01 Overview
Jenkins runs Groovy-defined pipelines that check out code, build it, run tests, and deploy artifacts — triggered by commits, pull requests, or a schedule. It's plugin-driven, so it can talk to nearly any tool in a delivery chain.
→ official documentation02 Installation
Pick a platform. Each step is copy-pasteable on its own.
01 Install Java (Jenkins requires a JDK)
sudo apt update sudo apt install -y fontconfig openjdk-17-jre
02 Add the Jenkins repository
sudo wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable/jenkins.io-2023.key echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc] https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list > /dev/null
03 Install Jenkins
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y jenkins
04 Enable and start the service
sudo systemctl enable --now jenkins
05 Get the initial admin password
sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword
01 Install Java
sudo dnf install -y java-17-openjdk
02 Add the Jenkins repository
sudo wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/jenkins.repo https://pkg.jenkins.io/redhat-stable/jenkins.repo sudo rpm --import https://pkg.jenkins.io/redhat-stable/jenkins.io-2023.key
03 Install Jenkins
sudo dnf install -y jenkins
04 Enable and start the service
sudo systemctl enable --now jenkins
05 Get the initial admin password
sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword
01 Install via Homebrew
brew install jenkins-lts
02 Start the service
brew services start jenkins-lts
Note — commands assume sudo privileges and an up-to-date package index. Pin a specific version in production rather than tracking latest.
03 Install script
The steps above bundled into a single idempotent shell script for provisioning boxes unattended.
install-jenkins.sh
Ubuntu/Debian target · safe to re-run · exits non-zero on failure
04 Cheatsheet
The commands reached for most often once Jenkins is installed.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| systemctl status jenkins | Check service status (Linux) |
| java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s URL list-jobs | List jobs via the CLI |
| curl -X POST JENKINS_URL/job/NAME/build | Trigger a build via the REST API |
| Jenkinsfile: pipeline { agent any ... } | Minimal declarative pipeline skeleton |
| sh 'command' | Run a shell step inside a pipeline stage |
| archiveArtifacts artifacts: 'build/**' | Save build output as an artifact |