CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment)

A method to frequently deliver apps to customers by introducing automation into the stages of app development.

CI/CD combines Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (or Continuous Delivery) into a unified set of practices for automating the software delivery pipeline. Continuous Integration involves automatically building and testing code changes as they are merged into a shared repository. Continuous Deployment extends this by automatically releasing validated changes to production.

A typical CI/CD pipeline includes stages for code compilation, unit testing, integration testing, security scanning, and deployment. Tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, and CircleCI orchestrate these stages. The goal is to reduce the time between writing code and delivering it to users while maintaining quality through automated checks.

In serverless and API gateway environments, CI/CD is essential for managing configuration-as-code deployments. API gateway routing rules, rate limiting policies, and authentication settings can be version-controlled and deployed through the same pipeline as application code. This ensures that infrastructure changes are reviewed, tested, and auditable.