CI/CD (continuous integration and delivery)
CI/CD stands for continuous integration and continuous delivery (or deployment). Continuous integration merges every change into a shared branch and builds and tests it automatically. Continuous delivery keeps that build always ready to release, and continuous deployment ships it to production without a manual step. Together they give fast, repeatable releases.
How it works
A developer opens a pull request. The pipeline compiles the code, runs 1,200 unit tests and builds a container image. Say that takes 8 minutes, so feedback arrives before the developer has switched tasks. After merge, the pipeline deploys to staging and runs smoke tests. In continuous delivery a person approves the production release. In continuous deployment the pipeline releases on its own, often behind a canary deployment.
Why it matters in production
Small, frequent changes are easier to test and easier to roll back than one large release. A failing pipeline is a cheap signal. A failing production release is not. The cost is upkeep: slow or flaky tests train people to ignore red builds, so pipeline speed and reliability need an owner.
See also
On the One2N blog
Further reading
