What is CI/CD?
CI/CD is a set of practices that automates integrating software changes, testing them and preparing deployment. CI means continuous integration. Depending on context, CD means continuous delivery or continuous deployment; these are not the same concept.
Stages of a pipeline
When a developer submits a change to version control, a pipeline can build the code, check formatting and errors, run tests and produce a deployable package. Continuous integration encourages frequent merging of small changes and early problem detection. Continuous delivery keeps successful changes ready for release, but production deployment may require human approval. With continuous deployment, changes that pass defined checks go into production automatically. Test coverage, monitoring and failure plans therefore matter. Promoting the same package from testing to production reduces unexpected differences caused by rebuilding files at different times.
Reliable and secure releases
For example, a news site's search change might pass unit tests followed by integration checks with sample content. If error rates or response times deteriorate after release, the change can be rolled back. For database changes, reverting code alone may not be enough; data compatibility requires separate planning. Pipeline credentials belong in secure secret management, must not appear in logs and should have only necessary privileges. Code from external contributors should not gain access to secrets. Fast delivery is valuable, but skipping failed tests does not provide reliability. A good pipeline produces repeatable results, traceable versions and clear responsibility.