Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous Delivery (CD) is a software engineering practice that ensures code changes are automatically tested, integrated, and prepared for deployment to production at any given time. It is a key part of modern DevOps pipelines and enables faster, safer, and more reliable software delivery.

CD builds upon Continuous Integration (CI) by extending the automation pipeline beyond code integration to include packaging, environment configuration, and pre-deployment validation. Once changes pass automated tests and reviews, they are stored in a staging environment or release candidate state, ready for deployment with minimal or no manual steps.

The goal of Continuous Delivery is to maintain a deployable codebase at all times, allowing organisations to release new features, updates, and fixes more frequently and with lower risk. CD improves development velocity, reduces time-to-market, and enhances product stability through early feedback and repeatable release processes.

CD is commonly used alongside containerisation tools (like Docker), infrastructure-as-code (IaC), and orchestration platforms (such as Kubernetes) to achieve scalable and consistent software deployment across environments.

See also: Continuous Integration (CI), DevOps, Cloud services