Getting Started with Drone: CI/CD Powered by Docker

Introduction

Drone is a CI/CD tool built entirely on Docker.
All build, test, and deployment steps are executed inside Docker containers.

Its core philosophy can be summarized as:

Configuration as Code + Docker

Each project defines its pipeline in a YAML file (by default .drone.yml).
Every pipeline step runs in an isolated Docker container, making builds reproducible and environment-independent.

Drone integrates seamlessly with multiple source code management platforms, including:

• GitHub
• Bitbucket
• GitLab
• Gitea
• Gogs

In this article, GitHub is used as an example to demonstrate how to automatically build and deploy a GitHub Pages project to a personal server using Drone.

Preparing to Run Drone

Drone consists of two core services:

• drone-server: Handles the web UI, authentication, and pipeline scheduling
• drone-runner (agent): Executes pipeline jobs

For simplicity and maintainability, both services are managed using docker-compose.

Installing Docker

Remove Old Versions (If Any)

yum remove docker \
            docker-client \
            docker-client-latest \
            docker-common \
            docker-latest \
            docker-latest-logrotate \
            docker-logrotate \
            docker-engine

Install Docker CE

1. Install required dependencies:

   yum install -y yum-utils device-mapper-persistent-data lvm2

2. Add Docker repository:

   yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

3. Install Docker CE:

   yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

4. Start Docker:

   systemctl start docker

5. Verify installation:

   docker run hello-world

If you see the hello-world output, Docker is running correctly.

Installing Docker Compose

1. Enable EPEL repository:

   yum install -y epel-release

2. Install pip:

   yum install -y python-pip

3. Install docker-compose:

   pip install docker-compose

If you encounter the error:

Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed

Run:

pip install --upgrade setuptools

Running Drone Services

Step 1: Create a GitHub OAuth App

Navigate to:

GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → OAuth Apps → New OAuth App

After creation, you will obtain a CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET.

Step 2: Create docker-compose.yml

Create the file under /etc/drone:

version: "3"
services:
  drone-server:
    image: drone/drone:1
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8000:80"
      - "8443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/drone:/data
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      - DRONE_OPEN=true
      - DRONE_SERVER_PROTO=https
      - DRONE_TLS_AUTOCERT=true
      - DRONE_SERVER_HOST=drone.example.com
      - DRONE_RUNNER_CAPACITY=2

      # GitHub integration
      - DRONE_GITHUB_SERVER=https://github.com
      - DRONE_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID}
      - DRONE_GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET}

      # Required secret
      - DRONE_RPC_SECRET=${DRONE_RPC_SECRET}

      # Logging
      - DRONE_LOGS_DEBUG=true
      - DRONE_LOGS_TEXT=true
      - DRONE_LOGS_PRETTY=true
      - DRONE_LOGS_COLOR=true

      # Admin user
      - DRONE_USER_CREATE=username:yourname,admin:true

  drone-runner:
    image: drone/agent:1
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - drone-server
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      - DRONE_RPC_SERVER=drone.example.com
      - DRONE_RPC_SECRET=${DRONE_RPC_SECRET}
      - DRONE_RUNNER_CAPACITY=2

Step 3: Start Drone

docker-compose up -d

Apache Reverse Proxy Configuration (Optional)

If ports 80 and 443 are already occupied, configure Apache as a reverse proxy:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
</VirtualHost>

Configuring CI/CD for a Project

Sample .drone.yml

kind: pipeline
name: default

steps:
  - name: build
    image: node
    commands:
      - npm install
      - npm run build

Whenever code is pushed, Drone automatically triggers the pipeline.

Improving the Pipeline

Drone supports publishing to multiple targets, such as:

• Local server
• GitHub Pages
• Other static hosting platforms

Using plugins and custom Docker images, complex multi-target deployments can be achieved.

Summary

Drone embraces modern DevOps principles:

• Docker-native execution
• Declarative pipelines
• Strong integration with Git platforms
• Simple yet powerful configuration

For teams seeking a lightweight, container-based CI/CD solution, Drone is an excellent choice.