Guides

CI/CD integration

Run Conductor in GitHub Actions, Docker-based pipelines, and automated workflows. HTTP transport required — stdio doesn't work in CI.

Key differences in CI

TransportAlways HTTP in CI. stdio requires an interactive client process.

AuthAlways set CONDUCTOR_AUTH_TOKEN. No auth = open to anyone on the network.

Approval gatesDisable for automated tools or pre-approve via config. CI has no terminal for interactive prompts.

Log levelUse warn or error in CI. info output is noisy in pipeline logs.

Health checkWait for GET /health before calling any tools. Don't assume it's up.

GitHub Actions

Start Conductor in the background, wait for the health check, then call tools via HTTP.

.github/workflows/conductor.yml

name: AI-assisted review

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  conductor-review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install Conductor
        run: npm install -g @useconductor/conductor

      - name: Start Conductor (HTTP transport)
        run: |
          conductor mcp start --transport http --port 3000 &
          sleep 2
          curl -sf http://localhost:3000/health
        env:
          CONDUCTOR_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CONDUCTOR_TOKEN }}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Run review
        run: |
          curl -s -X POST http://localhost:3000/tools/call \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.CONDUCTOR_TOKEN }}" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -d '{
              "name": "git.diff",
              "arguments": { "staged": false }
            }'

Docker Compose pipeline

Run Conductor as a sidecar container. Use the depends_on health check condition to ensure Conductor is ready before your test runner starts.

docker-compose.ci.yml

# docker-compose.ci.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
  conductor:
    image: ghcr.io/useconductor/conductor:latest
    ports: ["3000:3000"]
    environment:
      CONDUCTOR_TRANSPORT: http
      CONDUCTOR_AUTH_TOKEN: ${CONDUCTOR_TOKEN}
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 5s
      retries: 10

  test-runner:
    image: node:20
    depends_on:
      conductor:
        condition: service_healthy
    environment:
      CONDUCTOR_URL: http://conductor:3000
      CONDUCTOR_TOKEN: ${CONDUCTOR_TOKEN}
    command: npm test

Using the SDK in scripts

For complex automation, use the TypeScript SDK instead of raw curl. It handles connection management and gives you typed tool results.

ci-script.ts

import { ConductorClient } from "@useconductor/sdk";

const conductor = new ConductorClient({
  transport: "http",
  url: process.env.CONDUCTOR_URL ?? "http://localhost:3000",
  token: process.env.CONDUCTOR_TOKEN,
});

await conductor.connect();

// Run tests
const testResult = await conductor.callTool("shell.exec", {
  command: "npm",
  args: ["test", "--ci"],
});

// Parse output
const passed = testResult.content[0].text.includes("passing");

if (passed) {
  // Auto-commit if tests pass
  await conductor.callTool("git.commit", {
    message: "chore: auto-commit after CI pass",
    all: true,
  });
}

await conductor.disconnect();

Disabling approval gates in CI

Approval gates block on an interactive terminal prompt. In CI, there is no terminal. Disable them per-plugin in your CI config, or use a separate config file for CI runs.

~/.conductor/config.ci.json

{
  "server": {
    "transport": "http",
    "port": 3000
  },
  "approvalGates": {
    "enabled": false
  },
  "plugins": {
    "shell": {
      "allowedCommands": ["npm", "node", "git", "pytest"]
    }
  }
}

Point at the CI config: CONDUCTOR_CONFIG_DIR=~/.conductor conductor mcp start --config config.ci.json

Secrets in CI

CI environment variables

# In your CI environment (GitHub Actions secrets, etc.)
CONDUCTOR_TOKEN=your-secure-token-here
CONDUCTOR_LOG_LEVEL=warn

# Plugin credentials
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_...
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...

Store all credentials as CI secrets (GitHub: Settings → Secrets and variables). Never hardcode tokens.