# CI CD And Automation > Automates CI/CD pipeline setup. Use when setting up or modifying build and deployment pipelines. Use when you need to automate quality gates, configure test runners in CI, or establish deployment - Skill: `tomevault-io/ci-cd-and-automation-12` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/ci-cd-and-automation-12` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/ci-cd-and-automation-12/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/ci-cd-and-automation-12 --- # CI/CD and Automation **Companion script:** `scripts/ci-check.sh` --- CI configuration scanning, pipeline templates, and quality gate checklists. ```bash bash ./scripts/ci-check.sh check # scan for CI config bash ./scripts/ci-check.sh template gh-actions # GitHub Actions workflow bash ./scripts/ci-check.sh template gitlab-ci # GitLab CI config bash ./scripts/ci-check.sh gates # quality gate checklist ``` ## Overview Automate quality gates so that no change reaches production without passing tests, lint, type checking, and build. CI/CD is the enforcement mechanism for every other skill --- it catches what humans and agents miss, and it does so consistently on every single change. **Shift Left:** Catch problems as early in the pipeline as possible. A bug caught in linting costs minutes; the same bug caught in production costs hours. Move checks upstream --- static analysis before tests, tests before staging, staging before production. **Faster is Safer:** Smaller batches and more frequent releases reduce risk, not increase it. A deployment with 3 changes is easier to debug than one with 30. Frequent releases build confidence in the release process itself. ## When to Use - Setting up a new project's CI pipeline - Adding or modifying automated checks - Configuring deployment pipelines - When a change should trigger automated verification - Debugging CI failures ## The Quality Gate Pipeline Every change goes through these gates before merge: ``` Pull Request Opened │ ▼ ┌─────────────────┐ │ LINT CHECK │ eslint, prettier │ v pass │ │ TYPE CHECK │ tsc --noEmit │ v pass │ │ UNIT TESTS │ jest/vitest │ v pass │ │ BUILD │ npm run build │ v pass │ │ INTEGRATION │ API/DB tests │ v pass │ │ E2E (optional) │ Playwright/Cypress │ v pass │ │ SECURITY AUDIT │ npm audit │ v pass │ │ BUNDLE SIZE │ bundlesize check └─────────────────┘ │ ▼ Ready for review ``` **No gate can be skipped.** If lint fails, fix lint --- don't disable the rule. If a test fails, fix the code --- don't skip the test. ## GitHub Actions Configuration ### Basic CI Pipeline Load the CI pipeline template (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/ci-pipeline.yml` ### With Database Integration Tests Load the extended pipeline with DB services (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/ci-database.yml` ### E2E Tests Load the E2E test pipeline (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/ci-e2e.yml` > **Note:** The database integration and E2E pipeline templates above are already available as L3 references. ## Feeding CI Failures Back to Agents The power of CI with AI agents is the feedback loop. When CI fails: ``` CI fails │ ▼ Copy the failure output │ ▼ Feed it to the agent: "The CI pipeline failed with this error: [paste specific error] Fix the issue and verify locally before pushing again." │ ▼ Agent fixes -> pushes -> CI runs again ``` **Key patterns:** ``` Lint failure -> Agent runs `npm run lint --fix` and commits Type error -> Agent reads the error location and fixes the type Test failure -> Agent follows debugging-and-error-recovery skill Build error -> Agent checks config and dependencies ``` ## Deployment Strategies ### Preview Deployments Load preview deployment config (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/preview-deploy.yml` ### Feature Flags Feature flags decouple deployment from release. Deploy incomplete or risky features behind flags so you can: - **Ship code without enabling it.** Merge to main early, enable when ready. - **Roll back without redeploying.** Disable the flag instead of reverting code. - **Canary new features.** Enable for 1% of users, then 10%, then 100%. - **Run A/B tests.