How can I test a change made to Jenkinsfile locally?

TL;DR

You cannot execute a Pipeline script locally, since its whole purpose is to script Jenkins. (Which is one reason why it is best to keep your Jenkinsfile short and limited to code which actually deals with Jenkins features; your actual build logic should be handled with external processes or build tools which you invoke via a one-line sh or bat step.) If you want to test a change to Jenkinsfile live but without committing it, use the Replay feature added in 1.14.

Steps

1. You cannot execute a Pipeline script locally, since its whole purpose is to script Jenkins. (Which is one reason why it is best to keep your Jenkinsfile short and limited to code which actually deals with Jenkins features; your actual build logic should be handled with external processes or build tools which you invoke via a one-line sh or bat step.) If you want to test a change to Jenkinsfile live but without committing it, use the Replay feature added in 1.14. Issue #1173 (previously JENKINS-33925) tracks the feature request for an automated test framework.

When to use

You are seeing this: Issue #1173 (previously JENKINS-33925) tracks the feature request for an automated test framework. Use this skill when you run into "How can I test a change made to Jenkinsfile locally?".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.