🛠️ AWS CodePipeline Basics – CI/CD Explained for Beginners

If you're starting out in DevOps or cloud development, understanding CI/CD and tools like AWS CodePipeline is essential. Here's a simplified and structured breakdown to get you started.

🚀 What is CI/CD?

✅ Continuous Integration (CI)

• Developers frequently commit code changes (often several times a day).
• Each submission triggers automated builds and unit tests.
• Integration issues are detected early, before deployment.

✅ Continuous Delivery (CD)

• Every code change is built, tested, and deployed to a non-production (e.g., staging) environment.
• Multiple testing stages (e.g., integration, load testing) can be added.
• Manual approval is required for production deployment.

✅ Continuous Deployment

• Like Continuous Delivery — but no manual approval.
• Code is automatically deployed to production once it passes tests .

🧰 What is AWS CodePipeline?

AWS CodePipeline is a managed continuous delivery service by AWS that helps you:

• Model, visualize, and automate your software release workflows.
• Choose between continuous delivery or continuous deployment strategies.
• Integrate third-party tools like Jenkins, BlazeMeter, or use AWS Lambda for custom logic.
• CodePipeline serves as the orchestrator for your entire CI/CD process.

📘 AWS CodePipeline Concepts

🔹 Pipeline - A step-by-step workflow that defines how your code moves from commit to deployment.

🔹 Source Revision - The specific version of your code that starts a pipeline execution. Multiple revisions (commits) can flow through the pipeline concurrently.

🔹 Stage - A group of one or more actions. Only one source revision is processed per stage at a time.

🔹 Action - A task like build, test, or deploy. Actions can run in sequence or parallel within a stage.

🔹 Transition - A link between two stages. You can enable or disable transitions to control flow.

🔹 Artifact - Files created by an action (e.g., a compiled app). Passed on as input to the next stage.

🔹 Pipeline Execution - A unique run triggered by a code change or manual release. Each execution has a unique ID for tracking.

🔄 How Does Your Pipeline Work?

• You push code changes to the source repository.
• CodePipeline is triggered, creating a source revision.
• The revision flows through the stages of the pipeline (build → test → deploy).
• Finally, it's deployed to production (manually or automatically, depending on your setup).

💡 Final Thoughts

AWS CodePipeline is a powerful service that abstracts much of the complexity in automating deployments. Whether you're just starting with DevOps or scaling complex delivery workflows, mastering these concepts will help you move faster and deploy safer.