** Compare behavior with and without the feature. ```typescript // Simple feature flag pattern if (featureFlags.isEnabled('new-checkout-flow', { userId })) { return renderNewCheckout(); } return renderLegacyCheckout(); ``` **Flag lifecycle:** Create -> Enable for testing -> Canary -> Full rollout -> Remove the flag and dead code. Flags that live forever become technical debt --- set a cleanup date when you create them. ### Staged Rollouts ``` PR merged to main │ ▼ Staging deployment (auto) │ Manual verification ▼ Production deployment (manual trigger or auto after staging) │ ▼ Monitor for errors (15-minute window) │ ├── Errors detected -> Rollback └── Clean -> Done ``` ### Rollback Plan Load rollback workflow (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/rollback.yml` ## Environment Management ``` .env.example -> Committed (template for developers) .env -> NOT committed (local development) .env.test -> Committed (test environment, no real secrets) CI secrets -> Stored in GitHub Secrets / vault Production secrets -> Stored in deployment platform / vault ``` CI should never have production secrets. Use separate secrets for CI testing. ## Automation Beyond CI ### Dependabot / Renovate Load Dependabot config (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/dependabot.yml` ### Build Cop Role Designate someone responsible for keeping CI green. When the build breaks, the Build Cop's job is to fix or revert --- not the person whose change caused the break. This prevents broken builds from accumulating while everyone assumes someone else will fix it. ### PR Checks - **Required reviews:** At least 1 approval before merge - **Required status checks:** CI must pass before merge - **Branch protection:** No force-pushes to main - **Auto-merge:** If all checks pass and approved, merge automatically ## CI Optimization When the pipeline exceeds 10 minutes, apply these strategies in order of impact: ``` Slow CI pipeline? ├── Cache dependencies │ └── Use actions/cache or setup-node cache option for node_modules ├── Run jobs in parallel │ └── Split lint, typecheck, test, build into separate parallel jobs ├── Only run what changed │ └── Use path filters to skip unrelated jobs (e.g., skip e2e for docs-only PRs) ├── Use matrix builds │ └── Shard test suites across multiple runners ├── Optimize the test suite │ └── Remove slow tests from the critical path, run them on a schedule instead └── Use larger runners └── GitHub-hosted larger runners or self-hosted for CPU-heavy builds ``` **Example: caching and parallelism** Load the parallel CI jobs example (L3): `bash ./scripts/skill-toolset.sh resource ci-cd-and-automation references/ci-parallel.yml` ## Presentation ``` `★ CI/CD View ────────────────────────────────────` - [Pipeline name] --- [status] - [Top finding or recommendation] `─────────────────────────────────────────────────` ``` ## Common Rationalizations | Rationalization | Reality | |---|---| | "CI is too slow" | Optimize the pipeline (see CI Optimization below), don't skip it. A 5-minute pipeline prevents hours of debugging. | | "This change is trivial, skip CI" | Trivial changes break builds. CI is fast for trivial changes anyway. | | "The test is flaky, just re-run" | Flaky tests mask real bugs and waste everyone's time. Fix the flakiness. | | "We'll add CI later" | Projects without CI accumulate broken states. Set it up on day one. | | "Manual testing is enough" | Manual testing doesn't scale and isn't repeatable. Automate what you can. | ## Red Flags - No CI pipeline in the project - CI failures ignored or silenced - Tests disabled in CI to make the pipeline pass - Production deploys without staging verification - No rollback mechanism - Secrets stored in code or CI config files (not secrets manager) - Long CI times with no optimization effort ## Verification After setting up or modifying CI: - [ ] All quality gates are present (lint, types, tests, build, audit) - [ ] Pipeline runs on every PR and push to main - [ ] Failures block merge (branch protection configured) - [ ] CI results feed back into the development loop - [ ] Secrets are stored in the secrets manager, not in code - [ ] Deployment has a rollback mechanism - [ ] Pipeline runs in under 10 minutes for the test suite --- > Source: [B67687/agentic-workflows](https://github.com/B67687/agentic-workflows) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).