Build light indicator

The actual object used can vary from a pressure gauge to a lava lamp, but its purpose remains the same: to quickly communicate whether a software process (such as a 'build') is successful or not.

The build light indicator originated from CruiseControl,[citation needed] a continuous integration tool created by employees of ThoughtWorks.

Integration servers like Jenkins offer a web-accessible dashboard page and this may be permanently displayed on a wall-mounted flat screen monitor instead.

The details of such a dashboard are too small to read across an office, but the colour changes present an overall picture of status.

As this anticipated "failure" would be misleading to naive watchers, the build indicator should either hide it or present it distinctly.

A series of build lights applied to processes such as unit testing in addition to an actual build