Restricting Build Steps by Branch

By default, every step in your .probo.yaml runs on every build. When you need a step to run only for certain branches — for example, deploying only from main, or seeding demo content everywhere except release branches — you can add branch restrictions to individual steps.

Available Keys

Each key accepts a single branch name or a list of names. When both keys are present on the same step, skipBranches takes precedence. A step with neither key always runs, preserving the default behavior.

Wildcards

A * acts as a wildcard that matches any run of characters. This is useful for matching a family of branches:

• release/* matches release/1.2, release/hotfix, and release/next.
• feature/* matches any feature branch.

Matching is performed against the full branch name.

Examples

  steps:
    # Runs on every branch (no restrictions).
    - name: Run Tests
      plugin: Shell
      command: ./run-tests.sh

    # Only runs on the main branch.
    - name: Deploy to Staging
      plugin: Shell
      command: ./deploy.sh
      branches: main

    # Only runs on release branches.
    - name: Tag Release Build
      plugin: Shell
      command: ./tag-release.sh
      branches:
        - 'release/*'

    # Runs everywhere except release and hotfix branches.
    - name: Seed Demo Content
      plugin: Shell
      command: drush en demo_content -y
      skipBranches:
        - 'release/*'
        - hotfix/*

Builds Without Branch Context

Branch-based builds started from a specific commit or hash may not carry branch context. When no branch is known, restricted steps are run rather than skipped, so a step is never silently dropped when Probo cannot determine the branch.

Related Articles & Information

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Configuring the .probo.yaml File Environment Variables & Secrets Build Steps