GitLab app distribution for iOS builds

GitLab CI/CD can be used to deploy iOS apps with the API Upload (curl) to Updraft.

Preconditions

Setting up a Build Runner

A build runner is a physical or virtual machine that has the necessary tools to run your builds. As an iOS Dev, you probably know you need a macOS Machine with Xcode Tools to build your iOS apps. In our Office, we use Mac Minis for this.

Once you have a machine that can handle iOS Builds, you can follow the steps in the GitLab Documentation to set up your own runner. Make sure to specify the same tag as you used in your .gitlab-ci.yml file to restrict the runner to accept only iOS Builds.

If you've read until here, you have earned our respect! We hope our guide has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support.

Quick Start

Login into Updraft Toolpage getupdraft.com/login
Go to your Profile within the Sidebar
Copy your API Key as well as the App Key of your App
- Your API Key you find in your Profile. The App Key you will find on the application overview. The App key differs for each environment.
Go to your Project Settings in Gitlab and select CI/CD

Expand your Variables
Give a name for your API Key: UPDRAFT_API_KEY
Paste your Updraft API Key in the Input Value field and click on Save Variable
Give a name for your App Key: UPDRAFT_APP_KEY
Paste your Updraft App Key in the Input Value field and click on Save Variable

Add a job to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`

To deploy to Updraft, add a job to your .gitlab-ci.yml configuration.

Example of .gitlab-cy.yml file for iOS app distribution

stages:
  - build_updraft

deploy:
  stage: build_updraft
  only:
  - release
  script:
  - |
    curl \
      -F whats_new="Gitlab build" \
      -F "app=@android.apk" \
      -X PUT https://getupdraft.com/api/app_upload/$UPDRAFT_APP_KEY/$UPDRAFT_API_KEY/