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Pipeline Overview

Pipeline Philosophy​

Our pipeline implementation follows core principles of Continuous Delivery (CD) to ensure reliable, repeatable, and efficient software delivery. The pipeline serves as the foundation for:

  • Automated testing at multiple levels
  • Consistent deployment across environments
  • Early detection of integration issues
  • Rapid feedback loops for developers
  • Quality gates to ensure production readiness

Pipeline Stages​

CI/CD Pipeline

Our pipeline consists of several stages with specific triggers:

  • Commit Stage: Automatically triggered on code commits
  • Acceptance Stage: Automatically triggered after successful commit stage
  • Parallel Stages:
    • UAT Stage (Manual trigger)
    • Performance Stage (Manual trigger)
    • Security Stage (Manual trigger)
  • Staging Stage: Manual trigger after parallel stages complete
  • Production Stage: Manual trigger with approval

Stage Descriptions​

Commit Stage​

The first automated stage triggered by code commits. It includes:

  • Component Level Tests (Unit Tests, Integration Tests)
  • Code Quality Checks
  • Security Scans
  • Docker Image Building and Publishing

Acceptance Stage​

Validates system behavior through:

  • Automated Deployment to Acceptance Environment
  • Smoke Tests
  • Acceptance Tests

UAT Stage​

Environment for manual testing:

  • Automated Deployment to UAT Environment
  • Smoke Tests
  • Manual QA Testing
  • User Acceptance Testing

Performance Stage​

Validates non-functional requirements:

  • Load Testing
  • Stress Testing
  • Scalability Testing
  • Resource Utilization Analysis

Security Stage​

Ensures system security:

  • Security Scanning
  • Penetration Testing
  • Vulnerability Assessment
  • Compliance Checks

Staging Stage​

Production-like environment for final validation:

  • Production-like Configuration
  • Final Integration Testing
  • Pre-production Verification

Production Stage​

Final deployment stage:

  • Blue-Green Deployment
  • Canary Releases
  • Production Monitoring
  • Post-deployment Verification

Quality Gates​

Each stage implements specific quality gates that must be passed before proceeding:

  1. Commit Stage Gates

    • All tests passing
    • Code coverage thresholds met
    • No critical security vulnerabilities
    • Code quality metrics within acceptable ranges

  2. Acceptance Stage Gates

    • All acceptance tests passing
    • API contract tests successful
    • System integration verified

  3. Environment-specific Gates

    • Smoke tests passing
    • Environment health checks
    • Required approvals obtained

Pipeline Metrics​

We track the following key metrics to measure pipeline effectiveness:

  • Lead Time: Time from commit to production deployment
  • Cycle Time: Time from work start to completion
  • Deployment Frequency: How often we deploy to production
  • Change Failure Rate: Percentage of deployments causing failures
  • MTTR: Mean time to recovery from failures

Implementation Tools​

Our pipeline leverages modern tooling for efficient delivery:

  • Version Control: Git
  • CI/CD Platform: GitHub Actions
  • Container Registry: GitHub Container Registry
  • Testing Frameworks: Jest, Cucumber, Playwright, Pact

Next Steps​

  1. Commit Stage
  2. Acceptance Stage
  3. UAT Stage
  4. Release Stage