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Posted on Dec 13

Jenkins X Explained: Is It SaaS or VM-Based?

#jenkins #jenkinsx #kubernetes #cicd

🚀 Jenkins X Explained: Is It SaaS or VM-Based?

As teams adopt Kubernetes and GitOps, traditional CI/CD tools often feel complex to manage.

This is where Jenkins X comes in — but one common question keeps coming up:

Is Jenkins X SaaS, or does it run on a VM like Jenkins?

Let’s answer that clearly.

🔍 What Is Jenkins X?

Jenkins X is a cloud-native CI/CD platform designed specifically for Kubernetes-based applications.

Unlike classic Jenkins:

It follows GitOps by default
It automates environment promotion
It creates preview environments for every pull request

It’s opinionated — and intentionally so.

☁️ Is Jenkins X a SaaS?

No. Jenkins X is NOT a SaaS offering.

There is no hosted Jenkins X service
You must deploy and manage it yourself
It runs inside your Kubernetes cluster

If you’re looking for SaaS CI/CD, tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or CircleCI are better choices.

🖥️ Is Jenkins X VM-Based?

Not directly.

Jenkins X does not run like traditional Jenkins on a standalone VM.

Instead:

Jenkins X runs inside Kubernetes
Kubernetes itself may run on VMs (EKS, GKE, AKS, on-prem)

👉 Jenkins X is Kubernetes-native, not VM-first

🧱 Jenkins X Architecture (High Level)

Kubernetes (EKS / AKS / GKE / OpenShift)
Tekton Pipelines – CI/CD engine
Lighthouse – PR and webhook handler
GitOps Repositories – environment definitions
Helm – application deployment
Preview Environments – per pull request

All builds, tests, and deployments run as short-lived Kubernetes pods.

🔄 How Jenkins X CI/CD Flow Works

Developer opens a Pull Request
Git webhook triggers Lighthouse
Tekton Pipeline starts automatically
Application is built and tested
A preview environment is created
Merge to main triggers GitOps-based promotion
Kubernetes reconciles desired state

No plugin management.

No long-running build servers.

⚖️ Jenkins vs Jenkins X

Feature	Jenkins	Jenkins X
Deployment	VM / Container	Kubernetes
SaaS	❌	❌
Pipeline Engine	Jenkins (Groovy)	Tekton
Configuration	Jenkinsfile	YAML + GitOps
Scaling	Manual agents	Auto-scaling pods
Preview Environments	❌	✅
Best For	Traditional CI/CD	Cloud-native CI/CD

✅ When Should You Use Jenkins X?

Use Jenkins X if:

Your workloads run on Kubernetes
You follow GitOps practices
You want automated preview environments
You prefer opinionated automation

Avoid Jenkins X if:

You don’t use Kubernetes
You need heavy plugin customization
You want a managed SaaS CI/CD tool

🔧 Real Jenkins X Pipeline YAML Example

In Jenkins X, pipelines are defined using Tekton YAML, usually generated and managed by Jenkins X, but you can customize or understand them directly.

📁 File: .lighthouse/jenkins-x/release.yaml

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1
kind: Pipeline
metadata:
  name: release
  labels:
    jenkins.io/pipelineType: build
spec:
  workspaces:
    - name: source
  params:
    - name: version
      type: string
      description: Application version
  tasks:
    - name: clone-repo
      taskRef:
        name: git-clone
      workspaces:
        - name: output
          workspace: source`

    - name: run-tests
      runAfter:
        - clone-repo
      taskSpec:
        workspaces:
          - name: source
        steps:
          - name: test
            image: node:18
            workingDir: $(workspaces.source.path)
            script: |
              npm install
              npm test

    - name: build-image
      runAfter:
        - run-tests
      taskRef:
        name: kaniko
      params:
        - name: IMAGE
          value: myrepo/myapp:$(params.version)
      workspaces:
        - name: source
          workspace: source

    - name: deploy
      runAfter:
        - build-image
      taskSpec:
        steps:
          - name: helm-deploy
            image: alpine/helm:3.14.0
            script: |
              helm upgrade --install myapp charts/myapp \
                --set image.tag=$(params.version)

🔍 What This Pipeline Does
Step Purpose
git-clone Pulls source code from Git
run-tests Runs application unit tests
build-image Builds and pushes container image using Kaniko
deploy Deploys application using Helm

✔ Runs fully inside Kubernetes
✔ Each task executes in its own pod
✔ No Jenkins agents or executors

🚦 How Jenkins X Triggers This Pipeline

You don’t manually start pipelines in Jenkins X.

Instead:

Pull Requests → trigger preview pipelines

Merge to main → triggers release pipeline

Promotion → happens via GitOps repo changes

Triggering is handled by Lighthouse, not Jenkins jobs.

🧠 Final Thoughts

Jenkins X is neither SaaS nor VM-based.

It is a Kubernetes-native CI/CD platform built for modern DevOps teams.

If Jenkins feels like CI you manage,

Jenkins X feels like CI/CD that manages itself.

Thanks for reading!

If this helped you, feel free to share or drop your thoughts in the comments.

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