Best Practices for Automating Build and Deployment in CI/CD Pipelines

CI/CD pipelines are all about automation. Automating tasks that are already easy to run is straightforward.

Ideally, a project's build should be automated by a single simple command or script. This build command typically includes fetching the source code, running basic tests, and packaging the final binary or container using a build system or script (e.g., bash, PowerShell).

If more advanced checks such as load testing are needed, they can be added as optional steps, but the basic build that produces a deployable artifact should involve only a single command or script. New developers should be able to retrieve the latest source code and, by executing this single command or script, immediately obtain a deployable artifact.

If deployment follows the same principle, it should also be automated with a single command or script, which can then be inserted as a step in any CI pipeline.

Unfortunately, some companies still require many manual steps to run and complete a basic build. Downloading build‑related files, configuration properties, and other dependencies should all be automated within the same script.

If a new team member takes more than 15 minutes to complete a basic build after checking out the code on their workstation, it is likely due to the aforementioned manual steps.

A well‑designed CI/CD pipeline essentially repeats functionality that already works on a local workstation. Before migrating to a CI/CD platform, ensure that the basic build and deployment processes have been effectively streamlined.

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