CleanCIH: A Complete Guide to Installation and Setup

CleanCIH: A Complete Guide to Installation and SetupCleanCIH is an open-source continuous integration helper designed to simplify and standardize build, test, and deployment workflows across teams. It focuses on reproducibility, lightweight configuration, and clear reporting, making it a good fit for small projects and larger monorepos alike.

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What CleanCIH does and why it matters

CleanCIH orchestrates your CI tasks by providing:

• Lightweight YAML-based configuration for defining pipelines.
• Caching and artifact management to speed up repeated runs.
• Isolated execution environments to ensure reproducible builds.
• Pluggable steps and scripts so you can integrate linters, tests, and deployment without modifying CI server internals.

This matters because inconsistent CI environments and ad-hoc scripts cause flaky tests, slow builds, and developer frustration. CleanCIH aims to reduce that friction by making pipelines explicit, shareable, and fast.

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Key concepts

• Pipeline: a sequence of stages (build, test, deploy) defined in a config file.
• Runner: the agent that executes pipeline steps (local, container, or remote).
• Cache: stored artifacts (dependencies, build outputs) to reuse between runs.
• Workspace: the isolated filesystem where steps run.

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Requirements

• A machine (local or server) with Docker (optional) and Git installed.
• Python 3.9+ (CleanCIH is a Python tool).
• At least 2 GB RAM and 10 GB free disk space for typical projects.

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Installation

1. Install via pip:

   pip install cleancih 

2. Verify installation:

   cleancih --version 

3. Optional: install Docker and add your user to the docker group if you plan to use container runners.

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First project setup

1. Create a repository or use an existing one.
2. Add a CleanCIH config file at the repo root named .cleancih.yml with this minimal example: “`yaml version: 1 pipeline: stages:
   • name: build commands:
     • pip install -r requirements.txt
     • python setup.py build
   • name: test commands:
     • pytest -q “`
3. Initialize a local runner:

   
   cleancih runner init --type=local cleancih runner start 

4. Run the pipeline:

   
   cleancih run 

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Using Docker runner

To run steps inside Docker containers, configure the runner:

cleancih runner init --type=docker 

In .cleancih.yml, specify images:

pipeline:   stages:     - name: test       image: python:3.10-slim       commands:         - pip install -r requirements.txt         - pytest -q 

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Caching and artifacts

Enable caching to speed subsequent runs:

cache:   paths:     - .venv/     - .cache/pip artifacts:   paths:     - dist/ 

Use cleancih cache restore and cleancih cache save in advanced CI setups.

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Secrets and environment variables

Store secrets in the runner configuration or an environment manager. Avoid committing secrets to the repo. Example using runner-managed env:

cleancih runner set-env SECRET_KEY=abcd1234 

In the config, reference env vars:

pipeline:   stages:     - name: deploy       commands:         - ./deploy.sh --key=$SECRET_KEY 

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Troubleshooting

• “Command not found”: ensure runner has required tools or use a Docker image containing them.
• Permission errors with Docker: add your user to the docker group or run with sudo.
• Cache not restoring: confirm cache key matches and paths are correct.

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CI server integration

CleanCIH can be invoked from GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or other CI servers by installing it in the CI image and running cleancih run. Example GitHub Actions job:

jobs:   ci:     runs-on: ubuntu-latest     steps:       - uses: actions/checkout@v4       - uses: actions/setup-python@v4         with:           python-version: '3.10'       - run: pip install cleancih       - run: cleancih run 

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Best practices

• Keep .cleancih.yml small and compose complex flows using include/imports.
• Cache only safe, non-secret paths.
• Pin Docker images and Python package versions for reproducibility.
• Run linters and fast unit tests early in the pipeline.

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Example: monorepo setup

For a monorepo, define multiple pipelines or stages per package and use workspace isolation. Use matrix runs to parallelize tests across packages.

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Roadmap and community

Check the CleanCIH GitHub for plugins, runner improvements, and contributed templates. Contribute issues or PRs to add integrations you need.

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If you want, I can:

• Convert this to a README-ready Markdown file.
• Create a sample .cleancih.yml tailored to your project (tell me stack and goals).