What are the key differences between CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Delivery)?

Key Differences Between Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD)

The focus keyword for this question is "Continuous Integration" and "Continuous Delivery."

Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) are two essential practices in software development that promote automation and efficiency in the development process. Here are the key differences between CI and CD:

1. Continuous Integration (CI): In CI, developers frequently integrate their code into a shared repository. This process involves automating the building and testing of the code, ensuring that any changes made by developers do not conflict with each other. The main goal of CI is to detect and fix integration issues early on in the development cycle.
2. Continuous Delivery (CD): Continuous Delivery goes one step further than CI by automating the deployment process. In a CD pipeline, all code changes that pass the CI stage are automatically deployed to production or a staging environment. This allows for rapid and reliable releases of software updates, enhancing the overall efficiency of the development and deployment processes.

Ultimately, while Continuous Integration focuses on automating code integration and testing, Continuous Delivery extends this automation to include the deployment of code changes, ensuring a streamlined and efficient software development lifecycle.