Automating OpenShift Builds with Git Webhooks: A Step-by-Step Guide

07/09/2025

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Automating OpenShift Builds with Git Webhooks: A Step-by-Step Guide

Automate Your OpenShift Builds with Git Webhooks: A Practical Guide

In modern software development, speed and reliability are paramount. Manual build and deployment processes are not only time-consuming but also prone to human error, slowing down your entire development lifecycle. The key to unlocking a more efficient workflow lies in automation. By integrating your Git repository directly with OpenShift, you can create a seamless CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline where every code push automatically triggers a new build and deployment.

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up Git webhooks to automate your OpenShift builds. By following these steps, you can significantly reduce manual overhead, ensure consistency, and empower your development team to ship code faster and more reliably.

Understanding the Magic: How Git Webhooks and OpenShift Work Together

Before diving into the setup, it’s important to understand the core concepts.

A Git webhook is essentially an automated notification. When a specific event occurs in your Git repository—such as a git push to your main branch—your Git provider (like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket) sends an HTTP POST payload to a pre-configured URL.

OpenShift is designed to listen for these notifications. Each application build in OpenShift is managed by a resource called a BuildConfig. This BuildConfig can be configured with a unique webhook URL. When OpenShift receives a valid payload at this URL, it automatically kicks off the build process defined in the BuildConfig, pulling the latest code and deploying the new version of your application.

The flow is simple yet powerful:

A developer pushes new code to the Git repository.
The Git provider sends a webhook notification to the OpenShift URL.
OpenShift verifies the request and triggers a new application build.
The new version of the application is automatically deployed.

Prerequisites for Automation

To get started, ensure you have the following in place:

An active OpenShift project with an application already deployed.
A Git repository containing your application’s source code.
Access to your OpenShift cluster using the oc command-line tool (CLI).
Administrative permissions for your Git repository to configure webhooks.

Step-by-Step: Configuring Your Automated Build Trigger

Follow these three steps to connect your Git repository to your OpenShift deployment.

Step 1: Find Your OpenShift Webhook URL

First, you need to identify the specific URL that OpenShift has generated for your application’s BuildConfig.

List the BuildConfig objects in your project to find the correct one for your application:
```
oc get bc
```
Once you’ve identified your application’s BuildConfig (e.g., my-app), use the describe command to view its details, including the webhook URLs.
```
oc describe bc my-app
```
In the output, look for a section labeled “Webhook Triggers.” You will see URLs for different providers. Copy the GitHub or Generic webhook URL, as this is what you’ll use in your Git provider’s settings.

Step 2: Secure Your Webhook with a Secret

Sending build triggers over the internet requires security. You must ensure that only your Git repository can trigger builds. This is accomplished by creating a secret token that your Git provider will use to sign its requests.

OpenShift makes it easy to generate and link a secret to your webhook. Run the following command, replacing my-app with your BuildConfig name and my-webhook-secret with a name for your new secret.
```
oc set build-secret --source my-app my-webhook-secret
```
This command creates a secret and associates it with the BuildConfig‘s source.
To retrieve the generated secret value, run the describe command on your BuildConfig again.
```
oc describe bc my-app
```
In the webhook triggers section, you will now see a “secret” value. Copy this long, randomly generated string. This is the token you will provide to your Git provider.

Step 3: Configure the Webhook in Your Git Provider

The final step is to configure your Git repository to send notifications to OpenShift. The following example uses GitHub, but the process is very similar for GitLab and Bitbucket.

Navigate to your repository on GitHub and go to Settings > Webhooks.
Click the “Add webhook” button.
Fill out the configuration form:
- Payload URL: Paste the webhook URL you copied from OpenShift in Step 1.
- Content type: Set this to application/json.
- Secret: Paste the secret token you copied from OpenShift in Step 2.
- Which events would you like to trigger this webhook? Select “Just the push event.” This is sufficient for most CI/CD workflows.
Ensure the “Active” checkbox is checked.
Click “Add webhook” to save your configuration.

GitHub will immediately send a test “ping” event to your OpenShift URL. You should see a green checkmark next to the webhook in your list, indicating a successful delivery.

Testing and Verifying Your Automation

Now for the rewarding part. To test your entire setup, simply make a small change to your application’s code, commit it, and push it to the branch your webhook is configured to watch.

# Make a code change...
git commit -am "Testing automated build trigger"
git push

Immediately after pushing, you can watch the automation happen in OpenShift. Run the following command to see a new build kick off:

oc get builds --watch

You will see a new build appear with a “Pending” or “Running” status. You can also view the progress in the OpenShift web console under your project’s Builds section. Once the build completes, a new deployment will automatically follow, rolling out your changes without any manual intervention.

Security and Best Practices

To ensure your automated pipeline is robust and secure, follow these best practices:

Always use a webhook secret. This is the most critical step to prevent unauthorized or malicious actors from triggering your builds.
Use specific branches. For production workflows, configure your webhook to trigger only on pushes to protected branches like main or release. This prevents every feature branch push from starting a new deployment.
Monitor webhook deliveries. Periodically check the webhook delivery logs in your Git provider’s UI to ensure notifications are being sent and received successfully.
Implement build notifications. Configure OpenShift or your CI/CD tool to send notifications (e.g., via Slack or email) on build failures so your team can respond quickly.

By automating your OpenShift builds with Git webhooks, you are taking a significant step towards a more mature and efficient DevOps practice. This simple integration streamlines the path from code commit to live deployment, freeing your team to focus on what matters most: building great software.

Source: https://kifarunix.com/how-to-automate-openshift-builds-with-git-webhooks/