Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

What is CI/CD?

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) is a process and core component of DevOps to rapidly, frequently, and continuously integrate, update, and deploy software development codes and maintain one central code repository. CI/CD relies on coordination between development and operations teams and automation through the software development life cycle.

How does CI/CD work?

When multiple developers work simultaneously on various features of the same application, confusion and conflicts can arise. To prevent this, a CI/CD process is created to help developers merge, test, and validate their code changes. A CI/CD pipeline embodies continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment of code to production. The continuous integration phase includes building, automated testing, code quality checking, and artifact generation. The continuous delivery phase includes deployment staging and further testing of performance and security. Some manual approval may be required. The continuous deployment phase includes deployment to production and monitoring and feedback to ensure performance and stability.

What are the business benefits of CI/CD?

• Improves the speed and effectiveness of the software development life cycle (SDLC)
• Provides greater reliability and predictability as coding errors and bugs are caught and fixed before production and deployment, lessening delays and bottlenecks
• Increases productivity by automating testing, validating, and debugging errors, which reduces developer frustration and burnout
• Enhances risk and security measures due to collaboration between development and operations teams and frequent automated testing
• Ensures rapid development iteration and shorter feedback loops as these smaller changes are easier incorporate, test, and deploy