Credentials binding in pipelines in Jenkins - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Credentials binding in pipelines

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a Jenkins pipeline to securely use credentials stored in Jenkins. This is common when you need to access private servers or services without exposing passwords in your code.

🎯 Goal: Build a Jenkins pipeline script that binds a username and password credential to environment variables and uses them in a shell command.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Jenkins pipeline script with a pipeline block

Use environment block to bind credentials with credentials()

Access the bound credentials as environment variables in a shell step

Print the username and password environment variables in the shell step

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

In real projects, Jenkins pipelines often need to access private servers, APIs, or databases. Using credentials binding keeps secrets safe and avoids hardcoding passwords.

💼 Career

Understanding credentials binding is essential for DevOps engineers and anyone managing CI/CD pipelines to ensure secure automation.

1

Create the basic Jenkins pipeline structure

Write a Jenkins pipeline script starting with pipeline {} and inside it add an empty agent any block.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Start with the pipeline block and specify agent any to run on any available agent.

2

Add environment block with credentials binding

Inside the pipeline block, add an environment block that binds the Jenkins credential with ID my-credentials to environment variables USERNAME and PASSWORD using credentials('my-credentials').

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    environment {
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Note: Jenkins declarative pipeline does not support accessing username and password separately using credentials(). Instead, use the usernamePassword credentials binding in a withCredentials block inside steps. The environment block can only bind a single string credential using credentials('id').

For username/password pairs, use withCredentials([usernamePassword(credentialsId: 'my-credentials', usernameVariable: 'USERNAME', passwordVariable: 'PASSWORD')]) { ... } inside steps.

3

Add a stage with a shell step to print the credentials

Inside the pipeline block, add a stages block with one stage named 'Print Credentials'. Inside the stage, add a steps block with a sh command that prints $USERNAME and $PASSWORD environment variables.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    environment {
        USERNAME = ''
        PASSWORD = ''
    }
    stages {
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use withCredentials inside steps to bind username and password credentials to environment variables.

4

Print the final pipeline script output

Run the pipeline and observe the output. The shell steps should print the username and password stored in the Jenkins credential my-credentials. Write a sh command that prints Username: $USERNAME and Password: $PASSWORD.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('Print Credentials') {
            steps {
                // Your code here
            }
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

When you run the pipeline, Jenkins replaces $USERNAME and $PASSWORD with the actual credential values.