CI/CD Pipeline
A CI/CD pipeline is the automated sequence of steps — build, test, and deploy — that takes code from a commit to a running release, typically triggered automatically on every push. It's the infrastructure that makes continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment actually operational, not just a philosophy.
A typical pipeline stage sequence: checkout code, install dependencies, run unit tests, run linters and static analysis, build the application, run integration or end-to-end tests, and deploy — with each stage gating the next, so a failure early in the pipeline (a failing unit test) stops the build before wasting time on later, slower stages.
Testing is woven throughout, not bolted on at the end — unit tests typically run in seconds early in the pipeline, giving fast feedback, while slower tests (end-to-end, performance) run later or in parallel, balancing speed of feedback against thoroughness of coverage at each stage.
