Continuous integration is a software development practice in which developers merge their code changes into a shared repository multiple times per day. Each merge triggers an automated build and an automated test suite, enabling the team to detect integration errors quickly — usually within minutes of the change. The practice relies on a central repository, automated build infrastructure, and a comprehensive suite of regression tests. It persists through CI server configurations, build scripts, and team discipline. [formal: integratio continua | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
continuous integration
Continuous integration is a software development practice in which developers merge their code changes into a shared repository multiple times per day. Each merge triggers an automated build and an automated test suite, enabling the team t…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made software development practice where developers frequently merge code changes into a shared repository, triggering automated builds and tests to detect integration errors early. Built through CI servers, build automation, and test suites. Persists through scheduled builds, version-tracked configurations, and team conventions.
Names and aliases
- continuous integrationen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr90b54v002rhcxf1z9cxhngDEPENDS_ON →
CI has no substance without version control: remove version control and CI stops operating entirely — there is nothing to merge, build, or test. Version control is the constitutive substrate that CI operates on.
- cmrgajl1n00uo2a1nkmbe94l1DEPENDS_ON →
Remove automation (making processes run automatically) and CI stops operating — CI's entire mechanism is the automatic triggering of builds and tests on code changes. The removal test passes: CI cannot function without automation. This is constitutive to CI's operation, not meta-level. Law 8 + Law 8b satisfied.
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 31, 2026, 9:55 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 3e1a95a4fb689128a1eba18c913f6703fdfdcf5f4b65b5abe1e0e699a8137c41