Continuous Integration (CI)

Continuous Integration is the practice of automating the integration of code changes from multiple contributors into a single software project.

Key Practices:

• Developers commit code frequently (multiple times per day)
• Automated build and test on each commit
• Fast feedback on integration issues
• Maintain a single source repository

Benefits:

• Early detection of integration bugs
• Reduced integration problems
• Better code quality
• Faster development cycles

Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous Delivery is an extension of continuous integration. It automatically deploys all code changes to a testing and/or production environment after the build stage.

Key Practices:

• Automated deployment pipeline
• Every change is deployable
• Manual approval for production
• Automated testing at every stage

Continuous Deployment

Goes one step further than Continuous Delivery:

• Automatically deploys to production
• No manual approval needed
• Requires high confidence in automated tests

The CI/CD Pipeline

Code → Build → Test → Deploy → Monitor
  ↑                                 ↓
  └─────────── Feedback ────────────┘

1. Code: Developer commits changes
2. Build: Compile and package application
3. Test: Run automated tests
4. Deploy: Deploy to staging/production
5. Monitor: Track performance and errors