Continuous Delivery

A software development practice where code changes are automatically built, tested, and prepared for a release to production.

Continuous Delivery is a software development practice where code changes are automatically built, tested, and prepared for release to production. The key distinction from Continuous Deployment is that Continuous Delivery requires a manual approval step before changes are deployed to production, giving teams control over release timing.

A Continuous Delivery pipeline typically includes automated unit tests, integration tests, security scans, and staging deployments. The goal is to ensure that the codebase is always in a deployable state, reducing the risk and effort associated with releases. This enables teams to ship smaller, more frequent updates.

For API and serverless projects, Continuous Delivery pipelines automate the deployment of gateway configurations, serverless functions, and API specifications. Changes to routing rules, rate limits, or authentication policies can be tested in staging environments before being promoted to production. This reduces the risk of misconfigurations that could cause outages or security vulnerabilities.