Jenkins
The Buildkite pipeline converter helps you convert your Jenkins pipeline jobs into Buildkite pipelines. Both the Scripted and Declarative forms of Jenkins pipelines are supported. The converter first analyzes the Jenkins pipeline to understand its structure and intent, and then generates a functionally equivalent Buildkite pipeline.
Since Jenkins pipelines can be written using the Groovy scripting language, their potential for complexity is much greater than that of other YAML-based CI configuration formats. Therefore, to get the best results in the translation process, an AI Large Language Model (LLM) is used to get the best results in the translation process. The AI model does not use any submitted data for its own training.
The goal of the Buildkite pipeline converter is to give you a starting point, so you can see how patterns you're used to in Jenkins would function in Buildkite Pipelines. In cases where Jenkins' features don't have a direct Buildkite Pipelines equivalent, the pipeline converter includes comments with suggestions about possible solutions.
Using the Buildkite pipeline converter with Jenkins pipelines
You can immediately start experimenting with the Buildkite pipeline converter through the CLI version or via an interactive web-based interface.
Remember that not all the features of Jenkins pipelines can be fully converted to the Buildkite Pipelines format. See the following sections to learn more about the compatibility, workarounds, and limitations of converting Jenkins pipelines to Buildkite pipelines.
Stages
The pipeline converter will start by examining the stage {} blocks in your Jenkins pipeline. If the stage only contains one step, that step will be translated on its own. If the stage includes multiple steps, those will be captured in a group block (see Group step for more details) in the Buildkite pipeline.
Step concurrency
By default, Jenkins pipeline steps run serially, whereas Buildkite pipeline steps are executed in parallel. For consistency, your translated Jenkins pipeline will have wait steps (see Wait step for more details) added, to maintain the existing serial execution. You can then remove any of the generated wait steps in case they are unnecessary, for example, if you have several different test suites which can safely run in parallel.
Build parameters
Jenkins supports a variety of different build parameter types natively (string, text, boolean, choice, and password), with additional types possible with the use of plugin. Buildkite only supports string and select (see Input step for more details), so Jenkins parameters will be translated as follows:
| Parameter type | Conversion | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter type | String, text | Conversion | String |
| Parameter type | Choice | Conversion | Select |
| Parameter type | Boolean | Conversion | Choice with true and false options |
| Parameter type | Password | Conversion | Not supported; using Buildkite secrets store is recommended instead |
| Parameter type | Others (plugins) | Conversion | Not supported |
Also, note that Buildkite pipeline's input parameter values are stored as build meta-data, not as variables that can be used in the pipeline definition itself. The pipeline converter will provide guidance about best practices for using input values in your pipeline.