Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) are both important practices in Agile software development, but they differ in their scope and objectives.
Continuous Integration involves frequently integrating code changes into a shared repository, automatically building and testing the code, and generating reports to help identify issues and errors early on in the development process. The primary goal of CI is to catch errors and issues early in the development cycle, reduce the time and effort required to fix them, and improve the overall quality of the software.
On the other hand, Continuous Deployment involves automatically deploying code changes to production environments as soon as they pass automated tests and meet specific quality criteria. The goal of CD is to release software frequently and in small batches, reducing the time it takes to get new features and improvements to end-users, and reducing the risk of large and complex releases.
While Continuous Integration is an important prerequisite for Continuous Deployment, they differ in their focus and objectives. CI focuses on ensuring that the code changes are tested and integrated with the codebase in a timely and effective manner, while CD focuses on releasing those changes to production quickly and frequently, providing value to end-users.
Overall, both Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are critical practices in Agile software development that enable teams to deliver higher-quality software in a more efficient and effective manner.