What Is Continuous Delivery (CD)?

Continuous Delivery is a software development practice that extends the principles of Continuous Integration to ensure that the codebase is always in a deployable state. The primary objective is to make software releases reliable, predictable, and sustainable. In a Continuous Delivery pipeline, automated testing, and deployment processes are integral components.

Similar to Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery places a strong emphasis on automated testing. This includes unit tests, integration tests, and other forms of testing that validate the correctness and functionality of the codebase.

Continuous Delivery involves automating the deployment process to create a consistent and repeatable method of releasing software. While the deployment to production may not occur automatically, the process leading up to deployment is automated.

In Continuous Delivery, the software is typically deployed to a staging or pre-production environment where additional testing, user acceptance testing, or other validation processes can take place. This allows teams to ensure that the software is ready for production release.

Unlike Continuous Deployment, Continuous Delivery stops short of automatically deploying changes to the production environment. The decision to release to production requires human intervention, providing an additional layer of control and oversight.

Some of the Continuous Delivery benefits are:

  • Reliable Releases

    Continuous Delivery ensures that releases are reliable and consistent, reducing the risk of introducing errors into the production environment.

  • Reduced Time to Market

    With automated processes, the time required to move from development to a deployable state is minimized, enabling faster and more frequent releases.