Why OctoQueue

OctoQueue

Serialized pre-production verification queue for any number of repositories, one or many, deploying into a shared environment.

Problem

Most teams have a single shared pre-production environment to run end-to-end tests on the path to production. Every change has to be deployed there and verified before it can merge. This applies to a single repository, and it gets harder as you add more repositories and sub-projects.
  • Several PRs want the environment at the same time. They overwrite each other’s deployments, conflict, and invalidate each other’s test results.
  • Teams coordinate by hand. Someone deploys one PR, waits for the tests, merges, then deploys the next. This creates bottlenecks, ties up engineers, and makes continuous delivery hard to reach.

Solution

OctoQueue queues PRs for validation and processes them one at a time against the shared environment. A PR is merged only when your CI pipeline succeeds. Until then it stays unmerged, so nothing needs to be reverted.
  1. Queue. A developer comments /oq deploy on a PR, or uses the Slack /oq command.
  2. Build the deployment branch. OctoQueue cherry-picks the PR onto your target branch, on a branch such as preprod-{pr}.
  3. Run your pipeline. OctoQueue triggers your own CI, either CircleCI or GitHub Actions. That pipeline deploys to pre-production and runs your tests.
  4. Merge on success. When the pipeline succeeds, OctoQueue merges the PR automatically.
  5. Stay unmerged on failure. If the pipeline fails, the PR is not merged and the queue moves on to the next one.

A GitHub Check on every PR shows its live queue status.

What you get

  • No more manual deployments. The queue replaces the hand-off between PRs.
  • No conflicts in pre-production. Only one PR occupies the environment at a time, so test results are trustworthy.
  • Nothing merges untested. A PR merges only after your pipeline succeeds.
  • N queues, N repositories. Each queue has its own repositories, branch policy, CI provider, and integrations. A queue can serve one repo or many.
  • Bring your own pipeline. OctoQueue runs the CI pipeline you define on CircleCI or GitHub Actions. You decide what “validated” means.
  • Works where your team works. It has a GitHub App, PR comment commands, Slack commands, a web UI, and SSO sign-in.

A queue that runs 24/7

OctoQueue runs around the clock with no one operating it. PRs queued in the evening, or from another time zone, are processed and merged overnight. Developers come back to find their change merged.

Is it for you?

OctoQueue fits if you have:
  • A single shared environment on the path to production.
  • One or more repositories, or sub-projects, that need to be deployed and verified there.