Install Buildkite on a Google Axion C4A Arm VM

Get started with installing the Buildkite agent

This section walks you through installing the Buildkite agent on a Google Axion C4A Arm VM, enabling it to connect to your Buildkite account and run the CI/CD pipelines.

    

        
        

sudo apt update
sudo apt install unzip -y
  

    

    

        
        

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install -y curl unzip
  

    

Download and install the Buildkite agent

Use this one-line command to download and run the Buildkite installer:

    

        
        
sudo bash -c "$(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buildkite/agent/main/install.sh)" 

    

The installer performs the following steps:

• Downloads the latest version of the agent, for example v3.109.1
• Installs the Buildkite agent into the home directory of the root user at /root/.buildkite-agent
• Creates a default config file (buildkite-agent.cfg) where you’ll later add your agent token

You should see this output:

    

        
         
  _           _ _     _ _    _ _                                _
 | |         (_) |   | | |  (_) |                              | |
 | |__  _   _ _| | __| | | ___| |_ ___    __ _  __ _  ___ _ __ | |_
 | '_ \| | | | | |/ _` | |/ / | __/ _ \  / _` |/ _` |/ _ \ '_ \| __|
 | |_) | |_| | | | (_| |   <| | ||  __/ | (_| | (_| |  __/ | | | |_
 |_.__/ \__,_|_|_|\__,_|_|\_\_|\__\___|  \__,_|\__, |\___|_| |_|\__|
                                                __/ |
                                               |___/
Finding latest release...
Installing Version: v3.109.1
Destination: /root/.buildkite-agent
Downloading https://github.com/buildkite/agent/releases/download/v3.109.1/buildkite-agent-linux-arm64-3.109.1.tar.gz

A default buildkite-agent.cfg has been created for you in /root/.buildkite-agent

Don't forget to update the config with your agent token! You can find it token on your "Agents" page in Buildkite

Successfully installed to /root/.buildkite-agent

You can now start the agent!

  /root/.buildkite-agent/bin/buildkite-agent start

For docs, help and support:

  https://buildkite.com/docs/agent/v3

Happy building! <3

        
    

Verify installation

Now verify the installation by checking the Buildkite agent version. This confirms that the agent is installed and ready to use:

    

        
        
sudo /root/.buildkite-agent/bin/buildkite-agent --version

    

The expected output is similar to:

    

        
        buildkite-agent version 3.109.1+10971.5c28e309805a3d748068a3ff7f5c531f51f6f495

        
    

Install Docker

Buildkite uses Docker to build and push images.

This step ensures Docker is always available for your CI/CD pipelines.

    

        
        

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python-is-python3 python3-pip -y
curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER ; newgrp docker
  

    

    

        
        

sudo zypper install -y git python3 python3-pip docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER ; newgrp docker
  

    

Verify the Docker installation by checking the version and running a test container:

    

        
        
docker run hello-world

    

You will see the Docker message:

    

        
        Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:
 1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.
 2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
    (arm64v8)
 3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the
    executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
 4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it
    to your terminal.

To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:
 $ docker run -it ubuntu bash

Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID:
 https://hub.docker.com/

For more examples and ideas, visit:
 https://docs.docker.com/get-started/

        
    

Install Docker Buildx

Docker Buildx is a plugin that allows the building of multi-architecture images, for example arm64 and amd64. If you’re using SUSE Linux, you need to install Docker Buildx manually. On Ubuntu, Docker Buildx is included by default, so you can skip this step.

For more information or troubleshooting details, see the Docker Buildx documentation .

Download Docker Buildx

If you need to download Docker Buildx, follow these steps.

Start by downloading the Docker Buildx binary and move it to the Docker CLI plugin directory. This enables advanced multi-architecture builds on your Arm VM:

    

        
        
wget https://github.com/docker/buildx/releases/download/v0.26.1/buildx-v0.26.1.linux-arm64
chmod +x buildx-v0.26.1.linux-arm64
sudo mkdir -p /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins
sudo mv buildx-v0.26.1.linux-arm64 /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx

    

After installing, verify that Docker Buildx is available:

    

        
        
docker buildx version

    

The expected output is similar to:

    

        
        github.com/docker/buildx v0.26.1

        
    

If you see the version information, Docker Buildx is installed correctly and ready for use.

You can now use Docker Buildx to build and push multi-architecture images, which is especially useful for Arm-based CI/CD pipelines.

What you’ve accomplished

Great job! You’ve installed Docker, Docker Buildx, and the Buildkite agent on your Arm VM. Next, you’ll set up and connect your Buildkite agent to your account.