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Welcome back! In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to replicate your production CI/CD pipeline for a development branch using Google Cloud Build and GKE. By the end, you’ll have:
  • A dedicated development Git branch
  • A customized cloudbuild.yaml for development
  • A Cloud Build trigger that reacts to pushes on development
  • Verification steps to confirm your -dev image lands in Container Registry

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1. Create and Switch to the development Branch

First, make sure your local main branch is up to date: 
# List local branches
git branch

# Ensure you're on main
git checkout main

# Pull the latest changes
git pull origin main
Use descriptive branch names like development to clearly separate lifecycle stages.
Now create and check out development: 
git checkout -b development
Verify you’re on the new branch: 
git branch
# * development
#   main
#   ...
Open your project in VS Code (or your preferred IDE) to confirm the active branch.

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2. Customize cloudbuild.yaml for Development

Your production pipeline builds, pushes, and deploys the image gcpdevops to the gcp-devops-prod namespace: 
steps:
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
    args: ['build', '-t', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops', '.']
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
    args: ['push', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops']
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/gke-deploy'
    args:
      - run
      - --filename=gke.yaml
      - --image=gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops
      - --location=us-central1-c
      - --cluster=gcp-devops-project
      - --namespace=gcp-devops-prod
Update it to target a development image (-dev) and namespace (gcp-devops-dev): 
steps:
  # Build development image
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
    args: ['build', '-t', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops-dev', '.']

  # Push to Container Registry
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/docker'
    args: ['push', 'gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops-dev']

  # Deploy to GKE dev namespace
  - name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/gke-deploy'
    args:
      - run
      - --filename=gke.yaml
      - --image=gcr.io/$PROJECT_ID/gcpdevops-dev
      - --location=us-central1-c
      - --cluster=gcp-devops-project
      - --namespace=gcp-devops-dev

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Configuration Comparison

AttributeProductionDevelopment
Docker Taggcpdevopsgcpdevops-dev
GKE Namespacegcp-devops-prodgcp-devops-dev
Cloud Build TriggerBranch: mainBranch: development

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3. Commit and Push Your Changes

git add cloudbuild.yaml
git commit -m "Customize Cloud Build for development environment"
git push -u origin development

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4. Configure a Cloud Build Trigger for development

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4.1 Select the development Branch in GitHub

  1. Go to your GitHub repository.
  2. Open the Branch dropdown and choose development.
The image shows a GitHub repository page for a project named "gcp-devops-project" with a dropdown menu displaying different branches. The repository includes a Docker Flask application written in Python.

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4.2 Create the Trigger in Google Cloud Build

  1. In the GCP Console, navigate to Cloud Build > Triggers.
  2. Click Create Trigger.
The image shows the Google Cloud Build interface with a list of triggers for repositories, displaying details like name, description, repository, event, build configuration, and status.
  1. Fill out the Create trigger form:
    • Name: gcp-devops-project-development
    • Event: Push to a branch
    • Source repository: Your GitHub repo
    • Branch: ^development$
    • Build configuration: Cloud Build configuration file (cloudbuild.yaml)
The image shows a Google Cloud Build interface where a trigger is being created for a project, with options to specify the event type and source repository details.
  1. (Optional) Expand Advanced settings to adjust substitutions, timeouts, or notifications.
The image shows a Google Cloud Build interface for creating a trigger, with options for branch selection, configuration type, and advanced settings.
  1. Click Create to finalize.

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4.3 Run and Verify the Trigger

  • Manual Trigger: In Cloud Build > Triggers, click Run next to gcp-devops-project-development.
  • Monitor: Go to Cloud Build > History to see builds initiated by the development branch.
The image shows a Google Cloud Build interface displaying a build history with details such as status, build ID, source, commit, trigger name, creation time, and duration.
  • Since the gcp-devops-dev namespace likely doesn’t exist yet, the deploy step will report a failure (this is expected at this stage):
The image shows a Google Cloud Build interface with a failed build summary, including details of the build steps and logs.

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5. Verify the Development Image in Registry

Navigate to Artifact Registry or Container Registry in the GCP Console. Under gcr.io, confirm that gcpdevops-dev is present:
The image shows a Google Cloud Container Registry interface with a list of repositories, each marked as private. There's also a notification about transitioning to Artifact Registry.
Congratulations! Your Cloud Build trigger for the development branch is live. In the next lesson, you’ll learn how to create the dev namespace and finalize automatic deployments.

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