configuration inheritance, and common workflows.
- Branch-based vs environment variable releases
- Configuration inheritance patterns
- Variable system and templating
- Multiple release types (standard, hotfix, preview)
- Integration examples (Slack, Jira, Docker)
- Best practices and troubleshooting
❓ FAQ
Got questions? Find answers to common questions and troubleshooting tips.
- Platform compatibility and limitations
- Token permissions and security
- Testing and dry-run approaches
- Error resolution and debugging
- Advanced use cases and workarounds
📚 Configuration Reference
Need details? Complete reference for all configuration options and parameters.
- Full YAML schema documentation
- All configuration options explained
- Predefined variables reference
- Environment integration details
- Complete configuration examples
🚀 Quick Start
Ready to get started? Here's the fastest way to begin:
1. Install Valhalla
docker pull logchange/valhalla:1.3.0
2. Create Configuration
# valhalla.yml
git_host: gitlab
commit_before_release:
enabled: true
username: "Release Bot"
email: "releases@company.com"
msg: "Prepare release {VERSION}"
before:
- echo "Building version {VERSION}"
release:
description:
from_command: "echo 'Release {VERSION}'"
merge_request:
enabled: true
title: "Release {VERSION}"
3. Set GitLab Token
# In GitLab CI/CD Variables
VALHALLA_TOKEN=your_gitlab_token
4. Trigger Release
git checkout -b release-1.0.0
git push origin release-1.0.0
🎉 That's it! Valhalla will handle the rest automatically.
➡️ Continue with detailed setup →
🏗️ Architecture Overview
┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ Git Branch │───▶│ Valhalla │───▶│ GitLab Release │
│ release-1.2.3 │ │ │ │ + Assets │
└─────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ └─────────────────┘
│ │ Config │ │ │
┌─────────────────┐ │ │ valhalla.yml│ │ ┌─────────────────┐
│ Environment │───▶│ └─────────────┘ │───▶│ Merge Request │
│ VALHALLA_* │ │ │ │ (optional) │
└─────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ └─────────────────┘
│ │Pre/Post │ │ │
┌─────────────────┐ │ │Scripts │ │ ┌─────────────────┐
│ GitLab CI/CD │───▶│ └─────────────┘ │───▶│ Git Commits │
│ Variables │ └──────────────────┘ │ + Push │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
🌟 Common Use Cases
🔄 Continuous Deployment
Automatically create releases when code is merged to release branches.
🚨 Hotfix Releases
Fast-track critical fixes with simplified release processes using valhalla-hotfix.yml.
📦 Multi-Component Releases
Coordinate releases across microservices and monorepo components.
🏢 Enterprise Workflows
Standardize release processes across teams with configuration inheritance.
🐳 Container Deployments
Build and publish Docker images as part of the release process.
🛠️ Platform Support
| Platform | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GitLab | ✅ Full Support | Self-hosted and GitLab.com |
| GitHub | ⏳ Planned | Coming in future release |
| Bitbucket | ⏳ Planned | Coming in future release |
| Azure DevOps | ⏳ Planned | Coming in future release |
📊 Release Types
Valhalla supports multiple release configurations for different scenarios:
🎯 Standard Releases (valhalla.yml)
- Full feature releases
- Complete testing and validation
- Documentation updates
- Post-release preparation
🔥 Hotfix Releases (valhalla-hotfix.yml)
- Critical bug fixes
- Minimal validation
- Fast-track deployment
- Emergency response
👀 Preview Releases (valhalla-preview.yml)
- Development previews
- Staging deployments
- Feature demonstrations
- Integration testing
🏗️ Custom Release Types (valhalla-{type}.yml)
- Project-specific workflows
- Environment-specific releases
- Team-customized processes
🔧 Integration Ecosystem
Valhalla integrates seamlessly with your existing tools:
- 🦊 GitLab CI/CD - Native pipeline integration
- 🐳 Docker - Container building and publishing
- 📦 Package Managers - npm, Maven, NuGet, pip
- 📢 Notifications - Slack, Teams, Discord
- 📋 Project Management - Jira, Linear, GitHub Issues
- 📊 Monitoring - Custom webhooks and metrics
- 🔐 Security - Token management and secret handling
🤝 Community & Support
📞 Get Help
- 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
- 💡 Feature Requests: GitHub Discussions
- 📖 Documentation: You're reading it!
- ⭐ Show Support: Star us on GitHub
🚀 Contributing
Valhalla is open-source and welcomes contributions: - 🔧 Code Contributions: Pull Requests - 📝 Documentation: Help improve our guides - 🧪 Testing: Share your use cases and configurations - 🌍 Community: Help other users in discussions
📈 What's Next?
🎯 Choose Your Path
| I want to... | Go to... |
|---|---|
| Get started quickly | Getting Started Guide |
| See advanced examples | Usage Guide |
| Solve a specific problem | FAQ |
| Look up configuration options | Configuration Reference |
| Understand the full feature set | Continue reading below |
🎉 Success Stories
"Valhalla reduced our release time from 2 hours to 5 minutes and eliminated all manual errors."
— DevOps Team Lead"Configuration inheritance lets us manage 20+ repositories with a single shared template."
— Platform Engineer"The variable system makes our release notes and notifications perfectly consistent."
— Release Manager
Ready to transform your release process? 🌌