diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index dccd0d05e75fc..835948b0314c5 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -44,14 +44,23 @@ jobs:
 
     - task: NodeTool@0
       inputs:
-        versionSpec: '8.x'
-      displayName: 'Install node.js 8.x'
+        # versionSpec: '8.x'
+        versionSpec: '13.x'
+        # rerunFailedTests: True # Optional
+        # rerunMaxAttempts: '10' # Optional
+      # displayName: 'Install node.js 8.x'
+      displayName: 'Install node.js 13.x v3'
+      # workaround flaky test https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/issues/13477
+      continueOnError: 'true'
+      # CHECKME
+      condition: eq(variables['Agent.OS'], 'Windows_NT')
 
     - bash: |
         sudo apt-fast update -qq
         DEBIAN_FRONTEND='noninteractive' \
           sudo apt-fast install --no-install-recommends -yq \
             libcurl4-openssl-dev libgc-dev libsdl1.2-dev libsfml-dev valgrind libc6-dbg
+
       displayName: 'Install dependencies (amd64 Linux)'
       condition: and(eq(variables['Agent.OS'], 'Linux'), eq(variables['CPU'], 'amd64'))
 
@@ -98,7 +107,8 @@ jobs:
       displayName: 'Install dependencies (i386 Linux)'
       condition: and(eq(variables['Agent.OS'], 'Linux'), eq(variables['CPU'], 'i386'))
 
-    - bash: brew install boehmgc make sfml
+    - bash: brew install --display-times boehmgc make sfml
+
       displayName: 'Install dependencies (OSX)'
       condition: eq(variables['Agent.OS'], 'Darwin')
 
@@ -152,4 +162,28 @@ jobs:
         ./koch runCI || echo '##vso[task.complete result=Failed]'
       displayName: 'Run CI'
       env:
+        # see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/build/variables?view=azure-devops&tabs=yaml
         SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN: $(System.AccessToken)
+
+        NIM_CI_PR_SourceRepositoryURI: $(System.PullRequest.SourceRepositoryURI)
+        NIM_CI_PR_PullRequestNumber: $(System.PullRequest.PullRequestNumber)
+
+        NIM_CI_TeamProject: $(System.TeamProject)
+        NIM_CI_JobAttempt: $(System.JobAttempt)
+
+        NIM_CI_Build_ArtifactStagingDirectory: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
+        NIM_CI_Build_BuildId: $(Build.BuildId)
+        NIM_CI_Build_BuildNumber: $(Build.BuildNumber)
+        NIM_CI_Build_BuildUri: $(Build.BuildUri)
+        NIM_CI_Build_BinariesDirectory: $(Build.BinariesDirectory)
+        NIM_CI_Build_DefinitionName: $(Build.DefinitionName)
+        NIM_CI_Build_Repository_ID: $(Build.Repository.ID)
+        NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Name: $(Build.Repository.Name)
+        NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Provider: $(Build.Repository.Provider)
+        NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Uri: $(Build.Repository.Uri)
+        NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranch: $(Build.SourceBranch)
+        NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranchName: $(Build.SourceBranchName)
+        NIM_CI_Build_SourcesDirectory: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)
+        NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersion: $(Build.SourceVersion)
+        NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersionMessage: $(Build.SourceVersionMessage)
+        NIM_CI_Build_Reason: $(Build.Reason)
diff --git a/koch.nim b/koch.nim
index 75d5047586a22..72032bb196598 100644
--- a/koch.nim
+++ b/koch.nim
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ when defined(i386) and defined(windows) and defined(vcc):
 import
   os, strutils, parseopt, osproc
 
-import tools / kochdocs
+import tools/kochdocs
+import tools/continuous_integration
+  # we could make this conditional on whether we're in CI
 
 const VersionAsString = system.NimVersion
 
@@ -472,14 +474,12 @@ proc xtemp(cmd: string) =
   finally:
     copyExe(d / "bin" / "nim_backup".exe, d / "bin" / "nim".exe)
 
