CI CD Releases

CI/CD releases use continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines to automate design system release workflows. Pipelines execute testing, building, and publishing steps consistently every time. Well-designed CI/CD enables reliable, fast releases with minimal manual intervention.

What Are CI/CD Releases

CI/CD releases integrate release workflows into continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. Rather than running release commands manually, developers trigger pipelines that execute the complete workflow. Pipelines provide consistency, auditability, and automation.

CI (continuous integration) typically handles testing and building on every change. CD (continuous delivery/deployment) extends to publishing releases. For design systems, CD means publishing to npm or other package registries.

How CI/CD Releases Work

CI/CD release pipelines define jobs and steps that execute the release workflow. Understanding pipeline structure enables effective automation.

Pipeline structure organizes work into jobs and steps. Jobs run on fresh environments and can run in parallel or sequence. Steps within jobs execute individual commands. Release pipelines typically include test, build, version, publish, and announce jobs.

Triggering determines when pipelines run. Pull request triggers run tests and builds for validation. Merge triggers might run full releases. Manual triggers enable on-demand releases. Tag-based triggers can initiate releases when versions are tagged.

Environment and credentials enable publishing. Pipeline environments provide npm authentication, git credentials, and other secrets. Secure storage and access controls protect these credentials.

Artifact handling passes build outputs between jobs. Built packages from build jobs are used by publish jobs. Artifact storage bridges the gap between separately-running jobs.

Key Considerations

• Structure pipelines for clarity and maintainability
• Secure credentials using platform secret management
• Include validation steps throughout the pipeline
• Handle failures with appropriate notifications
• Maintain visibility into pipeline execution

Common Questions

How should design system release pipelines be structured?

Pipeline structure should reflect the release workflow while enabling efficient execution. Common structures organize around logical phases.

Validation phase runs first. Tests, linting, and type checking verify code quality. If validation fails, later phases do not run. This prevents publishing broken packages.

Build phase creates release artifacts. Compiling TypeScript, bundling, and creating distributions happen here. Build outputs become inputs for publishing.

Version phase determines and applies version numbers. For automated versioning, this phase calculates bumps from commits. Version numbers are applied to package.json and changelogs are generated.

Publish phase releases packages. npm publish or equivalent commands make packages available. This phase requires npm authentication credentials.

Announce phase communicates the release. Creating GitHub releases, posting to Slack, or sending notifications informs consumers. This phase runs after publishing confirms success.

What CI/CD platforms work well for design system releases?

Multiple platforms support design system release workflows. Platform selection depends on existing infrastructure and specific needs.

GitHub Actions integrates tightly with GitHub repositories. Native npm and GitHub Package support simplifies publishing. Matrix strategies enable testing across versions. The marketplace offers release-related actions.

GitLab CI integrates with GitLab repositories. Package registry integration supports internal distribution. Pipeline visualization helps understand complex workflows.

CircleCI provides flexible pipeline configuration. Orbs package common workflows for reuse. Context management handles credentials.

Azure DevOps integrates with Microsoft ecosystem. Azure Artifacts provides package hosting. Variable groups manage credentials across pipelines.

Summary

CI/CD releases automate design system publishing through pipelines that execute testing, building, and publishing workflows. Structured pipelines with validation, build, version, publish, and announce phases ensure consistent releases. Platform selection depends on existing infrastructure and specific workflow needs.