What Does Continuous Integration Mean?
In software development, continuous integration (CI) is the practice of regularly committing code changes to a version control system that can test and deploy code automatically. The term is often mentioned in tandem with continuous delivery, an approach in which code is tested automatically, but is released into production manually.
CI/CD uses an iterative approach to releasing code and can be contrasted with the traditional waterfall method of software development.
Techopedia Explains Continuous Integration
Development teams use the continuous integration approach to software development because it allows them to develop in a quicker and more efficient manner than if they work separately for longer periods of time.
Developers using this approach submit changes to a source code repository, at which time the existing code base changes and new code can be added along with other resources that look for potential coding conflicts. There are also commercial CI servers that development teams can use to facilitate the CI process.