Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)
TLDR: Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) is a set of practices and tools designed to automate and streamline the software development lifecycle. CI focuses on automatically merging, building, and testing code changes in a shared repository, while CD ensures those changes are ready for deployment or automatically deployed to production. Together, these practices enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and enable rapid, reliable software delivery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CI/CD
Continuous Integration involves frequent commits by developers to a version control system, triggering automated workflows for building and testing. Tools like Jenkins, Travis CI, and GitLab CI/CD execute predefined pipelines to detect and address integration issues early in the development process. CI minimizes merge conflicts and ensures that new code integrates seamlessly into the existing codebase, supporting collaborative and scalable development.
https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/devops/what-is-ci-cd
Continuous Delivery extends CI by automating the preparation of code for deployment, ensuring that the application is always in a release-ready state. It includes rigorous testing and validation steps, reducing manual intervention and deployment risks. Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery pipelines have become foundational in DevOps, enabling organizations to achieve faster release cycles, improved software quality, and greater agility in responding to market demands.
https://aws.amazon.com/devops/continuous-integration-delivery/