CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) was introduced earlier as a key DevOps practice for automating the software development lifecycle.

Now it's time to see how it works in practice — through real-world examples. This will help you understand why CI/CD is so important and what can go wrong without it.

Continuous Integration (CI)

Continuous Integration helps you automatically test and integrate code whenever changes are made. Code is usually pushed several times a day, and each time it's updated, the CI process checks if everything still works.

Example:

You push a code change to a shared repository (like GitHub). Right after that, the CI system:

• Builds the application to make sure it compiles;

• Runs automated tests to detect bugs;

• Sends a notification if something fails.

This lets you catch problems early — before they affect the rest of the team or the product.

Without CI:

If your team isn’t using continuous integration, all changes may get merged only once a week (or even less often). That’s when hidden bugs surface — and it becomes much harder to track down which change caused the problem. Fixing those issues can take hours or even days, slowing the whole project.

Continuous Deployment (CD)

Once your code passes testing in CI, Continuous Deployment automatically delivers it to production — the live environment users interact with. No manual steps, no waiting.

Example:

You add a new feature to a web app. After the CI system confirms it works:

• The CD pipeline automatically sends the update to the live server, where users can access it;
• The update is delivered in a way that doesn't interrupt users — the app keeps working while the new version is being added;
• If something goes wrong, the system quickly switches back to the last working version, so users don't experience any issues.

This makes releasing new features smooth, fast, and safe.

Without CD:

Without CD, you have to deploy updates manually — maybe through a script or by uploading files yourself. This process is slow and risky. One small mistake (like missing a file or running the wrong command) can crash the system or expose users to broken features.

Why CI/CD Matters

If you're new to DevOps, think of CI/CD as your personal automation assistant:

• You write code → it gets tested automatically;

• You finish a feature → it gets deployed automatically.

This saves time, reduces errors, and lets you focus on building features — not worrying about whether they'll break something or how to release them.

Mastering CI/CD early gives you a major advantage in delivering software faster and more reliably.

Tools Used in CI/CD Pipelines

In this course, you'll be working with some of the most widely used DevOps tools, including Git, GitHub, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, Prometheus, and the ELK Stack. These tools form the foundation of modern CI/CD workflows.

Throughout this course, you'll learn how each of these tools fits into the CI/CD pipeline — and how to use them together to build robust, automated DevOps workflows.