CircleCI Automation via Rube MCP

Automate CircleCI CI/CD operations through Composio's CircleCI toolkit via Rube MCP.

Toolkit docs: composio.dev/toolkits/circleci

Prerequisites

• Rube MCP must be connected (RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS available)
• Active CircleCI connection via

  RUBE_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS

  with toolkit

  circleci

• Always call

  RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS

  first to get current tool schemas

Setup

Get Rube MCP: Add

https://rube.app/mcp

as an MCP server in your client configuration. No API keys needed — just add the endpoint and it works.

1. Verify Rube MCP is available by confirming

   RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS

   responds
2. Call

   RUBE_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS

   with toolkit

   circleci

3. If connection is not ACTIVE, follow the returned auth link to complete CircleCI authentication
4. Confirm connection status shows ACTIVE before running any workflows

Core Workflows

1. Trigger a Pipeline

When to use: User wants to start a new CI/CD pipeline run

Tool sequence:

1. CIRCLECI_TRIGGER_PIPELINE

   - Trigger a new pipeline on a project [Required]

2. CIRCLECI_LIST_WORKFLOWS_BY_PIPELINE_ID

   - Monitor resulting workflows [Optional]

Key parameters:

• project_slug

  : Project identifier in format

  gh/org/repo

  or

  bb/org/repo

• branch

  : Git branch to run the pipeline on

• tag

  : Git tag to run the pipeline on (mutually exclusive with branch)

• parameters

  : Pipeline parameter key-value pairs

Pitfalls:

• project_slug

  format is

  {vcs}/{org}/{repo}

  (e.g.,

  gh/myorg/myrepo

  )

• branch

  and

  tag

  are mutually exclusive; providing both causes an error
• Pipeline parameters must match those defined in

  .circleci/config.yml

• Triggering returns a pipeline ID; workflows start asynchronously

2. Monitor Pipelines and Workflows

When to use: User wants to check the status of pipelines or workflows

Tool sequence:

1. CIRCLECI_LIST_PIPELINES_FOR_PROJECT

   - List recent pipelines for a project [Required]

2. CIRCLECI_LIST_WORKFLOWS_BY_PIPELINE_ID

   - List workflows within a pipeline [Required]

3. CIRCLECI_GET_PIPELINE_CONFIG

   - View the pipeline configuration used [Optional]

Key parameters:

• project_slug

  : Project identifier in

  {vcs}/{org}/{repo}

  format

• pipeline_id

  : UUID of a specific pipeline

• branch

  : Filter pipelines by branch name

• page_token

  : Pagination cursor for next page of results

Pitfalls:

• Pipeline IDs are UUIDs, not numeric IDs
• Workflows inherit the pipeline ID; a single pipeline can have multiple workflows
• Workflow states include: success, running, not_run, failed, error, failing, on_hold, canceled, unauthorized

• page_token

  is returned in responses for pagination; continue until absent

3. Inspect Job Details

When to use: User wants to drill into a specific job's execution details

Tool sequence:

1. CIRCLECI_LIST_WORKFLOWS_BY_PIPELINE_ID

   - Find workflow containing the job [Prerequisite]

2. CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_DETAILS

   - Get detailed job information [Required]

Key parameters:

• project_slug

  : Project identifier

• job_number

  : Numeric job number (not UUID)

Pitfalls:

• Job numbers are integers, not UUIDs (unlike pipeline and workflow IDs)
• Job details include executor type, parallelism, start/stop times, and status
• Job statuses: success, running, not_run, failed, retried, timedout, infrastructure_fail, canceled

4. Retrieve Build Artifacts

When to use: User wants to download or list artifacts produced by a job

Tool sequence:

1. CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_DETAILS

   - Confirm job completed successfully [Prerequisite]

2. CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_ARTIFACTS

   - List all artifacts from the job [Required]

Key parameters:

• project_slug

  : Project identifier

• job_number

  : Numeric job number

Pitfalls:

• Artifacts are only available after job completion
• Each artifact has a

  path

  and

  url

  for download
• Artifact URLs may require authentication headers to download
• Large artifacts may have download size limits

5. Review Test Results

When to use: User wants to check test outcomes for a specific job

Tool sequence:

1. CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_DETAILS

   - Verify job ran tests [Prerequisite]

2. CIRCLECI_GET_TEST_METADATA

   - Retrieve test results and metadata [Required]

Key parameters:

• project_slug

  : Project identifier

• job_number

  : Numeric job number

Pitfalls:

• Test metadata requires the job to have uploaded test results (JUnit XML format)
• If no test results were uploaded, the response will be empty
• Test metadata includes classname, name, result, message, and run_time fields
• Failed tests include failure messages in the

  message

  field

Common Patterns

Project Slug Format

Format: {vcs_type}/{org_name}/{repo_name}
- GitHub:    gh/myorg/myrepo
- Bitbucket: bb/myorg/myrepo

Pipeline -> Workflow -> Job Hierarchy

1. Call CIRCLECI_LIST_PIPELINES_FOR_PROJECT to get pipeline IDs
2. Call CIRCLECI_LIST_WORKFLOWS_BY_PIPELINE_ID with pipeline_id
3. Extract job numbers from workflow details
4. Call CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_DETAILS with job_number

Pagination

• Check response for

  next_page_token

  field
• Pass token as

  page_token

  in next request
• Continue until

  next_page_token

  is absent or null

Known Pitfalls

ID Formats:

• Pipeline IDs: UUIDs (e.g.,

  5034460f-c7c4-4c43-9457-de07e2029e7b

  )
• Workflow IDs: UUIDs
• Job numbers: Integers (e.g.,

  123

  )
• Do NOT mix up UUIDs and integers between different endpoints

Project Slugs:

• Must include VCS prefix:

  gh/

  for GitHub,

  bb/

  for Bitbucket
• Organization and repo names are case-sensitive
• Incorrect slug format causes 404 errors

Rate Limits:

• CircleCI API has per-endpoint rate limits
• Implement exponential backoff on 429 responses
• Avoid rapid polling; use reasonable intervals (5-10 seconds)

Quick Reference

Task	Tool Slug	Key Params
Trigger pipeline	CIRCLECI_TRIGGER_PIPELINE	project_slug, branch, parameters
List pipelines	CIRCLECI_LIST_PIPELINES_FOR_PROJECT	project_slug, branch
List workflows	CIRCLECI_LIST_WORKFLOWS_BY_PIPELINE_ID	pipeline_id
Get pipeline config	CIRCLECI_GET_PIPELINE_CONFIG	pipeline_id
Get job details	CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_DETAILS	project_slug, job_number
Get job artifacts	CIRCLECI_GET_JOB_ARTIFACTS	project_slug, job_number
Get test metadata	CIRCLECI_GET_TEST_METADATA	project_slug, job_number

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