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---
comments: false
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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."
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---
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# GitLab Continuous Integration (GitLab CI/CD)
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GitLab CI/CD is GitLab's built-in tool for software development using continuous methodology:
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- Continuous integration (CI).
- Continuous delivery and deployment (CD).
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Within the [DevOps lifecycle ](../README.md#the-entire-devops-lifecycle ), GitLab CI/CD spans
the [Verify (CI) ](../README.md#verify ) and [Release (CD) ](../README.md#release ) stages.
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## Overview
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CI/CD is a vast area, so GitLab provides documentation for all levels of expertise. Consult the following table to find the right documentation for you:
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| Level of expertise | Resource |
|:------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| New to the concepts of CI and CD | For a high-level overview, read an [introduction to CI/CD with GitLab ](introduction/index.md ). |
| Familiar with GitLab CI/CD concepts | After getting familiar with GitLab CI/CD, let us walk you through a simple example in our [getting started guide ](quick_start/README.md ). |
| A GitLab CI/CD expert | Jump straight to our [`.gitlab.yml` ](yaml/README.md ) reference. |
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Familiarity with GitLab Runner is also useful because it is responsible for running the jobs in your
CI/CD pipeline. On GitLab.com, shared Runners are enabled by default so you won't need to set this up to get started.
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## CI/CD with Auto DevOps
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[Auto DevOps ](../topics/autodevops/index.md ) is the default minimum-configuration method for
implementing CI/CD. Auto DevOps:
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- Provides simplified setup and execution of CI/CD.
- Allows GitLab to automatically detect, build, test, deploy, and monitor your applications.
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## Manually configured CI/CD
For complete control, you can manually configure GitLab CI/CD.
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### Configuration and Usage
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The following topics contain configuration and usage information for all features of GitLab CI/CD:
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| Topic | Description |
|:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Creating and using CI/CD pipelines ](pipelines.md ) | Understand, visualize, create, and use CI/CD pipelines. |
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| [CI/CD Variables ](variables/README.md ) | Configuring and using environment variables in pipelines. |
| [Where variables can be used ](variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md ) | Where and how CI/CD variables can be used. |
| [User ](../user/permissions.md#gitlab-cicd-permissions ) and [job ](../user/permissions.md#job-permissions ) permissions | User access levels for performing certain CI actions. |
| [Configuring GitLab Runners ](runners/README.md ) | Configuring [GitLab Runner ](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/ ). |
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| [Environments and deployments ](environments.md ) | Deploy the output of jobs into environments for reviewing, staging, and production. |
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| [Review Apps ](review_apps/index.md ) | Configure GitLab CI/CD to preview code changes. |
| [Job artifacts ](../user/project/pipelines/job_artifacts.md ) | Using the output of jobs. |
| [Cache dependencies in GitLab CI/CD ](caching/index.md ) | Speed up pipelines using caching. |
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| [Using Git submodules with GitLab CI ](git_submodules.md ) | How to run your CI jobs when using Git submodules. |
| [Using SSH keys with GitLab CI/CD ](ssh_keys/README.md ) | Use SSH keys in your build environment. |
| [Triggering pipelines through the API ](triggers/README.md ) | Use the GitLab API to trigger a pipeline. |
| [Connecting GitLab with a Kubernetes cluster ](../user/project/clusters/index.md ) | Integrate one or more Kubernetes clusters to your project. |
| [ChatOps ](chatops/README.md ) | Trigger CI jobs from chat, with results sent back to the channel. |
| [Interactive web terminals ](interactive_web_terminal/index.md ) | Open an interactive web terminal to debug the running jobs. |
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| [Optimizing GitLab for large repositories ](large_repositories/index.md ) | Useful tips on how to optimize GitLab and GitLab Runner for big repositories. |
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| [Deploy Boards ](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/deploy_boards.html ) ** [PREMIUM]** | Check the current health and status of each CI/CD environment running on Kubernetes. |
| [GitLab CI/CD for external repositories ](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/ci_cd_for_external_repos/index.html ) ** [PREMIUM]** | Get the benefits of GitLab CI/CD combined with repositories in GitHub and BitBucket Cloud. |
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### GitLab Pages
GitLab CI/CD can be used to build and host static websites. For more information, see the
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documentation on [GitLab Pages ](../user/project/pages/index.md ),
or dive right into the [CI/CD step-by-step guide for Pages ](../user/project/pages/getting_started_part_four.md ).
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### Examples
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GitLab provides examples of configuring GitLab CI/CD in the form of:
- A collection of [examples and other resources ](examples/README.md ).
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- Example projects that are available at the [`gitlab-examples` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples ) group. For example, see:
- [`multi-project-pipelines` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/multi-project-pipelines ) for examples of implementing multi-project pipelines.
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- [`review-apps-nginx` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-nginx/ ) provides an example of using Review Apps.
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### Administration
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As a GitLab administrator, you can change the default behavior of GitLab CI/CD for:
- An [entire GitLab instance ](../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md ).
- Specific projects, using [pipelines settings ](../user/project/pipelines/settings.md ).
See also:
- [How to enable or disable GitLab CI/CD ](enable_or_disable_ci.md ).
- Other [CI administration settings ](../administration/index.md#continuous-integration-settings ).
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### Using Docker
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Docker is commonly used with GitLab CI/CD. Learn more about how to to accomplish this with the following
documentation:
| Topic | Description |
|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Using Docker images ](docker/using_docker_images.md ) | Use GitLab and GitLab Runner with Docker to build and test applications. |
| [Building Docker images with GitLab CI/CD ](docker/using_docker_build.md ) | Maintain Docker-based projects using GitLab CI/CD. |
Related topics include:
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- [Docker integration ](docker/README.md ).
- [CI services (linked Docker containers) ](services/README.md ).
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## Why GitLab CI/CD?
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The following articles explain reasons to use GitLab CI/CD for your CI/CD infrastructure:
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- [Why we chose GitLab CI for our CI/CD solution ](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/10/17/gitlab-ci-oohlala/ )
- [Building our web-app on GitLab CI ](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/22/building-our-web-app-on-gitlab-ci/ )
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See also the [Why CI/CD? ](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OGgk2Tcxbpl7DJaIOzCX4Vqg3dlwfELC3u2jEeCBbDk ) presentation.
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## Breaking changes
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As GitLab CI/CD has evolved, certain breaking changes have been necessary. These are:
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- [CI variables renaming for GitLab 9.0 ](variables/deprecated_variables.md#gitlab-90-renamed-variables ). Read about the
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deprecated CI variables and what you should use for GitLab 9.0+.
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- [New CI job permissions model ](../user/project/new_ci_build_permissions_model.md ).
See what changed in GitLab 8.12 and how that affects your jobs.
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There's a new way to access your Git submodules and LFS objects in jobs.
