CircleCI

CircleCI is a hosted CI platform with workflows, jobs, executors, orbs, workspaces, contexts, and caches. Teams use it when they want CI portability outside a single Git host.

					version: 2.1
orbs:
  node: circleci/node@5
jobs:
  test:
    executor: node/default
    steps:
      - checkout
      - node/install-packages
      - run: npm test
workflows:
  ci:
    jobs: [test]
				

Contexts group secrets for projects; workspaces pass files between jobs; orbs package reusable config—review them like dependencies.

On interviews: executor choice (Docker, machine), context scoping, workspace handoff, cache keys, workflow dependencies.

Common pitfalls: convenient orbs without security review; over-caching with incomplete keys; under-specified executor images.

The trade-off is hosted portability versus orb supply chain and platform-specific concepts.

Checklist:

• Choose executor deliberately.
• Scope contexts to least privilege.
• Key caches by real inputs.
• Review orbs like third-party dependencies.