Byte-sized RSE: Continuous Integration: Key Points

Introduction

Automation saves time and improves reproducibility by capturing repeatable processes like testing, linting, and building code into scripts or pipelines.
Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of automatically running tasks and checks each time code is updated, helping catch issues early and improving collaboration.
Integrating smaller, frequent code updates is more manageable and less error-prone than merging large changes all at once.
CI pipelines can run on many platforms and environments using cloud-based services (e.g. GitHub Actions, Travis CI) or self-hosted solutions (e.g. Jenkins, GitLab CI).
CI can be extended to Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD) to automatically package and deliver software updates to users or deploy changes to live systems.