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CI/CD Pipelines

This file covers best practices for implementing continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines.

CI/CD Overview​

Continuous Integration (CI)​

  • Automated testing on code changes
  • Code quality checks
  • Build verification
  • Merge conflict prevention

Continuous Deployment (CD)​

  • Automated deployment to staging/production
  • Environment management
  • Rollback capabilities
  • Release automation

Pipeline Stages​

1. Source Control Integration​

# Trigger on specific events
on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

2. Build Stage​

build:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Setup Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: "18"
        cache: "npm"
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Build application
      run: npm run build

3. Test Stage​

test:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  needs: build
  steps:
    - name: Run unit tests
      run: npm test
    - name: Run integration tests
      run: npm run test:integration
    - name: Generate coverage report
      run: npm run test:coverage

4. Quality Checks​

quality:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Lint code
      run: npm run lint
    - name: Check formatting
      run: npm run format:check
    - name: Security scan
      run: npm audit
    - name: SonarQube analysis
      uses: sonarqube-quality-gate-action@master

5. Deployment Stage​

deploy:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  needs: [test, quality]
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  steps:
    - name: Deploy to staging
      run: |
        # Deployment script
        echo "Deploying to staging..."
    - name: Run smoke tests
      run: npm run test:smoke
    - name: Deploy to production
      if: success()
      run: |
        # Production deployment
        echo "Deploying to production..."

Best Practices​

Pipeline Design​

  • Keep pipelines fast and efficient
  • Use parallel execution where possible
  • Implement proper error handling
  • Use meaningful stage names
  • Document pipeline configuration

Environment Management​

environments:
  staging:
    url: https://staging.example.com
    protection_rules:
      required_reviewers: 1
  production:
    url: https://example.com
    protection_rules:
      required_reviewers: 2
      wait_timer: 30

Secret Management​

steps:
  - name: Deploy with secrets
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
      API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
    run: deploy.sh

Testing Strategy​

  • Unit tests (fast, isolated)
  • Integration tests (component interactions)
  • End-to-end tests (full user workflows)
  • Performance tests (load/stress testing)
  • Security tests (vulnerability scanning)

Deployment Strategies​

Blue-Green Deployment​

  • Two identical production environments
  • Switch traffic between environments
  • Zero downtime deployments
  • Easy rollback

Rolling Deployment​

  • Gradual replacement of instances
  • Maintains service availability
  • Slower rollback process

Canary Deployment​

  • Deploy to subset of users
  • Monitor metrics and errors
  • Gradual traffic increase
  • Risk mitigation

Monitoring and Alerting​

Pipeline Monitoring​

  • Build success/failure rates
  • Test coverage trends
  • Deployment frequency
  • Mean time to recovery

Application Monitoring​

  • Health checks
  • Performance metrics
  • Error rates
  • User experience metrics

Alerting Rules​

  • Failed deployments
  • Test failures
  • Performance degradation
  • Security vulnerabilities