Definition
CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery)
CI/CD is the practice of automatically building, testing, and releasing code through a pipeline triggered by every change. Continuous integration merges and verifies work frequently to catch conflicts early; continuous delivery keeps the software always in a releasable state, often deploying automatically. Together they shorten the path from a commit to running in production.
Key takeaways
- CI/CD is the practice of automatically building, testing, and releasing code through a pipeline triggered by every change. Continuous integration merges and verifies work frequently to catch conflicts early; continuous delivery keeps the software always in a releasable state, often deploying automatically. Together they shorten the path from a commit to running in production.
- Continuous integration is the discipline of merging code into a shared branch often — ideally many times a day — with an automated build and test suite running on every change.
- Planoda emits signed webhooks for issue, project, and cycle events, so a CI/CD pipeline can react to work changing state — and update issues as builds and deploys complete — without manual status-keeping.
Continuous integration is the discipline of merging code into a shared branch often — ideally many times a day — with an automated build and test suite running on every change. The goal is to surface integration problems while they are still small. Code that sits unmerged for weeks accumulates conflicts and hidden incompatibilities; CI forces the pain to the surface early, when it is cheap to fix.
Continuous delivery extends that idea to release. Once a change passes the pipeline, the software is kept in a state where it could ship at any moment, and a deploy is a routine, low-drama event rather than a quarterly ordeal. Continuous deployment goes one step further, releasing every passing change to production automatically with no human gate at all. The distinction is whether a person still presses the button.
The payoff is speed with safety: small, frequent, automatically verified changes are far less risky than large, infrequent ones, and a fast pipeline tightens the feedback loop between writing code and seeing it run. CI/CD is foundational to how flow-oriented teams achieve short lead and cycle times.
Planoda emits signed webhooks for issue, project, and cycle events, so a CI/CD pipeline can react to work changing state — and update issues as builds and deploys complete — without manual status-keeping.
Related terms
- WebhookA webhook is an automated HTTP request a system sends to a URL you provide whenever a specified event occurs — an issue created, a status changed, a comment added. Instead of repeatedly polling an API for changes, your service receives a real-time push. Webhooks are the backbone of integrations, letting tools react to each other instantly.
- Definition of DoneA definition of done is a shared, explicit checklist of what must be true before any work item counts as complete — code reviewed, tests passing, documentation updated, deployed. It removes ambiguity about the word 'done,' preventing half-finished work from being declared finished and creating a consistent quality bar across the whole team.
- Lead TimeLead time is the total elapsed time from when an issue is first created or requested to when it is delivered. Unlike cycle time, it includes the waiting period in the backlog before work begins. Lead time reflects the customer's experience of how long a request actually takes end to end.
- Cycle TimeCycle time is how long an issue takes from the moment work actively starts on it to the moment it is done. Measured in hours or days, it captures the team's hands-on flow efficiency. Shorter, more consistent cycle times mean a more predictable system — the core flow metric Kanban teams optimize.