Installing Buildkite Agent on Linux

Installation

Run the following script (view the source), which will download and install the correct binary for your system and architecture (you will need your agent token):

TOKEN="INSERT-YOUR-AGENT-TOKEN-HERE" bash -c "`curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buildkite/agent/main/install.sh`"

Then, start the agent:

~/.buildkite-agent/bin/buildkite-agent start

Alternatively you can follow the manual installation instructions.

SSH key configuration

SSH keys should be copied to (or generated into) ~/.ssh/ for the user the agent is running as. For example, to generate a new private key which you can add to your source code host:

$ mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cd ~/.ssh
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "build@myorg.com"

See the Agent SSH keys documentation for more details.

File locations

• Configuration: ~/.buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg
• Agent Hooks: ~/.buildkite-agent/hooks
• Builds: ~/.buildkite-agent/builds
• SSH keys: ~/.ssh
• Logs, depending on your system:
  • journalctl -f -u buildkite-agent (when started with systemd)
  • logs only go to stdout and do not persist (when started with buildkite-agent start)

Configuration

The configuration file is located at ~/.buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg. See the configuration documentation for an explanation of each configuration setting.

Which user the agent runs as

When running an agent installed using the manual Linux installation method, all commands run as the invoking user.

Upgrading

Rerun the install script.