Welcome
Capabilities of DevOps Loop
HCL DevOps Loop provides an integrated suite of capabilities such as Plan, Code, Control, Build, Test, Release, Deploy, Measure and Harbor (if enabled) to manage every stage of the software development lifecycle within a connected, continuous loop.
Code
Code is a cloud-based browser IDE in a dev container that is part of HCL DevOps Loop, allowing developers to write, compile, build, and debug code directly in the browser without requiring local setup.
Git authentication for dev containers
You can use Git within a dev container to ensure version control and collaboration while keeping your environment isolated.
Fixing Git clone in air-gapped environment
In air-gapped environments, URLs that start with service-, such as the default Control SSH URL, are not accessible from the dev container terminal. You can replace this URL with the internal cluster-local service address to clone a repository.

Release Notes
This document includes information about the features introduced, a product overview, and installation instructions, as well as contact information of HCL Customer Support for this version of HCL DevOps Loop.
System Requirements
This document includes information about hardware and software requirements for HCL DevOps Loop.
Getting Started
HCL DevOps Loop is a platform designed to support the full DevOps lifecycle. The Getting Started section introduces key concepts and walks through the initial steps to help new users begin working with the platform.
Administration
This section provides information on administration, installation, configuration, and integrations and teamspace management.
Working with Loops
A loop is a workflow that connects DevOps activities of your team from planning and development through build, deployment, testing, and release phases.
Capabilities of DevOps Loop
HCL DevOps Loop provides an integrated suite of capabilities such as Plan, Code, Control, Build, Test, Release, Deploy, Measure and Harbor (if enabled) to manage every stage of the software development lifecycle within a connected, continuous loop.
- Plan
  Plan is a change management software application within the DevOps Loop that supports seamless ticket creation, tracking, and comprehensive issue management. With customizable workflow automation, it helps teams to streamline and adapt processes to meet their unique business requirements while preparing work for the next stages of the loop.
- Code
  Code is a cloud-based browser IDE in a dev container that is part of HCL DevOps Loop, allowing developers to write, compile, build, and debug code directly in the browser without requiring local setup.
  - Code overview
    Code is a cloud-based integrated development environment on HCL DevOps Loop, with which you can write, compile, build, and debug software applications in a so-called dev container, accessible directly from a web browser. The editor provides a completely configured development environment with preinstalled extensions, tools, and libraries. You can start coding without the need to set up the environment on your local machine.
  - Accessing dev containers
    You can switch to your teamspace to access team-specific dev containers and their pre-configured settings.
  - Dev containers
    You can use this information to understand why and when to choose between available dev containers. You should choose the Starter container when you need basic tasks, or a preconfigured container when your project requires a customized environment (like Node.js or Java) assigned by an administrator.
  - Viewing logs
    Use the Log Viewer in Code when you need to view, filter, or download log output from your dev containers or from Code itself. You can diagnose launch failures, unexpected container behavior, or errors that you want to share with a support team.
  - Working with dev containers
    You can launch a dev container to load your specific development environment and begin active development tasks.
  - Configuring dev containers
    As a teamspace admin in Code, you can configure the dev containers so that they are available to the team members.
  - Code IDE user interface
    The Code IDE user interface offers key features that are designed to facilitate navigation, file management, source control, debugging, and extension management within the browser IDE.
  - Extensions in dev containers
    You can use extensions to specialize the Code IDE, integrating tools for coding, debugging, version control, and more. You can deploy them during initial project setups or to ensure workflow consistency in containerized and offline environments.
  - File management features
    You can transfer files between your local computer and dev container, and simplify your development workflow.
  - Access applications via automatic port forwarding
    You can access applications running within your dev container from your local machine as Code automatically detects and forwards listening ports (7000–8000), to ensure uninterrupted interaction with containerized services.
  - File system in dev containers
    Understanding the file system structure in a dev container helps you organize your work effectively and maintain compatibility across different development environments.
  - Loading extensions from local .vsix files
    Using Code, you can install and activate extensions in an offline or air-gapped environment by loading them from local .vsix files specified in the dev container configuration.
  - Configuring extension registry
    You can configure a local or an on-premises extension registry in Code as an admin to ensure that only approved extensions are available to team members within your teamspace.
  - Git authentication for dev containers
    You can use Git within a dev container to ensure version control and collaboration while keeping your environment isolated.
    - Authenticating with DevOps Code UI (Recommended)
      You can create a personal access token in Control, and then use that as your password when authenticating from Code. This type of authentication is based on SSH keys, which are automatically generated for your dev container and registered with Control.
    - Authenticating Git with personal access token
      You can securely clone a Git repository from your Control system. You can use it as a secure alternative to other Git authentication methods for accessing files in your dev container.
    - Authenticating Git with device code
      You can set up a GPG key and password store within your dev container to perform Git operations securely and establish a robust authentication layer to clone, commit, and push changes to your repository.
    - Fixing Git clone in air-gapped environment
      In air-gapped environments, URLs that start with service-, such as the default Control SSH URL, are not accessible from the dev container terminal. You can replace this URL with the internal cluster-local service address to clone a repository.
  - Code Genie
    You can use Code Genie to automate tasks on the repository contents of DevOps Control.
  - Creating Plan work items from Code
    The DevOps Code extension allows integration with HCL DevOps Plan (Plan), enabling you to create and manage work items directly from your development environment in the browser IDE.
  - Installing GitHub Copilot in dev containers
    As an admin, you can install the GitHub Copilot extension to enable AI-powered code suggestions, and chat assistance within your dev container.
- Control
  Control manages source code within the DevOps Loop using GitHub compatible APIs that integrate with existing developer tools, workflows, and automation. It supports version management, collaboration, and code governance as development progresses.
- Build
  Build offers the capability to build applications, manage continuous integration workflows, and store build artifacts.
- Test
  The Test capability in DevOps Loop is powered by the DevOps Test application. Test centralizes test data, environments, test runs, and reports in a single web based interface within the DevOps Loop. It streamlines test management, execution, and tracking, providing greater efficiency and visibility to ensure quality throughout the loop.
- Release
  Release standardizes and automates the software release lifecycle with the DevOps Loop, moving applications smoothly from preproduction to production. It provides predictable scheduling, integrates changes from planning tools, and gives stakeholders clear visibility into plans and milestones.
- Deploy
  Deploy standardizes and simplifies the rollout of software components across environments within the DevOps Loop. Its release automation tools improve deployment speed and reliability, providing visibility into multi-tiered deployments and orchestrating complex processes across environments and approval gates.
- Measure
  Measure provides end-to-end visibility into the DevOps Loop, giving teams to track how value is created throughout the work flow. It consolidates testing, security, and performance metrics to identify bottlenecks, team issues, and opportunities for improvement while strengthening governance across the organization.
Loop Genie overview - Tech Preview
Loop Genie is an AI-powered assistant integrated into DevOps Loop. It provides a unified conversational interface for retrieving information and performing actions across multiple DevOps Loop capabilities.
Troubleshooting
Offline Documentation (PDF)
You can access the following link to view or download the release notes, system requirements, and user documentation for DevOps Loop in a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.
Security Considerations
This document describes the actions that you can take to ensure that your installation is secure, customize your security settings, and set up user access controls in HCL DevOps Loop.
Notices
This document provides information about copyright, trademarks, terms and conditions for the product documentation.

