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DevOps / GitLab CI Basics Interview Questions

What is the 'script', 'before_script', and 'after_script' keywords and how do they differ?

These three keywords define the shell commands that run during a job. They execute in sequence but have different scopes and failure behaviour.

Script keyword comparison
KeywordWhen it runsFails the job if it fails?Scope
before_scriptBefore the main scriptYesCan be set globally or per-job
scriptThe job's main workYesPer-job only (required)
after_scriptAfter script (and before_script)No (always runs)Can be set globally or per-job
# Global before_script runs before every job's script
default:
  before_script:
    - echo "Global setup"

build-job:
  stage: build
  before_script:
    - echo "Job-specific setup (overrides global)"  # overrides the default
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run build
  after_script:
    - echo "Cleanup - always runs even if script fails"

Key behaviours:

  • before_script defined in a job overrides (not appends to) the global before_script
  • after_script runs in a separate shell context from script - environment variable changes made in script are not visible in after_script
  • after_script runs even when the job fails or times out, making it ideal for cleanup tasks
What happens to after_script if the main script fails?
If you define before_script in both the default section and in a specific job, what happens?

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