node
node
allocates an executor on a Jenkins node (aka a slave) and runs code in the context of the workspace on that node.
https://jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/steps/workflow-durable-task-step/#node-allocate-node
Another wrinkle on node
‘s. There is also the concept of flyweight and heavyweight executors. A flyweight executor is just a thread and runs inside the Java master’s JVM. A heavyweight executor is a process (e.g. sh
) and will halt the flow on the master so should be allocated to a node. From the docs:
It is recommended to allocate executors to agent machines, rather than on the Jenkins master – to avoid potential security vulnerabilities, Out-Of-Memory and other performance issues. To do this, configure the “# of executors” to ‘0’ on the “master” node (by default this setting is ‘2’).
https://support.cloudbees.com/hc/en-us/articles/216456477-What-is-a-Jenkins-Executor-and-how-can-I-best-utilize-my-executors
See also https://support.cloudbees.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012808951-Pipeline-Difference-between-flyweight-and-heavyweight-Executors
stage
stage
creates a labelled block and show up as columns in the Pipeline Stage view.
https://jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/steps/pipeline-stage-step/
See also Jenkins: milestone plugin and this post on Stage vs Lock vs Milestone.
step
A step is a single action. When a step succeeds it moves onto the next step. When a step fails to execute correctly the Pipeline will fail.
https://jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/steps/workflow-basic-steps/#step-general-build-step
See also
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39549215/what-is-the-difference-between-a-node-stage-and-step-in-jenkins-pipelines
Note also the keyword steps
https://jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/tour/running-multiple-steps/