CI Pipeline and Test Gates
Continuous integration runs tests and checks on every change so broken code never reaches main.
Explanation
A CI pipeline triggers automatically on each pull request and runs unit tests, linters, and other checks.
Failing checks act as gates: a red build blocks merges until issues are fixed or tests are updated intentionally.
Short, fast pipelines give quick feedback, while slower integration tests can run nightly or on main to guard behaviour.
continuous integrationtestsqualitygates
Interactive visualisation
CI pipeline and test gates
Every PR should answer one question: “is it safe to merge?”
Pipeline stages
Inject a failure
Gate outcome
Merge allowed
Fast pipelines belong on PRs. Slow ones can run nightly, but must still guard behaviour on main.
Lint
PASS
Unit tests
PASS
Build
PASS
Interpretation
- Checks are not “nice to have”. They are the merge contract.
- A red stage must block main. Otherwise CI is theatre.
- Keep PR checks short. Move slow coverage to scheduled runs, not to “never”.