# CI/CD

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In [software engineering](/source/Software_engineering), **CI/CD** or **CICD** is the combined practices of [continuous integration](/source/Continuous_integration) (CI) and [continuous delivery](/source/Continuous_delivery) (CD) or, less often, [continuous deployment](/source/Continuous_deployment).[1] They are sometimes referred to collectively as continuous development or continuous software development.[2]

## Components

**[Continuous integration](/source/Continuous_integration)**- Frequent merging of several small changes into a [main branch](/source/Main_branch).
**[Continuous delivery](/source/Continuous_delivery)**- Producing software in short cycles with high speed and frequency so that reliable software can be released at any time, with a simple and repeatable deployment process when deciding to deploy.
**[Continuous deployment](/source/Continuous_deployment)**- Automatic rollout of new software functionality.

When these three processes occur in order, they may be described as a "CI/CD pipeline".[3]

## Motivation

CI/CD bridges the gaps between development and operation activities and teams by enforcing automation in building, testing and deployment of applications. CI/CD services compile the incremental code changes made by developers, then link and package them into software deliverables.[4] Automated tests verify the software functionality, and automated deployment services deliver them to end users.[5] The aim is to increase early defect discovery, increase productivity, and provide faster release cycles. The process contrasts with traditional methods where a collection of software updates were integrated into one large batch before deploying the newer version.

Modern-day [DevOps](/source/DevOps) practices involve:

- continuous development,
- [continuous testing](/source/Continuous_testing),
- continuous integration,
- continuous deployment, and
- [continuous monitoring](/source/Continuous_monitoring)

of software applications throughout its development life cycle. The CI/CD practice, or *CI/CD [pipeline](/source/Pipeline_(computing))*, forms the backbone of modern day DevOps operations.

## Best practices for cloud systems

The following practices can enhance productivity of CI/CD pipelines, especially in systems hosted in the [cloud](/source/Cloud_computing):[6][7][8]

- **Number of Pipelines**: Small teams can be more productive by having one [repository](/source/Repository_(version_control)) and one pipeline. In contrast, larger organizations may have separate repositories and pipelines for each team or even separate repositories and pipelines for each service within a team.
- **Permissions**: In the context of pipeline-related permissions, adhering to the [principle of least privilege](/source/Principle_of_least_privilege) can be challenging due to the dynamic nature of [architecture](/source/Software_architecture). Administrators may opt for more permissive permissions while implementing compensating [security controls](/source/Security_controls) to minimize the blast radius.

## See also

- [Continuous integration](/source/Continuous_integration) (CI)
- [Continuous delivery](/source/Continuous_delivery) (CD)
- [Continuous deployment](/source/Continuous_deployment) (CD)

## References

1. Sacolick, Isaac (2020-01-17). ["What is CI/CD? Continuous integration and continuous delivery explained"](https://www.infoworld.com/article/3271126/what-is-cicd-continuous-integration-and-continuous-delivery-explained.html). *[InfoWorld](/source/InfoWorld)*. Retrieved 2021-06-01.

1. ["What is Continuous Development and How Does It Work?"](https://www.synopsys.com/glossary/what-is-continuous-development.html). *[Synopsys](/source/Synopsys)*

1. ["What is CI/CD?"](https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/devops/what-is-ci-cd). *[Red Hat](/source/Red_Hat)*. 2025-06-10. Retrieved 2026-02-18.

1. Rossel, Sander (October 2017). *Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment*. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78728-661-0.

1. Gallaba, Keheliya (2019). ["Improving the Robustness and Efficiency of Continuous Integration and Deployment"](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/wd376267t). *2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME)*. pp. 619–623. [doi:10.1109/ICSME.2019.00099](https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSME.2019.00099). ISBN 978-1-7281-3094-1. [S2CID 208879679](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:208879679)

1. *Serverless Architectures on AWS*. Manning. ISBN 978-1617295423.

1. *Pipeline as Code Continuous Delivery with Jenkins, Kubernetes, and Terraform*. Manning. 23 November 2021. ISBN 9781638350378.

1. Humble, Jez & Farley, David (27 July 2010). *Continuous Delivery Reliable Software Releases Through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation*. Pearson Education. ISBN 9780321670229.

## External links

- El Khalyly, B.; Belangour, A.; Banane, M.; Erraissi, A. (2020). "A new metamodel approach of CI/CD applied to Internet of Things Ecosystem". *2020 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Electronics, Control, Optimization and Computer Science (ICECOCS)*. pp. 1–6. [doi:10.1109/ICECOCS50124.2020.9314485](https://doi.org/10.1109/ICECOCS50124.2020.9314485). ISBN 978-1-7281-6921-7. [S2CID 231645681](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:231645681)
- Sane, P. (2021). "A Brief Survey of Current Software Engineering Practices in Continuous Integration and Automated Accessibility Testing". *2021 Sixth International Conference on Wireless Communications, Signal Processing and Networking (WiSPNET)*. pp. 130–134. [arXiv:2103.00097](https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.00097). [doi:10.1109/WiSPNET51692.2021.9419464](https://doi.org/10.1109/WiSPNET51692.2021.9419464). ISBN 978-1-6654-4086-8. [S2CID 232076320](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:232076320)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [CI/CD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CI%2FCD) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CI%2FCD?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.