What is Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)?

CI/CD or Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery automate software development workflows and deploy better quality code, more often. By continuously integrating and deploying, errors are detected sooner, reducing downtime and improving software condition.

Understanding both better:

Continuous integration (CI) refers to the practice of automatically and frequently integrating code changes into a shared source code repository, or “trunk.” As these updates are made, automated testing steps are triggered to ensure the reliability of merged code changes. In modern application development settings, the goal is to have multiple developers working simultaneously on different features of the same app.    

On the other hand, CD or Continuous delivery and/or deployment is a 2-part process that refers to the integration, testing, and delivery of code changes. Once code has been tested and built as part of the CI process, CD takes over during the final stages to ensure it's packaged with everything it needs to deploy to any environment at any time.

Every stage—from the merger of code changes to the delivery of production-ready builds—involves test automation and code release automation. Continuous delivery stops at automatic production deployment, while continuous deployment automatically releases the updates into the production environment.

As an essential practice in DevOps, CI/CD enables an effective process for getting products and software to market faster than ever before, continuously moving code into production, and ensuring a steady flow of new features.