What is CI/CD?

CI/CD: the terms defined

Continuous integration (CI) means that developers merge their changes into a shared codebase frequently—often several times a day. With every change, an automated process checks whether the code can be built and passes all tests.

Continuous delivery (CD) goes one step further: every verified version can be released at any time, and the release happens at the push of a button. With continuous deployment, even this step is eliminated—successfully tested changes go live automatically. Which option is right depends on how much control you want to keep over the timing of a release.

How a CI/CD pipeline works

The individual steps are described in a so-called pipeline, which starts with every change in the Git version control system. If a step fails, the pipeline stops and the team is notified.

Popular tools include GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, and Bitbucket Pipelines. The pipeline itself is stored as a file in the project, which makes it versioned and traceable.

• Build: code is compiled or bundled
• Tests: unit, integration, and UI tests run automatically
• Quality checks: code style, security scans, dependencies
• Deployment to a test or staging environment
• Approval and release to production

Benefits and limitations of CI/CD

Errors are noticed shortly after they're introduced—not weeks later during the big release. Small, frequent changes are easier to review and quick to roll back if there are problems. Manual, error-prone deployment steps are eliminated.

A pipeline is only as good as its tests: without meaningful automated tests, errors are simply shipped faster. Setting up and maintaining the pipeline also takes time at the beginning, but this pays off with every subsequent release.

• Early error detection
• Reproducible, documented delivery
• Fast rollback when problems occur
• Only as good as the existing tests

Real-world example: from maintenance window to routine update

A store operator used to have changes uploaded via FTP, which occasionally caused outages. With a CI/CD pipeline, every change goes through automated tests and is first checked in a staging environment. Only after approval does it go live—and if there are problems, the previous version is quickly restored.

CI/CD pays off for any software that is developed further on a regular basis. Nano Concepts sets up pipelines for web applications, online stores, and apps and adds missing tests where they cover the greatest risk.