Azure Pipelines: Passing Variables Between Jobs and Stages

In this post, let's see how we can pass variables between Stages and Jobs in Azure Pipelines..

Consider the following simple pipeline.

stages:
- stage: Build
  jobs:
  - job: FirstJob
    pool:
      vmImage: 'windows-latest'
    steps:
     - bash: echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=myVariable;isOutput=true]Hello World"
       name: stepSetVariable
       
  - job: SecondJob
    dependsOn: FirstJob
    pool:
      vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
    variables:
      # Map variable
      # syntax: $[ dependencies.{JobName}.outputs['{stepName}.{variableName}'] ]
      myJobVariable: $[ dependencies.FirstJob.outputs['stepSetVariable.myVariable'] ]  
    steps:
    # Echos Hello World
    - script: echo $(myJobVariable)
      name: stepEchoVariable
 
- stage: Deployment
  dependsOn: Build
  pool:
    vmImage: 'macOS-latest'
  variables:
    # Map variable
    # syntax: $[ stageDependencies.{BuildName}.{JobName}.outputs['{stepName}.{variableName}'] ]
    myStageVariable: $[ stageDependencies.Build.FirstJob.outputs['stepSetVariable.myVariable'] ]
  jobs:
  - job: DeploymentJob
    steps:
    # Echos Hello World
    - script: echo $(myStageVariable)
      name: stepEchoVariable

Here,

• I have 2 Stages, Build and Deployment. 
• Build stage has 2 jobs, 
• In the FirstJob, I am creating a variable called myVariable. I am making it an output variable and setting its value to Hello World.
• In the SecondJob, 
• The SecondJob is depending on FirstJob because the variable needs to be created first. 
• Then I am declaring a variable called myJobVariable and mapping it with myVariable created in FirstJob. Since it's within the same Stage, I can map the variable using this syntax. 

$[ dependencies.{JobName}.outputs['{stepName}.{variableName}'] ]

• Then I am just printing the value of myJobVariable. 
• In Deployment stage,
• This stage is depending on Build stage, again because we are trying to access an output variable from Build stage.
• Then I am declaring a variable called myStageVariable and mapping it with myVariable created in Build stages' FirstJob. Since it's in a different Stage, I can reference the variable using stageDependencies. 

$[ stageDependencies.{BuildName}.{JobName}.outputs['{stepName}.{variableName}'] ]

• Then I have just a single job to print the value of myStageVariable. 

Note: I have used different images for two jobs in Build stage and for the Deployment stage, so the concept is more clear.

Hope this helps.

Happy Coding.

Regards,

Jaliya