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Context

The OpsChain context framework provides a read only set of values. These values enable you to reuse code between projects and environments, conditionally performing logic based on when and where the step is being performed.

After reading this guide you should understand:

  • the information available in the OpsChain context
  • how to access the OpsChain context values in your actions

OpsChain context​

Within each action, OpsChain context values are available via OpsChain.context (which will behave like a Hashie Mash). The OpsChain.context includes the following information:

Context keyDescription
projectThe project for the currently running step1
environmentThe environment for the currently running step1
changeThe change the currently running step belongs to1
stepThe currently running step1
userInformation about the user who submitted the change
name - the user who submitted the change
groups - an array of LDAP groups that the user is a member of

Accessing the context information​

Context information can be accessed using dot or square bracket notation with string or symbol keys. These examples are equivalent:

require 'opschain'

OpsChain.context.change.action
OpsChain.context[:change][:action]
OpsChain.context['change']['action']
note

The OpsChain.context structure is read only.

Example usage​

In the example below, running the main action in the development environment will set the OpsChain logger to the DEBUG level. When running in any other environment, the OpsChain logger will remain in the default (INFO) level.

require 'opschain'

action :enable_logging do
  OpsChain.logger.level = ::Logger::DEBUG if OpsChain.context.parents.environment.code == 'dev'
end

action main: ['enable_logging'] do
  .... main process
end

Sample context values​

Below is an example of the values available to an action via OpsChain.context (formatted as YAML):

---
change:
  id: 3a97c789-8f4e-497c-a1aa-04efaa2e87e7
  created_by: mary
  name: deploy
  action: deploy
  initial_step_tree: 
  metadata:
    custom:
      change: metadata
  property_overrides:
    pixel: overriding
  scheduled: false
  approved_by: []
  rejected_by: []
  status_code: running
  created_at: '2020-05-20T10:00:00.000000Z'
  started_at: '2020-05-20T10:00:05.000000Z'
  finished_at: 
  updated_at: '2025-04-25T06:22:28.803399Z'
  asset_name: 
  environment_name: Receivables
  project_name: Finance
  git_remote_name: origin
  git_rev: bug-fix
  commit_sha: 5213c76dad01ac0d87c2c900d46778675d4dc760
  requires_approval_from: 
step:
  id: 37fdf12f-aff3-4134-8926-a2321cef5acf
  approved_by: []
  rejected_by: []
  continued_by: []
  requires_approval_from: 
  action: deploy
  name: deploy
  step_type: standard
  child_execution_strategy: sequential
  change_id: 3a97c789-8f4e-497c-a1aa-04efaa2e87e7
  skip_on_retry: false
  created_at: '2020-05-20T10:00:00.000000Z'
  started_at: '2020-05-20T10:00:05.000000Z'
  finished_at: 
  updated_at: '2025-04-25T06:22:28.803399Z'
  status_code: running
user:
  name: mary
  groups:
  - manager
  - purchasing
parents:
  project:
    id: bb7bef85-805f-43d9-a267-7e901630ffa0
    code: fin
    name: Finance
    description: Finance applications
    archived: false
    project_type: Standard
  environment:
    id: 530d796b-60ff-4bc6-ad09-ac3eaf1afa45
    code: rcv
    name: Receivables
    description: RMS
    archived: false

Footnotes​

  1. The attributes available within these context keys are the same as those available to you from the relevant API endpoint. See the OpsChain API documentation for more details. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4