Clean Workspace

In this tutorial, we will learn how to clean up the workspace after the build is completed in Jenkinsfile.

Cleaning up the workspace is a good practice to save disk space on the Jenkins agent or master node. It also ensures that the next build starts with a clean environment, avoiding any potential issues caused by leftover files from previous builds.

We can achieve this using post block and deleteDir() step in Jenkinsfile.

Jenkinsfile¶

Here is the sample Jenkinsfile 12-Jenkinsfile-maven-post-cleanup

pipeline {
  agent any
  options {
    disableConcurrentBuilds()
    disableResume()
    buildDiscarder(logRotator(numToKeepStr: '10'))
    timeout(time: 1, unit: 'HOURS')
  }
  tools {
    maven 'maven-3.6.3' 
  }
  stages {
    stage ('Build') {
      steps {
        sh 'mvn clean package'
      }
    }
  }
  post {
    always {
      deleteDir()
    }
  }
}

Explanation¶

In the standard Jenkins pipeline syntax, the post section defines actions that should be run at the end of the pipeline execution. You can use various conditions within the post block, such as always, success, failure, unstable, etc.

always: The steps in this block will be executed regardless of the build status (success, failure, or aborted).

Inside the always block, we are calling the deleteDir() step.

deleteDir() is a built-in Jenkins step that recursively deletes the current directory and its contents. Since it is running in the workspace context, it effectively cleans up the entire workspace allocated for this build.

So, once the build is completed (whether it passes or fails), Jenkins will execute the deleteDir() command, removing all source code, compiled binaries, and temporary files created during the build process.

This ensures that the next build run will have to check out a fresh copy of the source code, preventing any contamination from previous artifacts.

Reference¶

GitHub Repository

Important Tips¶

Tip

Disk Space: If you don't clean the workspace, artifacts from previous builds (like large WAR files or Docker images) can accumulate and fill up the disk, causing the Jenkins node to crash.

Note

Troubleshooting: Sometimes you might want to keep the workspace upon failure to debug issues. In that case, move deleteDir() to success block or wrap it in a condition.

🧠 Quick Quiz — Workspace Cleanup¶

#

Which Jenkins pipeline step is used to recursively delete the current directory and its contents, effectively cleaning the workspace?

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