Lesson 3 / 21
Continuous Delivery vs Continuous Deployment
Both automate everything up to production — they differ on the last step.
Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery means every change that passes the pipeline is automatically packaged into a release-ready build. Releasing it to production is still a deliberate, usually manual, decision — a person clicks 'deploy'.
Continuous Deployment
Continuous Deployment goes one step further: every change that passes the pipeline is deployed to production automatically, with no human in the loop. This demands very strong automated testing and monitoring.
Packed bag vs boarding the flight
Continuous Delivery is having your bag packed and ready by the door every day — you still choose when to leave. Continuous Deployment is getting on every flight the moment it's ready, no second thought.
Quick check: In Continuous Delivery, what is the final step to reach production?
- It happens automatically, no human involved
- A person makes a deliberate decision to release
- The build is discarded and rebuilt weekly
Answer
A person makes a deliberate decision to release — Continuous Delivery keeps builds always release-ready, but a human still triggers the actual release. Continuous Deployment removes that human step.