Azure DevOps - Trigger another pipeline

Question

I got two pipelines in my project, one for test and one for build. The reason for this is that the tests need to be run on an self hosted agent to be able to run integration tests.

I don't want to run the build pipeline if the tests are failing. This is my configuration:

Test (Pipeline name)

name: Test

trigger:
  - azure-pipelines

pool:
  vmImage: "windows-latest"

steps:
  - script: echo Test pipeline

Build (Pipeline name)

name: Build

trigger: none

resources:
  pipelines:
    - pipeline: test
      source: Test
      trigger: true

pool:
  vmImage: "windows-latest"

steps:
  - script: echo Build pipeline

The Test pipeline is running as expected but the Build pipeline never gets triggered even if I run it in the cloud as in the example above. Anyone see what the problem is?

Answer 1

It is possible to call another pipeline as shown in the other answer but to start a different agent OS, I would suggest using a Multistage pipeline or Strategy Matrix.

Each stage can run with its own VM or Agent pool.

Here is an example:

trigger:
- main

stages:  
- stage: Build  
  pool:
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
  jobs:  
  - job: BuildJob  
    steps:  
    - script: echo Building
- stage: TestWithLinux
  dependsOn: Build
  pool:
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
  jobs:  
  - job: Testing
    steps:
    - script: echo Test with Linux OS
- stage: TestWithWindows
  dependsOn: Build
  pool:
    vmImage: windows-latest
  jobs:  
  - job: Testing
    steps:
    - script: echo Test with Windows OS
- stage: Final
  dependsOn: [TestWithLinux,TestWithWindows]
  pool:
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
  jobs:  
  - job: FinalJob
    steps:
    - script: echo Final Job

You can replace vmImage: xxx with your own hosted Agent like:

pool: AgentNameX

And the final result would look like this:

Or It is possible to use a strategy with the matrix. Let's say we have a code that should be run on 3 different agents, we can do the following:

jobs:  
- job:
  strategy:
    matrix:
      Linux:
        imageName: 'ubuntu-latest'
      Mac:
        imageName: 'macOS-latest'
      Windows:
        imageName: 'windows-latest'
  pool:
    vmImage: $(imageName)
  steps:
  - powershell: |
      "OS = $($env:AGENT_OS)" | Out-Host
    displayName: 'Test with Agent'

It can work as a stand-alone or in multi-stages as well as shown in the image:

Here is a list of supported hosted agents.

Disclaimer: I wrote 2 articles about this in my personal blog.

Answer 2

Make sure you use the correct pipeline name. I would also suggest adding project inside resources pipeline.

For example I have a pipeline named first.

first.yml

 trigger:
 - none
 pr: none
 pool:
   vmImage: ubuntu-latest
 steps:
 - script: echo Running the first pipeline, should trigger the second.
   displayName: 'First pipeline'

second.yml

trigger:
- none

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

resources:
  pipelines:
  - pipeline: first
    source: first
    project: test-project
    trigger: true # Run second pipeline when the run of the first pipeline ends

steps:
- script: echo this pipeline was triggered from the first pipeline
  displayName: 'Second pipeline'