What is CI/CD? Continuous Integration & Delivery Explained

What Does CI/CD Mean? ## Why CI/CD Is Important ## What Is Continuous Integration? ## What Is Continuous Delivery? Modern software is updated frequently. Applications receive new features, bug fixes, and security improvements without long delays or major disruptions. This smooth process is made possible by CI/CD, a core practice in modern software development. CI/CD focuses on automating how code is built, tested, and delivered. Instead of waiting weeks or months to release updates, teams can ship changes quickly and safely. This approach improves quality, reduces errors, and allows software to evolve continuously. This guide explains what CI/CD is, how it works, and why it matters, using clear and simple language for a general audience. CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. Sometimes, the second “CD” also refers to Continuous Deployment. In short, CI/CD helps teams deliver better software faster and with fewer problems. Together, CI/CD creates a fast and reliable way to deliver software updates. Modern software systems evolve continuously, with frequent updates, fixes, and improvements being released over time. Without a clear and automated process, these changes can lead to errors, service interruptions, or unstable applications, making it difficult to maintain reliability and user trust. CI/CD introduces a structured workflow that automates how changes are tested and delivered, ensuring updates are applied smoothly and consistently. CI/CD is important because it: By automating key steps, teams can focus on improving features instead of fixing preventable issues. Continuous Integration is a development practice that emphasizes merging code changes into a shared codebase on a regular basis. Instead of working in isolation for long periods, teams integrate updates frequently, which helps maintain code quality and reduces the risk of unexpected issues. By continuously validating changes through automation, Continuous Integration ensures that the codebase remains stable and easy to maintain. Each time a change is made: This approach prevents large integration problems and keeps the codebase stable. Key point: Continuous Integration encourages small, frequent updates, making changes easier to manage and reducing the risk associated with large code merges. Continuous Delivery is a development practice that ensures software is always ready to be released at any time. It focuses on automating the steps that prepare code for deployment, making the release process predictable, safe, and low risk. By keeping applications in a deployable state, Continuous Delivery helps teams avoid last-minute issues and maintain consistent release quality. After passing automated tests: Human approval may still be required before deployment, but all technical steps are handled automatically to ensure reliability and consistency. Read Full Article: https://serveravatar.com/what-is-ci-cd-continuous-integration-delivery/ Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse - Continuous Integration (CI) means regularly adding small pieces of code into a shared project. It is the practice of frequently adding code changes to a shared codebase. - Continuous Delivery (CD) means automatically preparing that code so it’s always ready to be released. It ensures that code changes are automatically prepared and ready for release. - Continuous Deployment takes it one step further by releasing updates automatically and releasing every approved change to users. - Reduces manual work by automating repetitive tasks like testing, building, and deployment, minimizing human effort and mistakes. - Detects problems early through automated checks that identify bugs and issues as soon as changes are introduced. - Improves software stability by ensuring every update passes predefined quality checks before moving forward. - Speeds up delivery by allowing teams to release updates more frequently without long development or release cycles. - Encourages consistent development practices by following standardized processes that keep workflows predictable and organized. - The code is added to a shared repository so all team members work from a single, updated source of truth. - Automated checks are triggered to verify that the new changes meet predefined quality and build requirements. - Errors are detected immediately, allowing teams to fix issues early before they grow into larger problems. - The code is packaged into a deployable format that can be consistently used across environments. - Configuration checks are applied to confirm that settings, dependencies, and environment variables are correctly defined. - The software is prepared for release so it can be deployed quickly whenever approval is given.