# CI/CD Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) are essential practices in modern software development that aim to streamline the development process, enhance collaboration, and ensure the delivery of high-quality software. **Continuous Integration:** In CI, developers regularly merge their code changes into a shared repository. The integrated code is then automatically built, tested, and verified using an automated process. This helps identify and address integration issues early in the development cycle, promoting a more stable and reliable codebase. **Continuous Deployment:** CD extends the CI process by automating the deployment of successfully tested code changes to various environments, including production. The goal is to reduce manual intervention, minimize deployment errors, and deliver new features and updates to end-users rapidly. Keeping in mind the previously mentioned things and knowing the end result of the automation through the gitlab pipeline, we can more easily deal with the proper implementation of the entire flow through an example. The most common implementation of a simple pipeline looks linear, and by linear I mean that all jobs are executed sequentially. In a small number of jobs or jobs that require little time, this implementation is just fine, but in more complex ones, where the number of jobs might be a little higher and some jobs might take longer, optimisation is definitely something to think about. Also, in the pipeline optimisation process, we should consider reducing computing time, because most cloud cicd services build their business model around computing minutes per month. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.leapwise.co/backend-handbook/development-tools-and-environment/ci-cd.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.