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---
stage: Verify
group: Pipeline Execution
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
comments: false
description: "Learn how to use GitLab CI/CD, the GitLab built-in Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, and Continuous Delivery toolset to build, test, and deploy your application."
type: index
---
# GitLab CI/CD **(FREE)**
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GitLab CI/CD is a tool for software development using the continuous methodologies:
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- [Continuous Integration (CI) ](introduction/index.md#continuous-integration )
- [Continuous Delivery (CD) ](introduction/index.md#continuous-delivery )
- [Continuous Deployment (CD) ](introduction/index.md#continuous-deployment )
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NOTE:
Out-of-the-box management systems can decrease hours spent on maintaining toolchains by 10% or more.
Watch our ["Mastering continuous software development" ](https://about.gitlab.com/webcast/mastering-ci-cd/ )
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webcast to learn about continuous methods and how GitLab CI/CD can help you simplify and scale software development.
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Use GitLab CI/CD to catch bugs and errors early in
the development cycle. Ensure that all the code deployed to
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production complies with the code standards you established for
your app.
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GitLab CI/CD can automatically build, test, deploy, and
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monitor your applications by using [Auto DevOps ](../topics/autodevops/index.md ).
For a complete overview of these methodologies and GitLab CI/CD,
read the [Introduction to CI/CD with GitLab ](introduction/index.md ).
< div class = "video-fallback" >
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Video demonstration of continuous integration with GitLab CI/CD: < a href = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljth1Q5oJoo" > Continuous Integration with GitLab (overview demo)< / a > .
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< / div >
< figure class = "video-container" >
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< iframe src = "https://www.youtube.com/embed/ljth1Q5oJoo" frameborder = "0" allowfullscreen = "true" > < / iframe >
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< / figure >
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## Concepts
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GitLab CI/CD uses a number of concepts to describe and run your build and deploy.
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| Concept | Description |
|:--------------------------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Pipelines ](pipelines/index.md ) | Structure your CI/CD process through pipelines. |
| [CI/CD variables ](variables/index.md ) | Reuse values based on a variable/value key pair. |
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| [Environments ](environments/index.md ) | Deploy your application to different environments (for example, staging, production). |
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| [Job artifacts ](pipelines/job_artifacts.md ) | Output, use, and reuse job artifacts. |
| [Cache dependencies ](caching/index.md ) | Cache your dependencies for a faster execution. |
| [GitLab Runner ](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/ ) | Configure your own runners to execute your scripts. |
| [Pipeline efficiency ](pipelines/pipeline_efficiency.md ) | Configure your pipelines to run quickly and efficiently. |
| [Test cases ](test_cases/index.md ) | Create testing scenarios. |
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## Configuration
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GitLab CI/CD supports numerous configuration options:
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| Configuration | Description |
|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Schedule pipelines ](pipelines/schedules.md ) | Schedule pipelines to run as often as you need. |
| [Custom path for `.gitlab-ci.yml` ](pipelines/settings.md#specify-a-custom-cicd-configuration-file ) | Define a custom path for the CI/CD configuration file. |
| [Git submodules for CI/CD ](git_submodules.md ) | Configure jobs for using Git submodules. |
| [SSH keys for CI/CD ](ssh_keys/index.md ) | Using SSH keys in your CI pipelines. |
| [Pipeline triggers ](triggers/index.md ) | Trigger pipelines through the API. |
| [Merge request pipelines ](pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md ) | Design a pipeline structure for running a pipeline in merge requests. |
| [Integrate with Kubernetes clusters ](../user/infrastructure/clusters/index.md ) | Connect your project to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or an existing Kubernetes cluster. |
| [Optimize GitLab and GitLab Runner for large repositories ](large_repositories/index.md ) | Recommended strategies for handling large repositories. |
| [`.gitlab-ci.yml` full reference ](yaml/index.md ) | All the attributes you can use with GitLab CI/CD. |
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Certain operations can only be performed according to the
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[user ](../user/permissions.md#gitlab-cicd-permissions ) and [job ](../user/permissions.md#job-permissions ) permissions.
