CI/CD Pipelines

CI/CD pipelines that automatically build, test and deploy your application, so releases are frequent, repeatable and far less prone to human error.

Where we use it

We set up Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to automate our build, test, and deployment processes. This allows us to deliver updates faster and more reliably, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring a stable production environment.

Strengths

Automated and reliable release process.
Faster delivery of new features and bug fixes.
Early detection of integration issues.

Trade-offs

Initial setup can be complex and time-consuming.
Requires robust automated tests to be effective.
Maintaining the pipeline itself can be a significant task.

Questions

Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of frequently merging code changes into a central repository, where automated builds and tests are run. Continuous Deployment (CD) extends this by automatically deploying all changes that pass the tests to production.

What a pipeline does on every change

Build: The application is built from a clean environment, so nothing depends on one developer's machine.
Test and check: Automated tests, type checks and linting run, along with a scan for known vulnerabilities in third-party packages.
Preview or staging: The change is deployed somewhere safe so you can review it before customers see it.
Production release: Approved changes go live the same way every time, with the previous version kept ready for a quick rollback.

Why it matters to the business

Without a pipeline, releases depend on someone remembering the right steps on the day, which is how avoidable outages happen. With one, small changes ship safely and often, fixes reach users quickly, and any release can be traced back to the exact code change behind it.

It also protects you as the owner. The pipeline configuration lives in your repository, so any competent team can pick it up if you ever change supplier.

More in Development Practices & Collaboration

Git Version Control

We use Git version control on every project, with feature branches, pull requests and reviews, so every code change is traceable and reversible.

Code Reviews

Every change we ship is reviewed by a second developer for correctness, security and maintainability before it is merged into the main codebase.

Git

Git is the distributed version control system used to track source code changes, coordinate developers and keep a full history of every project.