What Is Continuous Integration?

The purpose of continuous integration is to automatically integrate code changes from multiple contributors into a shared repository. It aims to detect and address integration issues early, ensuring that the software remains stable and ready for release in software development.

CI/CD is a software development practice that involves integrating code changes frequently, automatically testing them, and delivering them to production. Continuous integration focuses on regularly merging code, while continuous delivery extends this to automatically deploying tested changes to production.

Continuous integration is used when developers want to integrate code changes frequently, ensuring that the entire codebase is regularly built and tested. It is particularly valuable in Agile and DevOps environments to catch integration issues early.

Continuous integration involves integrating code changes into a shared repository frequently, typically supported by tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI, to ensure early detection of integration issues and maintain a stable codebase.

Automated testing types in continuous integration include unit testing, integration testing, and end-to-end testing, ensuring rapid and automated validation of changes in the CI process.