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This seems to be such a basic questions that I've failed to find a good answer anywhere.
Why can't I use my CICD-system to do all the tasks needed by itself?
Do I really have to set up build agents?
What would the main common disadvantages/risks be of not using build agents?

In this case, my question concerns MS Azure DevOps Services/Server.

Dennis
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What I can tell, build agents are needed for at least the following reasons:

  • Make sure the system used for builds only have known components installed to avoid the "but it works on my computer"-syndrome ;)
  • Off load the system managing the pipeline, a build can be very CPU, network, disk and database intensive
  • Provide a security boundary between projects with regards to what a build server can access, execute and configure to keep secret and/or sensitive projects secret
  • And, of course. Some settings in the build environment is project specific and would disrupt builds of other projects if only using one setup.
Dennis
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  • Found this question about the same thing [Advantages of a build server?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2605340/advantages-of-a-build-server), 11 years ago... – Dennis Oct 04 '21 at 15:21
  • These questions also handles the topics... [What is the point of a "Build Server"?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1099133/what-is-the-point-of-a-build-server?noredirect=1&lq=1) (12 years ago), [Why use a dedicated computer to make builds using TFS?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1159367/why-use-a-dedicated-computer-to-make-builds-using-tfs?noredirect=1&lq=1) (12 years ago) – Dennis Oct 05 '21 at 07:39