Fixing Git clone in air-gapped environment

In air-gapped environments, URLs that start with service-, such as the default Control SSH URL, are not accessible from the dev container terminal. You can replace this URL with the internal cluster-local service address to clone a repository.

Before you begin

You must have the following information:

Access to a dev container terminal running in an air-gapped environment.

About this task

In air-gapped environments, URLs that start with service-, for example git@service-loop.loopairgapvpc1.us-east.containers.appdomain.cloud:30328, point to an external endpoint that air-gapped virtual private clouds (VPCs) cannot reach. As a result, you cannot use the default Control SSH URL to clone a repository directly from the dev container terminal.

To work around this restriction, replace the external Control SSH hostname with the internal cluster-local service address before you run git clone.

Procedure

Identify the failing Git command
1. Locate the git clone command, or any other Git SSH operation, that references the external Control SSH URL.
2. An example of a URL that fails in an air-gapped environment is shown below:
  git clone ssh://git@service-loop.loopairgapvpc1.us-east.containers.appdomain.cloud:30328/test_ts/.devopsconfig.git
Replace the Control SSH hostname
1. Replace the hostname portion of the URL with the internal cluster-local service address, using the following format, where platform_namespace is typically devops-loop:
  git@devops-loop-control-ssh.<platform_namespace>.svc.cluster.local:22
2. Change the port number to (22) and keep the repository path unchanged. Only the hostname and port may be modified.
  
  Note:
  Do not modify any other part of the URL. The repository path and all other URL components must remain exactly as they are.
Run the updated clone command
1. In the dev container terminal, run the updated git clone command. For example:
  git clone ssh://git@devops-loop-control-ssh.devops-loop.svc.cluster.local:22/test_ts/.devopsconfig.git
2. The Control repository clones successfully because the dev container resolves the internal cluster-local address instead of attempting to reach the inaccessible external service- URL.