Continuous Integration (CI) is the process of automatically testing and validation new code changes in a repository.
Imagine you're building a house and every time you add a new brick, someone comes to make sure it's in the right place and didn't cause the whole structure to collapse. That's CI - it ensures that each new piece of code fits well with the existing codebase and doesn't break anything.
Every time code is changed, it is pushed to a central repository where automated tests are immediately triggered to verify that your changes didn't introduce any errors. You are notified immidiately if any issues are found during the tests, enabling you to fix them early.
Explore related concepts
Continuous Deployment
The practice of automatically deploying code changes to production as soon as they are ready, without the need for manual intervention.
DORA Metrics
A set of metrics used to measure the performance of software processes and teams. These metrics are: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service.