Continuous Delivery (CD)

Simple Definition for Beginners:

Continuous Delivery (CD) is a software development practice where code changes are automatically built, tested, and prepared for deployment to production environments.

Common Use Example:

In a CD pipeline, after passing automated tests in the development and staging environments, the code changes are automatically deployed to the production environment without manual intervention.

Technical Definition for Professionals:

Continuous Delivery (CD) is an extension of Continuous Integration (CI) that focuses on automating the deployment process for software applications. CD ensures that code changes, after passing automated tests in development and testing environments, are ready for deployment to production environments at any time. It involves creating deployment pipelines that automate the steps from code commit to deployment, including build, test, approval, and release stages. CD practices aim to reduce manual errors, increase deployment frequency, and improve the reliability of software releases. CD tools and platforms, such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Spinnaker, and AWS CodePipeline, facilitate the automation and orchestration of deployment workflows.