CI/CD - Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment

CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment/Delivery) is a method to frequently deliver apps to customers by introducing automation into the stages of app development. The main concepts attributed to CI/CD are continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment.

Continuous Integration (CI)

• Developers merge code changes to main branch frequently
• Automated build and test processes run
• Early detection of integration issues
• Maintains code quality
• Tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI

Continuous Delivery (CD)

• Code is automatically built, tested, and prepared for release
• Deployment to production is manual trigger
• Always in a deployable state
• Reduces deployment risk

Continuous Deployment (CD)

• Automatically deploys to production after passing tests
• No manual intervention required
• Requires comprehensive test coverage
• Fastest release cycle

CI/CD Pipeline Stages

1. Source: Code commit triggers pipeline
2. Build: Compile and package application
3. Test: Run unit, integration, and e2e tests
4. Security Scan: Check for vulnerabilities
5. Deploy to Staging: Deploy to pre-production
6. Integration Tests: Test in staging environment
7. Deploy to Production: Release to users
8. Verify: Health checks and monitoring

Popular CI/CD Tools

Tool	Type	Best For
GitHub Actions	Cloud	GitHub repositories
GitLab CI	Cloud/Self-hosted	Complete DevOps platform
Jenkins	Self-hosted	Flexibility, plugins
CircleCI	Cloud	Speed, ease of use
Travis CI	Cloud	Open source projects

Benefits of CI/CD

• Faster release cycles
• Reduced manual errors
• Early bug detection
• Consistent deployment process
• Improved developer productivity
• Lower deployment risk

CI/CD Best Practices

• Maintain a single source repository
• Automate the build and test
• Make builds self-testing
• Keep builds fast
• Test in clone of production
• Make it easy to get latest deliverables
• Everyone can see build results
• Automate deployment