Gitlab CI - Specifying stages in before_script

Question

i want to run a script that is needed for my test_integration and build stage. Is there a way to specify this in the before script so i don't have to write it out twice.

before_script:
  stage: ['test_integration', 'build']

this does not seem to work i get the following error in gitlab ci linter.

Status: syntax is incorrect

Error: before_script config should be an array of strings

.gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
  - security
  - quality
  - test
  - build
  - deploy

image: node:10.15.0

before_script:
  stage: ['test_integration', 'build']
  script:
  - apt-get update
  - apt-get -y install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2 software-properties-common
  - curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | apt-key add -
  - add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
  - apt-get update
  - apt-get -y install docker-ce
  - curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.23.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
  - chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
  - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY


services:
  - mongo
  - docker:dind

security:
  stage: security
  script:
  - npm audit

quality:
  stage: quality
  script:
  - npm install
  - npm run-script lint

test_unit:
  stage: test
  script:
  - npm install
  - npm run-script unit-test

test_integration:
  stage: test
  script:
  - docker-compose -f CI/backend-service/docker-compose.yml up -d
  - npm install
  - npm run-script integration-test

build:
  stage: build
  script:
  - npm install
  - export VERSION=`git describe --tags --always`
  - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$VERSION .
  - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script: echo 'deploy'

Answer 1

The before_script syntax does not support a stages section. You could use before_script as you have done without the stages section, however the before_script stage would run for every single job in the pipeline.

Instead, what you could do is use GitLab's anchor's feature, which allows you to duplicate content across the .gitlab-ci file.

So in your scenario, it would look something like:

stages:
  - security
  - quality
  - test
  - build
  - deploy

image: node:10.15.0

.before_script_template: &build_test-integration
  before_script:
    - apt-get update
    - apt-get -y install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2 software-properties-common
    - curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | apt-key add -
    - add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
    - apt-get update
    - apt-get -y install docker-ce
    - curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.23.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
    - chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
    - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY


services:
  - mongo
  - docker:dind

security:
  stage: security
  script:
  - npm audit

quality:
  stage: quality
  script:
  - npm install
  - npm run-script lint

test_unit:
  stage: test
  script:
  - npm install
  - npm run-script unit-test

test_integration:
  stage: test
  <<: *build_test-integration
  script:
  - docker-compose -f CI/backend-service/docker-compose.yml up -d
  - npm install
  - npm run-script integration-test

build:
  stage: build
  <<: *build_test-integration
  script:
  - npm install
  - export VERSION=`git describe --tags --always`
  - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$VERSION .
  - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script: echo 'deploy'

---

Edit: there is another way, instead of using anchors, you could also use extends syntax:

.before_script_template:
  before_script:
    - apt-get update
    - apt-get -y install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2 software-properties-common
    - curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | apt-key add -
    - add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
    - apt-get update
    - apt-get -y install docker-ce
    - curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.23.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
    - chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
    - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY

test_integration:
  extends: .before_script_template
  stage: test 
  script:
    - docker-compose -f CI/backend-service/docker-compose.yml up -d
    - npm install
    - npm run-script integration-test

build:
  extends: .before_script_template
  stage: build
  script:
    - npm install
    - export VERSION=`git describe --tags --always`
    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$VERSION .
    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE

etc