The following concepts are important for understanding how CodeBuild works.
How CodeBuild works
The following diagram shows what happens when you run a build with CodeBuild:
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As input, you must provide CodeBuild with a build project. A build project includes information about how to run a build, including where to get the source code, which build environment to use, which build commands to run, and where to store the build output. A build environment represents a combination of operating system, programming language runtime, and tools that CodeBuild uses to run a build. For more information, see:
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CodeBuild uses the build project to create the build environment.
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CodeBuild downloads the source code into the build environment and then uses the build specification (buildspec), as defined in the build project or included directly in the source code. A buildspec is a collection of build commands and related settings, in YAML format, that CodeBuild uses to run a build. For more information, see the Buildspec reference.
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If there is any build output, the build environment uploads its output to an S3 bucket. The build environment can also perform tasks that you specify in the buildspec (for example, sending build notifications to an Amazon SNS topic). For an example, see Build notifications sample.
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While the build is running, the build environment sends information to CodeBuild and Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
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While the build is running, you can use the AWS CodeBuild console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs to get summarized build information from CodeBuild and detailed build information from Amazon CloudWatch Logs. If you use AWS CodePipeline to run builds, you can get limited build information from CodePipeline.
Next steps
Now that you know more about AWS CodeBuild, we recommend these next steps:
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Experiment with CodeBuild in an example scenario by following the instructions in Getting started using the console.
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Use CodeBuild in your own scenarios by following the instructions in Plan a build.
