Verify CircleCI Arm64 Self-Hosted runner

Verify CircleCI Arm64 Self-Hosted Runner

This section walks you through validating your self-hosted CircleCI runner on an Arm64 machine by executing a simple workflow and a test computation. This ensures your runner is correctly configured and ready to process jobs.

Create a test repository

Start by creating a GitHub repository dedicated to verifying your Arm64 runner:

    

        
        
git clone https://github.com/<your_repo_name/aws-circleci/
cd aws-circleci

    

This repository serves as a sandbox to confirm that your CircleCI runner can pick up and run jobs for Arm64 workflows.

Add a sample script

Create a minimal shell script to confirm your runner can execute commands:

    

        
        
echo 'echo "Hello from CircleCI Arm64 Runner!"' > hello.sh
chmod +x hello.sh

    

This script prints a message when run, helping you verify that your self-hosted runner is working as expected.

    

        
        
echo 'echo "Hello from CircleCI Arm64 Runner!"' > hello.sh
chmod +x hello.sh

    

Define the CircleCI configuration

Now create a .circleci/config.yml file to define the workflow that runs on your Arm64 runner:

    

        
        
version: 2.1

jobs:
  test-Arm64:
    machine:
      enabled: true
    resource_class: your-namespace/Arm64-linux   # Replace with your actual resource class
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          name: Verify Arm64 Runner
          command: |
            uname -m
            lscpu | grep Architecture
            ./hello.sh
      - run:
          name: Run sample computation
          command: |
            echo "Performing test on Arm64 runner"
            echo "CPU Info:" 
            lscpu
            echo "Success!"

workflows:
  test-workflow:
    jobs:
      - test-Arm64

    

This configuration does the following:

• Defines a single job called test-Arm64 that uses a machine executor on your self-hosted Arm64 runner
• Verifies the runner’s architecture by running uname -m and checking the output of lscpu
• Runs the hello.sh script to confirm the runner can execute commands
• Performs a sample computation step that displays CPU information and prints a success message

Each step helps you confirm that your CircleCI Arm64 runner is set up correctly and ready to process jobs.

Commit and push to GitHub

After you create hello.sh and .circleci/config.yml, push your project to GitHub so CircleCI can build and verify your Arm64 runner:

    

        
        
git add .
git commit -m "Initial CircleCI Arm64 test"
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

    

Here’s what each command does:

• git add . — stages all your files for commit
• git commit -m … — saves your changes with a message
• git branch -M main — sets your branch to main (if it’s not already)
• git push -u origin main — pushes your code to GitHub

Once your code is on GitHub, CircleCI can start running your workflow automatically.

Start the CircleCI runner and run your job

Before you test your workflow, make sure your CircleCI runner is enabled and running. This lets your self-hosted runner pick up jobs from CircleCI:

    

        
        
sudo systemctl enable circleci-runner
sudo systemctl start circleci-runner
sudo systemctl status circleci-runner

    

• Enable the runner so it starts automatically when your machine boots
• Start the runner and check its status to confirm it is running

After you push your code to GitHub, go to your CircleCI Dashboard and select Projects. Look for your test-Arm64 workflow and check that it is running on your self-hosted runner.

If everything is set up correctly, you’ll see your job running under the resource class you created.

Output

Once the job starts running, CircleCI does the following:

• It verifies the Arm64 Runner:

  Self-Hosted Runners

• It runs a sample computation:

  Self-Hosted Runners

All CircleCI jobs have run successfully, the sample computation completed, and all outputs are visible in the CircleCI Dashboard.