CI/CD
Pronunciation: see-eye-see-dee
Also written as: CI/CD — Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (or Continuous Deployment)
A development practice and associated toolchain in which code changes are automatically built, tested, and delivered or deployed to production with minimal manual intervention.
Full Definition
CI/CD combines two related but distinct practices: Continuous Integration (CI), in which developers frequently merge code changes into a shared repository where automated builds and tests run; and Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment (CD), in which validated code is automatically prepared for or released to production. Editors must note the slash convention (CI/CD, not CI-CD or CICD) and should clarify on first use whether 'CD' refers to Delivery or Deployment, as these have different meanings. CI/CD pipelines are the automated sequences of steps that execute these practices.
Usage
Usage note: Use the slash form (CI/CD). Clarify whether CD means 'Delivery' or 'Deployment' on first use. The two are not synonymous: Delivery stops short of auto-release to production; Deployment does not.
In Context
- "The team's CI/CD pipeline runs a full regression suite on every pull request before merging." — Engineering blog post
- "Configure your CI/CD workflow in the .github/workflows directory." — DevOps configuration guide