Continuous Delivery (CD)

A software development practice where code changes are automatically built, tested, and prepared for release to production at any time. In a continuous delivery pipeline, every commit that passes automated tests produces a deployable artifact. The decision to release is made by a human; the mechanics of release are automated. Continuous delivery supports Scrum's goal of producing a potentially shippable increment every sprint by ensuring the team can deploy reliably on demand. It reduces risk by making deployments small and frequent rather than large and infrequent. Continuous delivery is distinct from continuous deployment, where every passing build is automatically deployed to production without human intervention.