On the machine where you install the GitLab Runner software, you can run the shell executor to locally build software. This shell type of executor can be run on all platforms where the runner software is installed. Therefore, you can run Bash or a Bourne shell on a Unix-like system, or CMD or PowerShell on the Windows platform.

It isn't a very safe way to build because it can access local resources on the system where the runner executes. More secure executors will be introduced in later chapters.

In the next section, we will demonstrate how to install the GitLab Runner software for your platform.