Jenkins Cheat Sheet

Core reference for Jenkins pipelines, Jenkinsfile syntax, common CLI operations, and plugin-based job configuration.

2 PagesIntermediateFeb 20, 2026

Declarative Pipeline

Basic structure of a Jenkinsfile using declarative syntax.

groovy

pipeline {  agent any  environment {    APP_ENV = 'production'  }  stages {    stage('Build') {      steps {        sh 'mvn clean package'      }    }    stage('Test') {      steps {        sh 'mvn test'      }    }    stage('Deploy') {      when { branch 'main' }      steps {        sh './deploy.sh'      }    }  }  post {    always { junit 'target/surefire-reports/*.xml' }    failure { mail to: 'team@example.com', subject: 'Build failed' }  }}

Scripted Pipeline

Groovy-based scripted syntax for advanced control flow.

groovy

node {  stage('Checkout') {    checkout scm  }  stage('Build') {    try {      sh 'make build'    } catch (err) {      currentBuild.result = 'FAILURE'      throw err    }  }  parallel(    unit: { sh 'make test-unit' },    integration: { sh 'make test-integration' }  )}

Key Directives

Common directives used inside a Jenkinsfile.

agent- Specifies where the pipeline or stage executes (any, none, label, docker)
environment- Defines key-value environment variables for the pipeline or a stage
parameters- Declares build parameters (string, booleanParam, choice) requested at trigger time
triggers- Defines automatic triggers such as cron or pollSCM
post- Defines actions run after stage/pipeline completion (always, success, failure, unstable)
when- Conditionally executes a stage based on branch, expression, or environment
parallel- Runs multiple stages/steps concurrently

Jenkins CLI

Common jenkins-cli.jar operations.

bash

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://localhost:8080/ list-jobsjava -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://localhost:8080/ build my-job -fjava -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://localhost:8080/ console my-jobjava -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://localhost:8080/ create-job new-job < config.xmljava -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://localhost:8080/ restart

Pro Tip

Use the Jenkinsfile 'agent { docker { image "node:18" } }' per-stage instead of a global agent to keep build environments isolated and reproducible without polluting your Jenkins nodes.

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