CI/CD Pipeline Design

Version: v0.18.0

When to Use

• Setting up CI/CD for new project
• Optimizing pipeline performance
• Adding security scanning
• Designing multi-environment deployment

CI/CD Fundamentals

CI (Integration): Auto build/test on every change. Goal: Fast feedback (<10 min) CD (Delivery): Auto prepare releases. Goal: Always deployable main CD (Deployment): Auto deploy to production. Requires: High coverage, feature flags, monitoring

Pipeline Architectures

Linear

Build → Test → Security → Deploy

Best for: Simple projects

Parallel

Build → [Unit|Lint|SAST] → Deploy

Best for: Faster feedback

Multi-Environment

Build → Test → Staging → Approval → Production

Best for: Production deployments

Stage Design

Build

• Cache dependencies, multi-stage builds, version artifacts

Test (Pyramid)

Few E2E (slow) → Some Integration → Many Unit (fast)

Security

Deploy

• Staging: automatic
• Production: manual approval, canary rollout

Deployment Strategies

Blue-Green

Deploy to inactive (Green), switch traffic, keep Blue for rollback

Canary

Route 10% to new version, monitor, gradually increase

Rolling

Update instances one at a time with health checks

GitHub Actions Example

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm run build

  test:
    needs: build
    steps:
      - run: npm test

  deploy-staging:
    needs: test
    environment: staging

  deploy-production:
    needs: deploy-staging
    environment: production

Security Practices

Never: Hardcode secrets, commit secrets, log secrets Do: Use env vars, secret management, rotate regularly

GitHub API Best Practices

• Use fine-scoped PATs or GitHub Apps
• Implement exponential backoff with jitter
• Monitor rate limit headers
• Prevent workflow cascades with concurrency

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

Best Practices

1. Fast feedback: CI under 10 min, parallelize
2. Reliable: Reproducible builds, pin versions
3. Visible: Clear naming, meaningful errors
4. Secure: Scan early, block on failures
5. Parity: Same config patterns across environments

End of CI/CD Pipeline Design Skill