Job using the wrong node version no le importa la version de la imagen en el yaml

GitLab CI/CD
1

Problem to solve

I have runners that are ignoring the specified Docker image in my CI configuration. Despite setting image: node:18.19-alpine in my jobs, the runner always uses Node.js v16.20.2, which causes my builds to fail because my system needs. 18.x

Error when running linting:

$ npm run lint:api
> new-system-backend@1.0.3 lint:api
> npx eslint api --max-warnings 0 --report-unused-disable-directives
Oops! Something went wrong! :(
ESLint: 9.24.0
ConfigError: Config "config-prettier": Key "rules": Key "curly": structuredClone is not defined

What happened = structuredClone is not defined in x16, Node add that API in x17

During installation, I get multiple warnings about unsupported engine, showing that my dependencies require Node.js 18+, but the environment is using Node.js 16:

npm WARN EBADENGINE Unsupported engine {
npm WARN EBADENGINE package: '@typescript-eslint/typescript-estree@8.29.1',
npm WARN EBADENGINE required: { node: '^18.18.0 || ^20.9.0 || >=21.1.0' },
npm WARN EBADENGINE current: { node: 'v16.20.2', npm: '8.19.4' }
npm WARN EBADENGINE }
npm WARN EBADENGINE Unsupported engine {
npm WARN EBADENGINE package: '@typescript-eslint/utils@8.29.1',
npm WARN EBADENGINE required: { node: '^18.18.0 || ^20.9.0 || >=21.1.0' },
npm WARN EBADENGINE current: { node: 'v16.20.2', npm: '8.19.4' }
npm WARN EBADENGINE }
npm WARN EBADENGINE Unsupported engine {
npm WARN EBADENGINE package: 'eslint@9.24.0',
npm WARN EBADENGINE required: { node: '^18.18.0 || ^20.9.0 || >=21.1.0' },
npm WARN EBADENGINE current: { node: 'v16.20.2', npm: '8.19.4' }
npm WARN EBADENGINE }

Why? Because the system is using node v18 in the install proccessing instead of 18

Steps to reproduce

  1. Defined image: node:18.19-alpine both globally and for individual jobs in .gitlab-ci.yml
  2. Added echo statements to show the Node.js version, which consistently shows v16.20.2
  3. Added debugging statements to understand the environment
  4. Tried clearing cache, reinstalling dependencies

Configuration

image: node:18.19-alpine

stages:
  - build
  - test

check:api:
  stage: test
  image: node:18.19-alpine  # This should force Node.js 18.19
  script:
    - echo "Node version, should be 18.19.0:"
    - node --version  # Shows v16.20.2 instead of v18.19.0
    - npm --version
    - npm ci --include=dev
    - npm run lint:api  # Fails with "structuredClone is not defined"

Versions

  • Self-managed
  • GitLab.com SaaS
  • Dedicated
  • Self-hosted Runners

Versions

  • GitLab: Latest*

Additional Information

Our project requires Node.js 18+ as our ESLint configuration and other tools use features not available in Node.js 16 (like structuredClone).

I have two runners configured for this project:

  • RUNNER_1742432542 (prismaprod-s)
  • RUNNER_1742397591 (devprisma)

Both runners appear to be ignoring the specified Docker image and are using Node.js 16 regardless of the configuration.

Do you have any idea what could be the real issue? I can show the whole file in a privaty chat

2

I’m curious about the runner configuration in /etc/gitlab-runner/config.toml, specifically the docker executor and its configuration (image, etc.).

Are there more runners registered, like for shell executor, and it is always using this runner instead, using a system local NodeJS, and not a container image?

Also, which Runner version is involved to rule out bugs in older versions. gitlab-runner --version

The Pipeline editor shows a fully merged YAML – please check this to see the final executed image version.

What happens if you use a different node image tag, for example 20 something? Does the error behavior change, or is the same?