Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) isn’t just for big teams. As a solo developer, setting up CI/CD helps you automate testing, build, and deploy your code, saving time and reducing human error.
What is CI/CD?
CI (Continuous Integration): Automatically test and build your code every time you push.
CD (Continuous Deployment/Delivery): Automatically ship your code to production or staging environments.
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Tools You Can Use (No DevOps Team Needed)
GitHub Actions – free for small projects, powerful, integrates directly with GitHub.
GitLab CI/CD – built into GitLab repos.
CircleCI / Travis CI – easy to start with if you want cloud CI.
Render, Netlify, Vercel – auto-deploy static sites and apps from GitHub.
Docker + GitHub Actions – great for deploying apps in containers.
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Typical Solo CI/CD Workflow (Example with GitHub Actions)
1. Push code to GitHub
2. Run automated tests (Jest, PyTest, etc.)
3. Build the app (e.g., React, Node.js, etc.)
4. Deploy to server / cloud / static host
Example: .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy to Production
on:
push:
branches: [ main ]
jobs:
build-and-deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout Code
uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Install Dependencies
run: npm install
- name: Run Tests
run: npm test
- name: Build Project
run: npm run build
- name: Deploy
run: |
echo "Deploy to server or cloud here"
# e.g., rsync, ssh, Netlify CLI, Vercel CLI
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Why Solo Developers Should Care
Less manual work – no more forgetting to run tests or build.
Peace of mind – automatic rollback or alerts on failure.
Professionalism – ship projects like a team of engineers.
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Tips for Solo Devs
Start simple: Don’t overengineer your pipelines.
Add linting and tests early: Prevent bugs before deploy.
Use secrets carefully: Store API keys in GitHub secrets.
Monitor your deploys: Use free tools like UptimeRobot.
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Final Thoughts
CI/CD helps you ship faster, safer, and smarter—even when you’re the only one building. Start with one small workflow and improve it as you .