Configuring a continuous integration and delivery pipeline

When you use continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, you can work in a single development team or with multiple developers, performing development work in branches.

If you are using continuous integration, you can merge branches to start a CI/CD pipeline.

Follow these general steps to configure a pipeline:

1. In Pega Platform, create a team application layer that is built on top of the main production application. The team application layer contains branches, tests, and other development rulesets that are not intended to go into production. For more information, see Creating a development application.
2. In Pega Platform, create a branch of your production ruleset in the team application and perform development work in branches. For more information, see Adding branches to your application. Branches that you submit into CI/CD pipelines can contain only the rulesets for the application that is associated with the pipeline.
3. In Pega Platform, create Pega unit tests, which you can use to validate application data that you can run in a pipeline. For more information, see Pega unit testing.
4. In Pega Platform, create branch reviews so that you can validate the quality of branches before they are merged. For more information, see Creating a branch review.
5. Configure a pipeline by using Deployment Manager or third-party tools. For more information, see one of the following articles on Pega Community:
   • Deployment Manager
   • Continuous integration and delivery pipelines using third-party automation servers
6. If you are using continuous integration, start a pipeline by doing one of the following actions:
   • If you are using Deployment Manager and one system to develop and merge branches, use the Merge Branches wizard to submit a branch into an application pipeline. For more information, see Submitting a branch into a pipeline.
   • If you are using Deployment Manager, a remote development system, and multiple pipelines per application version, first export branches to the remote development system, and then use the Merge Branches wizard. Complete the following steps:
     1. Package the branch. For more information, see Packaging a branch.
     2. On the remote development system, import the branch by using the Import wizard. For more information, see Importing an archive file by using the Import wizard.
     3. On the remote development system, start a build by using the Merge Branches wizard. For more information, see Submitting a branch into a pipeline.
   • If you are using Deployment Manager, a remote development system, and only one pipeline per application version, you can publish branches to the remote development system to start a deployment. For more information, see Publishing a branch to a repository.

     If you are using multiple application versions per pipeline, you receive an error and cannot publish a branch to the remote development system, because you cannot select the pipeline into which you want to publish and merge branches.

   • If you are using CI/CD pipelines and third-party tools, publish a branch to a remote development. For more information, see Publishing a branch to a repository.
7. To start a continuous delivery build, do one of the following actions:
   • Start a build in Deployment Manager.
   • Submit an application into a pipeline in App Studio.
8. Optional: If you are using third-party automation servers, in Pega Platform, rebase the rules on your system to obtain the most recently committed rules from the system on which you are merging rules. For more information, see Rebasing rules to obtain latest versions.