If you've ever needed a database for your integration tests in CI, you've probably encountered one of these solutions:
Docker-in-Docker. A separate docker-compose file you run alongside CI. A pre-provisioned shared database that everyone fights over. Or just skipping integration tests in CI entirely.
None of these are great. Docker-in-Docker requires privileged containers and is notoriously fragile. docker-compose alongside CI is manual, error-prone, and hard to clean up. Shared databases cause flaky tests. Skipping integration tests defeats the purpose.
PikoCI takes a different approach: services as a first-class concept.
What services are
