Notifications for Workflows Requiring Approval
planned
W
William Babicz
Currently, we utilize holds on our workflows to require a pair of eyes to check on deployments heading to production. While a great feature, it is often unclear when jobs are stuck in a "hold" unless you're glued to the CircleCI console and are acutely aware that a build is being executed on a branch that even needs an approval.
It would be very handy to receive notifications for workflows in a "hold" status, as well as to even approve them through Slack!
CCI-I-1028
H
Henna Abbas
updated the status to
planned
We will be adding notifications for jobs that are on hold to Slack. This will be available to user who are using the new CircleCI Slack Integration : https://circleci.com/docs/guides/integration/slack-integration
Additionally, we will be adding email notifications too.
H
Henna Abbas
Merged in a post:
Notifications with Approval Button for On-Hold Pipelines
E
Emanuel@inthemill.ch
In the current CircleCI setup, pipelines that are on hold require manual approval via the CircleCI dashboard or API. While this works, it would be more efficient and user-friendly if there was an option to send a notification with an approval button when a pipeline is on hold. This would allow users to approve the pipeline directly from their email, reducing the need to navigate to the CircleCI dashboard or use the API.
Real-World Use Cases:
* Streamlined Workflow: For teams with complex workflows that frequently require manual approval, this feature would streamline the process. Instead of having to navigate to the CircleCI dashboard or use the API, team members could approve the pipeline directly from their email.
* Improved Accessibility: For team members who are not as familiar with the CircleCI dashboard or API or have no account, this feature would make the approval process more accessible. They could approve the pipeline with a single click from their email.
* Increased Efficiency: This feature would save time for teams that frequently have pipelines on hold. Instead of having to navigate to the CircleCI dashboard or use the API each time, they could approve the pipeline directly from their email.
In addition to email, this feature request captures Slack notifications too.
E
Emanuel@inthemill.ch
My actual use case is the following: I have a customer's webpage been deployed by circle ci to a testing stage, the customer gets a notification from me to verify the new feature. When she accepts the change, she emails me back and I press the "approve" button on the pipeline.
If she gets the email directly from the pipeline she can press the button for the deployment to prod directly. No waiting, fewer interaction, it would be quite cool.
Important: the customer should not need to have a circleci account.
Thanks Emanuel
H
Henna Abbas
Emanuel@inthemill.ch I sent you an email. I'd love to learn more about your use case.
E
Emanuel@inthemill.ch
Hi Henna Abbas
Thanks for your email
My client is an artist, she is not interested in computers. She won't understand what CircleCI is and why she needs an account.
However, she will be able to press a button in an email that unblocks the pipeline.
It is safe enough for me to know that, as the recipient of the email, she has the unique right to unblock exactly this pipeline.
So I can't understand why she would need an account.
LG Emanuel
H
Henna Abbas
updated the status to
under review
A
Arthur Rio
The notification to slack with the ORB is easy to setup but it still adds a friction point, it would be really neat to be able to approve directly from slack.
H
Henna Abbas
Arthur Rio: Hi Arthur, we'll be adding this functionality to the New Slack Integration: https://circleci.com/docs/guides/integration/slack-integration
It's a lot easier to setup and lives outside of your config.yml file. Should take about 3 mins. Please feel free to give it a try and let me know if you have any feedback.
F
Fyodor Yakimchouk
You could send a slack notification at the end of the job after which there's an approval, with a link to the workflow.
Something like this (using official slack orb):
- slack/status: success_message: "Please approve next job: https://circleci.com/workflow-run/$CIRCLE_WORKFLOW_ID" failure_message: "Failed to build."