Manual Input in Azure Pipeline

Yes, it's absolutely possible to include a manual input stage in a CI/CD pipeline. This is commonly done using approval gates or manual intervention steps where user input is required before proceeding to the next stage. Here's how it typically works depending on the CI/CD platform:

🛠 Common CI/CD Platforms & Manual Input Support

Azure DevOps

• Use the Manual Intervention task in release pipelines.
• You can also use environment approvals where a user must approve and optionally provide input before deployment continues.

GitHub Actions

• Use the workflow_dispatch event to trigger workflows manually with input parameters.
• Combine with inputs to allow users to specify values at runtime.

GitLab CI/CD

• Use when: manual in job definitions.
• You can also use trigger with dynamic parameters.

Jenkins

• Use the Input Step in pipelines (input directive in scripted or declarative pipelines).
• This pauses the pipeline and waits for user input.

Example: GitHub Actions Manual Input

name: Deploy with Manual Input

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      environment:
        description: 'Environment to deploy to'
        required: true
        default: 'staging'

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to ${{ github.event.inputs.environment }}
        run: echo "Deploying to ${{ github.event.inputs.environment }}"