Continuous integration
Also known as CI, Continuous build
Definition
Continuous integration is the practice of merging small code changes into a shared branch frequently and validating them with automated builds and tests. Its value comes from early feedback, not from running a pipeline on a schedule alone.
The feedback loop
A CI system builds the proposed change, runs relevant checks, and reports the result while the change is still easy to understand. Frequent integration keeps the gap between a developer's branch and the shared branch small. That reduces the number of unrelated changes involved when a check fails.
Fast does not mean shallow
Teams can run a quick set of checks for every change and reserve slower integration or end-to-end suites for later stages. The pipeline should communicate which risk each check covers and make failures actionable. A green badge with weak tests is not continuous integration in the useful sense.
Watch the cost of failure
Measure feedback time, flaky checks, reruns, and changes that reach production with defects. Weave can relate CI events to pull request size and rework, helping a team find whether failures come from test reliability, environment drift, or the code itself.
How this relates to Weave
Weave gives teams delivery context for CI health by connecting pull requests, checks, rework, and deployment outcomes. This makes it easier to separate a slow pipeline from a change that introduced a real defect.
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