SaaS runners on macOS (PREMIUM SAAS BETA)

SaaS runners on macOS are in Beta for open source programs and customers in Premium and Ultimate plans.

SaaS runners on macOS provide an on-demand macOS build environment integrated with GitLab SaaS CI/CD. Use these runners to build, test, and deploy apps for the Apple ecosystem (macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS). You can take advantage of all the capabilities of the GitLab single DevOps platform and not have to manage or operate a build environment. Our Mobile DevOps solution provides features, documentation, and guidance on building and deploying mobile applications for iOS.

We want to keep iterating to get SaaS runners on macOS generally available. You can follow our work towards this goal in the related epic.

Machine types available for macOS

GitLab SaaS provides macOS build machines on Apple silicon (M1) chips. To build for an x86-64 target, you can use Rosetta 2 to emulate an Intel x86-64 build environment.

Supported macOS images

In comparison to our SaaS runners on Linux, where you can run any Docker image, GitLab SaaS provides a set of VM images for macOS.

You can execute your build in one of the following images, which you specify in your .gitlab-ci.yml file. Each image runs a specific version of macOS and Xcode.

If no image is specified, the macOS runner uses macos-13-xcode-14.

Image update policy for macOS

macOS and Xcode follow a yearly release cadence, during which GitLab increments its versions synchronously. GitLab typically supports multiple versions of preinstalled tools. For more information, see the full list of preinstalled software.

When Apple releases a new macOS version, GitLab releases a new stable image based on the OS in the next release, which is in Beta.

With the release of the first patch to macOS, the stable image becomes Generally Available (GA). As only two GA images are supported at a time, the prior OS version becomes deprecated and is deleted after three months in accordance with the supported image lifecycle.

The stable images and installed components are updated every release, to keep the preinstalled software up-to-date.

Example .gitlab-ci.yml file

The following sample .gitlab-ci.yml file shows how to start using the SaaS runners on macOS:

.macos_saas_runners:
  tags:
    - saas-macos-medium-m1
  image: macos-12-xcode-14
  before_script:
    - echo "started by ${GITLAB_USER_NAME}"

build:
  extends:
    - .macos_saas_runners
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running scripts in the build job"

test:
  extends:
    - .macos_saas_runners
  stage: test
  script:
    - echo "running scripts in the test job"

Code signing iOS Projects with fastlane

Before you can integrate GitLab with Apple services, install to a device, or deploy to the Apple App Store, you must code sign your application.

Included in each runner on macOS VM image is fastlane, an open-source solution aimed at simplifying mobile app deployment.

For information about how to set up code signing for your application, see the instructions in the Mobile DevOps documentation.

Related topics:

• Apple Developer Support - Code Signing
• Code Signing Best Practice Guide
• fastlane authentication with Apple Services guide

Optimizing Homebrew

By default, Homebrew checks for updates at the start of any operation. Homebrew has a release cycle that may be more frequent than the GitLab macOS image release cycle. This difference in release cycles may cause steps that call brew to take extra time to complete while Homebrew makes updates.

To reduce build time due to unintended Homebrew updates, set the HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE variable in .gitlab-ci.yml:

variables:
  HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE: 1

Optimizing Cocoapods

If you use Cocoapods in a project, you should consider the following optimizations to improve CI performance.

Cocoapods CDN

You can use content delivery network (CDN) access to download packages from the CDN instead of having to clone an entire project repository. CDN access is available in Cocoapods 1.8 or later and is supported by all GitLab SaaS runners on macOS.

To enable CDN access, ensure your Podfile starts with:

source 'https://cdn.cocoapods.org/'

Use GitLab caching

Use caching in Cocoapods packages in GitLab to only run pod install when pods change, which can improve build performance.

To configure caching for your project:

1. Add the cache configuration to your .gitlab-ci.yml file:

   cache:
     key:
       files:
        - Podfile.lock
   paths:
     - Pods

2. Add the cocoapods-check plugin to your project.

3. Update the job script to check for installed dependencies before it calls pod install:

   bundle exec pod check || bundle exec pod install

Include pods in source control

You can also include the pods directory in source control. This eliminates the need to install pods as part of the CI job, but it does increase the overall size of your project's repository.

Known issues and usage constraints

• If the VM image does not include the specific software version you need for your job, the required software must be fetched and installed. This causes an increase in job execution time.
• It is not possible to bring your own OS image.
• The keychain for user gitlab is not publicly available. You must create a keychain instead.