The Rundeck Project SCM Export and SCM Import features are designed to version control your job definitions and project configuration, by integrating Rundeck projects with a source control management system (SCM), typically Git.

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🧠 Why SCM Integration Matters in Rundeck

When you’re managing automation jobs in production, it’s crucial to:

• Version your job definitions
• Audit who changed what and when
• Sync changes across environments (dev → staging → prod)
• Enable team collaboration
• Backup and restore project configuration

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🔁 Rundown of SCM Import vs. Export

Feature	Purpose	Typical Use
SCM Import	Pulls job definitions from a Git repo into Rundeck	Manage Rundeck from source control
SCM Export	Pushes job changes in Rundeck to a Git repo	Let Rundeck act as the source of truth

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🔽 SCM Import Plugin (Git → Rundeck)

✅ Use Case

• You store Rundeck jobs in Git
• Rundeck automatically imports the latest changes from the repository
• Useful in CI/CD pipelines or for managing jobs as code

🔧 Behavior

• When jobs are added/updated in Git → Rundeck pulls and reflects those changes
• Can be set to auto-import or manual pull
• Requires correct YAML/XML format in the repo

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🔼 SCM Export Plugin (Rundeck → Git)

✅ Use Case

• You create or modify jobs within Rundeck GUI
• You want those changes committed to Git for versioning
• Useful for auditing, backups, and collaboration

🔧 Behavior

• Rundeck tracks changes to jobs
• Changes can be auto-committed or reviewed before commit
• Commit messages and author info can be customized

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🔁 Typical Workflow in a Team

1. Developer edits a job in the Rundeck GUI
2. SCM Export pushes that change to Git (like jobs/web-server.yaml)
3. Another team member updates the same file in Git (e.g., via PR)
4. SCM Import detects the change and pulls it back into Rundeck

This ensures bi-directional sync between Git and Rundeck.

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🔧 How to Enable

1. Go to:
   Project Settings → SCM → Export/Import
2. Choose:
   • SCM Type: Git
   • Storage: local Git repo or SSH/HTTPS remote
3. Configure:
   • Repo URL
   • Branch
   • File format: YAML, XML
   • Auto-import/export options

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📦 File Structure in Git Repo

A typical exported repo looks like:

jobs/
├── job-1.yaml
├── job-2.yaml
scm-status.json

• Each job gets its own file
• Metadata like UUID and project name are retained

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✅ Benefits

Benefit	Description
🕓 Versioning	Track every change to a job with Git history
👥 Team collaboration	Manage jobs via pull requests and reviews
♻️ Sync across environments	Use Git to promote jobs across dev → prod
🔐 Auditability	Know who changed what and when
📦 Backup & Restore	Git becomes a resilient backup of job configs

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⚠️ Things to Keep in Mind

• Jobs must have unique UUIDs to prevent duplication
• Conflicts between Git and GUI may occur (manual resolution needed)
• You may need to ignore scm-status.json in .gitignore
• Secure Git access (SSH keys or HTTPS tokens) must be configured properly

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