-proc hostInfo(): string =
-  "hostOS: $1, hostCPU: $2, int: $3, float: $4, cpuEndian: $5, cwd: $6" %
-    [hostOS, hostCPU, $int.sizeof, $float.sizeof, $cpuEndian, getCurrentDir()]
-
 proc runCI(cmd: string) =
   doAssert cmd.len == 0, cmd # avoid silently ignoring
   echo "runCI:", cmd
   echo hostInfo()
+  installNode()
+
   # note(@araq): Do not replace these commands with direct calls (eg boot())
   # as that would weaken our testing efforts.
   when defined(posix): # appveyor (on windows) didn't run this
diff --git a/tools/continuous_integration.nim b/tools/continuous_integration.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..348d86d0edb72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/continuous_integration.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import os, osproc, strutils, strformat
+
+proc isAzureCI*(): bool =
+  getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranchName").len > 0
+
+import macros
+
+macro fun(ret: var string, body): untyped =
+  result = newStmtList()
+  for a in body:
+    let a2 = a.strVal
+    result.add quote do:
+      `ret`.add `a2` & ": " & getEnv(`a2`) & "\n"
+
+proc isPullRequest*(): bool =
+  ## returns true if CI build is triggered via a PR
+  ## else, it corresponds to a direct push to the repository by owners
+  assert isAzureCI()
+  getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_Reason") == "PullRequest"
+
+proc runCmd(cmd: string) =
+  echo "runCmd: " & cmd
+  let status = execShellCmd(cmd)
+  doAssert status == 0, $status
+
+proc tryRunCmd(cmd: string): bool =
+  echo "tryRunCmd: " & cmd
+  execShellCmd(cmd) == 0
+
+proc installNode*() =
+  echo "installNode"
+  when defined(osx):
+    if not tryRunCmd "brew install node  > /dev/null":
+      echo " ok to ignore this: Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully"
+      runCmd "brew link --overwrite node"
+  elif defined(linux):
+    # https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-node-js-on-ubuntu-18.04/
+    runCmd "curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -"
+    runCmd "sudo apt install -yq nodejs"
+    runCmd "nodejs --version"
+    # node: v12.16.0
+    # nodejs: v10.19.0
+
+  elif defined(windows):
+    # should've be installed via azure-pipelines.yml, but could do it here too
+    # via https://nodejs.org/en/download/
+    discard
+
+  runCmd "node --version"
+
+proc hostInfo*(): string =
+  echo "D20200301T212950.v5"
+  result = "hostOS: $1, hostCPU: $2, nproc: $3, int: $4, float: $5, cpuEndian: $6, cwd: $7" %
+    [hostOS, hostCPU, $countProcessors(),
+     $int.sizeof, $float.sizeof, $cpuEndian, getCurrentDir()]
+  if not isAzureCI(): return
+  let mode = if existsEnv("NIM_COMPILE_TO_CPP"): "cpp" else: "c"
+
+  var url = getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Uri")
+  let isPR = isPullRequest()
+  let commit = getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersion")
+  if isPR:
+    url = "$1/pull/$2" % [url, getEnv("NIM_CI_PR_PullRequestNumber")]
+  else:
+    url = "$1/commit/$2" % [url, commit]
+
+  let branch = getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranchName")
+  let msg = getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersionMessage").quoteShell
+  let attempt = getEnv("NIM_CI_JobAttempt")
+  let buildNum = getEnv("NIM_CI_Build_BuildNumber")
+  # getEnv("NIM_CI_TeamProject")
+  result.add """isPR:{isPR}, url: {url}, branch: {branch}, commit: {commit}, msg: {msg}, mode: {mode}, buildNum: {buildNum}"""
+  result.add "\n"
+
+  fun(result):
+    NIM_CI_PR_SourceRepositoryURI
+    NIM_CI_PR_PullRequestNumber
+    NIM_CI_TeamProject
+    NIM_CI_JobAttempt
+    NIM_CI_Build_ArtifactStagingDirectory
+    NIM_CI_Build_BuildId
+    NIM_CI_Build_BuildNumber
+    NIM_CI_Build_BuildUri
+    NIM_CI_Build_BinariesDirectory
+    NIM_CI_Build_DefinitionName
+    NIM_CI_Build_Repository_ID
+    NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Name
+    NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Provider
+    NIM_CI_Build_Repository_Uri
+    NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranch
+    NIM_CI_Build_SourceBranchName
+    NIM_CI_Build_SourcesDirectory
+    NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersion
+    NIM_CI_Build_SourceVersionMessage
+    NIM_CI_Build_Reason
+
+  result.add "\n"