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## Features
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GitLab CI/CD features, grouped by DevOps stage, include:
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| Feature | Description |
|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------|
| **Configure** | |
| [Auto DevOps ](../topics/autodevops/index.md ) | Set up your app's entire lifecycle. |
| [ChatOps ](chatops/index.md ) | Trigger CI jobs from chat, with results sent back to the channel. |
| [Connect to cloud services ](cloud_services/index.md ) | Connect to cloud providers using OpenID Connect (OIDC) to retrieve temporary credentials to access services or secrets. |
| **Verify** | |
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| [Browser Performance Testing ](testing/browser_performance_testing.md ) | Quickly determine the browser performance impact of pending code changes. |
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| [Load Performance Testing ](testing/load_performance_testing.md ) | Quickly determine the server performance impact of pending code changes. |
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| [CI services ](services/index.md ) | Link Docker containers with your base image. |
| [GitLab CI/CD for external repositories ](ci_cd_for_external_repos/index.md ) | Get the benefits of GitLab CI/CD combined with repositories in GitHub and Bitbucket Cloud. |
| [Interactive Web Terminals ](interactive_web_terminal/index.md ) | Open an interactive web terminal to debug the running jobs. |
| [Review Apps ](review_apps/index.md ) | Configure GitLab CI/CD to preview code changes. |
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| [Unit test reports ](testing/unit_test_reports.md ) | Identify test failures directly on merge requests. |
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| [Using Docker images ](docker/using_docker_images.md ) | Use GitLab and GitLab Runner with Docker to build and test applications. |
| **Release** | |
| [Auto Deploy ](../topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-deploy ) | Deploy your application to a production environment in a Kubernetes cluster. |
| [Building Docker images ](docker/using_docker_build.md ) | Maintain Docker-based projects using GitLab CI/CD. |
| [Canary Deployments ](../user/project/canary_deployments.md ) | Ship features to only a portion of your pods and let a percentage of your user base to visit the temporarily deployed feature. |
| [Deploy boards ](../user/project/deploy_boards.md ) | Check the current health and status of each CI/CD environment running on Kubernetes. |
| [Feature Flags ](../operations/feature_flags.md ) | Deploy your features behind Feature Flags. |
| [GitLab Pages ](../user/project/pages/index.md ) | Deploy static websites. |
| [GitLab Releases ](../user/project/releases/index.md ) | Add release notes to Git tags. |
| [Cloud deployment ](cloud_deployment/index.md ) | Deploy your application to a main cloud provider. |
| **Secure** | |
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| [Code Quality ](testing/code_quality.md ) | Analyze your source code quality. |
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| [Container Scanning ](../user/application_security/container_scanning/index.md ) | Check your Docker containers for known vulnerabilities. |
| [Dependency Scanning ](../user/application_security/dependency_scanning/index.md ) | Analyze your dependencies for known vulnerabilities. |
| [License Compliance ](../user/compliance/license_compliance/index.md ) | Search your project dependencies for their licenses. |
| [Security Test reports ](../user/application_security/index.md ) | Check for app vulnerabilities. |
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## Examples
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See the [CI/CD examples ](examples/index.md ) page for example project code and tutorials for
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using GitLab CI/CD with various:
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- App frameworks
- Languages
- Platforms
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## Administration
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You can change the default behavior of GitLab CI/CD for:
- An entire GitLab instance in the [CI/CD administration settings ](../administration/index.md#cicd-settings ).
- Specific projects in the [pipelines settings ](pipelines/settings.md ).
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See also:
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- [Enable or disable GitLab CI/CD in a project ](enable_or_disable_ci.md ).
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## Related topics
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Learn more about GitLab CI/CD:
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- [Why you might choose GitLab CI/CD ](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/10/17/gitlab-ci-oohlala/ ).
- [Reasons you might migrate from another platform ](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/07/22/building-our-web-app-on-gitlab-ci/ ).
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- [Five teams that made the switch to GitLab CI/CD ](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2019/04/25/5-teams-that-made-the-switch-to-gitlab-ci-cd/ ).
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- If you use VS Code to edit your GitLab CI/CD configuration, the
[GitLab Workflow VS Code extension ](../user/project/repository/vscode.md ) helps you
[validate your configuration ](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitLab.gitlab-workflow#validate-gitlab-ci-configuration )
and [view your pipeline status ](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitLab.gitlab-workflow#information-about-your-branch-pipelines-mr-closing-issue ).
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See also the [Why CI/CD? ](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OGgk2Tcxbpl7DJaIOzCX4Vqg3dlwfELC3u2jEeCBbDk ) presentation.
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### Major version changes (breaking)
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As GitLab CI/CD has evolved, certain breaking changes have
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been necessary.
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For GitLab 15.0 and later, all breaking changes are documented on the following pages:
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- [Deprecations ](../update/deprecations.md )
- [Removals ](../update/removals.md )
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The breaking changes for [GitLab Runner ](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/ ) in earlier
major version releases are:
- 14.0: No breaking changes.
- 13.0:
- [Remove Backported `os.Expand` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4915 ).
- [Remove Fedora 29 package support ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/16158 ).
- [Remove macOS 32-bit support ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/25466 ).
- [Removed `debug/jobs/list?v=1` endpoint ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/6361 ).
- [Remove support for array of strings when defining services for Docker executor ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4922 ).
- [Remove `--docker-services` flag on register command ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/6404 ).
- [Remove legacy build directory caching ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4180 ).
- [Remove `FF_USE_LEGACY_VOLUMES_MOUNTING_ORDER` feature flag ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/6581 ).
- [Remove support for Windows Server 1803 ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/6553 ).
- 12.0:
- [Use `refspec` to clone/fetch Git repository ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4069 ).
- [Old cache configuration ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4070 ).
- [Old metrics server configuration ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4072 ).
- [Remove `FF_K8S_USE_ENTRYPOINT_OVER_COMMAND` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4073 ).
- [Remove Linux distributions that reach EOL ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/merge_requests/1130 ).
- [Update command line API for helper images ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4013 ).
- [Remove old `git clean` flow ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/4175 ).
