CI/CD Tools

CI/CD Tools #

CI/CD turns source code changes into safe, repeatable production releases.

What great CI/CD looks like #

  • Fast feedback on every commit
  • Reliable test and security automation
  • Consistent artifact packaging
  • Progressive deployments with quick rollback
  • Clear visibility into pipeline health
  • GitHub Actions: Native GitHub integration and marketplace ecosystem
  • GitLab CI/CD: End-to-end DevSecOps platform with strong built-ins
  • Jenkins: Highly flexible, plugin-driven, widely adopted in legacy estates
  • CircleCI: Strong hosted experience and speed-focused workflows
  • Azure DevOps Pipelines: Good fit for Microsoft-heavy organizations

CI/CD pipeline reference architecture #

  1. Source stage: pull request validation and branch protections
  2. Build stage: compile/package, dependency checks, artifact signing
  3. Test stage: unit/integration/e2e plus static security analysis
  4. Release stage: versioning, changelog, artifact publication
  5. Deploy stage: canary/blue-green rollout with observability gates
  6. Verify stage: post-deploy checks and automatic rollback trigger

Security essentials #

  • short-lived credentials for cloud access
  • secret scanning and dependency vulnerability scanning
  • restricted runner permissions (least privilege)
  • manual approvals only where risk requires them

Key KPI dashboard #

  • pipeline success rate
  • average pipeline duration
  • deploy frequency by service
  • change failure rate
  • mean rollback/recovery time