TOPIC DEVOPS
CI/CD automated pipelines that build, test, and deploy every change
IN 10 SECONDS
Every time you push code, a CI server (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins) automatically runs tests, linters, and builds. If everything passes, CD deploys the artifact to staging or production — no manual steps. The pipeline is defined in YAML in your repo, versioned alongside your code.
GOTCHA CI is easy; CD is hard. Continuous Deployment to prod requires confidence in your test suite, feature flags, rollback strategy, and observability. Start with CI only, add CD to staging first, then graduate to production.
HOW A CI/CD PIPELINE RUNS
01 Push a developer pushes code to a branch on GitHub/GitLab.
02 Webhook triggers the CI server with the commit SHA and branch name.
03 CI runner spins up a clean environment (container or VM), checks out the code, and runs the pipeline steps sequentially.
04 Jobs run in parallel or serial — lint → unit test → build → integration test → security scan.
05 CD deploy if all jobs pass on main, the pipeline promotes the artifact: Docker image push, Helm upgrade, or Terraform apply.
POKE IT YOURSELF
gh run list --limit 10 — list recent GitHub Actions runs
act --list — list GitHub Actions jobs locally with act
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