> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/dependency-mgmt-strategies.md).

# Dependency management strategies

Learn how you can manage dependencies in Harness CI pipelines.

Use [Background steps](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/background-step-settings.md) to maintain long-running services over the duration of a stage.

You can run a single instance of a service or multiple instances. For examples of these configurations, go to:

* [Run a Sauce Connect Proxy service](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/ci-saucelabs-background-step.md)
* [Run a LocalStack service](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/ci-localstack-background-step.md)
* [Run multiple PostgreSQL instances](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/multiple-postgres.md)
* [Run Docker-in-Docker in a Kubernetes cluster build infrastructure](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/run-docker-in-docker-in-a-ci-stage.md)

Harness recommends [running health checks on background services](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/health-check-services.md) so that you can ensure the service is running before attempting to interact with it. This can prevent build failures when steps try to run commands on a service that isn't yet running.

You can also manage dependencies through [caching and shared volumes](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/caching-ci-data/share-ci-data-across-steps-and-stages.md) or by installing dependencies in [Run steps](/continuous-integration/3.0/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/run-step-settings.md).

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