CI is a set of coding practices that aim to establish a consistent and automated way to build, package, and test applications. CI implies continuous code delivery into the central repository each time the code is proven valid by successful build and automated tests. Since the code is delivered in small batches, CI makes it easier to detect bugs in the early stages and fix them immediately.
CD provides an automated way to push code changes to infrastructure environments other than production, such as development and staging. CI/CD works hand-in-hand with continuous testing to ensure only high-quality code is delivered to users.
Well-established CI/CD practice may include an option of Continuous Deployment, which is also referred to as CD. In this case, application changes run through the CI/CD pipeline and are deployed directly to production environments after successfully passing all tests.
Today, businesses dictate the pace and speed of the software development cycle. With CI/CD, your development process becomes more agile and responsive to business needs.
Well-organized CI/CD allows your team to achieve better results with less effort and time investment. It does so by automating various aspects of online operations, from typical build, test, and deploy stages to more complex ones, including pushing code to selected environments or performing complex canary or blue-green deployments.
By introducing a faster development pace and shorter release cycles, CI/CD reduces the time for your products and new features to reach the market. This, in turn, gives you the edge over competitors and increases customers’ loyalty, as their feedback is proactively responded to and results in new features sooner.
