Drupal Automation with CI/CD Pipelines

23 Sep 2024

Welcome to the magical world of Drupal development! It can be not only innovative but also efficient by employing continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
CI/CD Pipelines are like magical tools for automating the integration, testing, and delivery of Drupal projects, thus making it easier for developers to concentrate on creating flawless digital experiences.
Let's take a look at how CI/CD Pipelines work with Drupal. Let’s learn how they maintain consistency in everything and reduce risks during development. This guide will give you everything you need to know about Drupal Automation with CI/CD Pipelines, whether you are a seasoned Drupal developer or a marketer who wishes to improve digital projects.

Why CI/CD Pipelines Matter?

When working with CI, developers keep merging code changes into one single repository, triggering an automated testing process. This proactive approach helps catch issues early, thereby upholding the integrity and quality of the codebase. On the other hand, continuous deployment automatically pushes changes in code to the production environment once they have passed the required tests.

CI/CD Pipelines in Drupal Development

In Drupal development, CI/CD Pipelines facilitate the flow of work greatly. These Pipelines automate both testing and deployment processes; hence, new features can be iterated quickly on and deployed, creating more agile development cycles.
Let’s summarize the advantages of CI/CD Pipelines in Drupal development:

  1. Workflow handling is easy.
  2. Reduced manual input.
  3. Quick iterations supported.
  4. Enhancing responsiveness towards immediate requirements.
  5. Building trustworthiness via dependability and efficiency.

Thus, CI/CD Pipelines are an indispensable part of efficient software delivery for Drupal development. They encourage collaboration, add flexibility, and ensure seamless digital solutions delivered to customers at a very high standard.

CI vs CD Pipelines: Difference between Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery in Drupal

Drupal’s CI:

  • Developers merge their code changes into one central repository, often known as a master branch.
  • Code health is maintained using automated tests.

While CD goes beyond CI by:

  • Automatically deploying code after it has passed the test to the production environment.
  • Emphasis on automated deployment steps.

Therefore, both CI and CD Pipelines are aimed at minimizing human intervention between the completion of software development and its release to customers whenever they want it.
Moreover, CI keeps codes’ integrity safe, while CD simplifies deployments enabling faster and more reliable delivery of premium quality digital solutions.

How to Set Up CI/CD Pipelines in Drupal?

When you develop a CI/CD pipeline for your Drupal projects, you have to choose appropriate tools or services that will make the development easier. Some of these famous options include Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Travis CI as well as GitHub Actions among others which have different features and integrations designed specifically for Drupal development purposes (we will take a closer look at them later).
Additionally within Drupal, an ordinary CI/CD pipeline will have three main phases: build, test, and deploy. 

  1. During the build phase, tools like Composer handle dependency management and project assembly. Such a tool ensures all required libraries and components are included. 
  2. Subsequently, PHPUnit, a widely used PHP testing framework, takes charge in the testing phase. This one runs multiple tests to assess the stability and functionality of the codebase.
  3. Afterwards, during the deployment stage, rsync uses these tested code changes to push them into production mode. 

Development cycles become more predictable as the development cycle is sped up, making it faster than before. It means better releases and allows developers to focus on building great Drupal applications instead of taking care of manual work.

What Are The CI/CD Tools?

In the Drupal development industry, there are several CI/CD tools commonly employed for process automation purposes, which include:

  • Jenkins: This open-source automation server handles continuous integration and continuous delivery tasks for Drupal projects. It automates processes like construction, testing, and deployment, streamlining development workflows. Jenkins is widely used for its versatility and ease of use.
  • GitLab CI/CD: This powerful tool also has a tight integration with GitLab, which allows you to easily create CI/CD Pipelines right from the code repository. They enable efficient Drupal application development cycles by allowing smooth CI/CD operations. People love it because it is reliable and comes with many features.
  • CircleCI: A cloud-based CI/CD platform that offers flexible workflows that scale with your team’s needs. CircleCI provides automated testing and deployments at all levels of Drupal projects thereby making development activities effortless. In terms of simplicity and speed, CircleCI stands out among other platforms.
  • Travis CI: When Travis is integrated with GitHub, it ensures tests are run on affected files and increases code integrity. It is an ideal tool for automating test cases in the Drupal development process. Its main strengths are simplicity of setup and integration.
  • GitHub Actions: Developers can automate workflows easily within their systems. The coding tasks are made simpler. It also enhances collaboration by consolidating CI/CD processes seamlessly. GitHub Actions also has a very intuitive interface that enables users to interact effectively with their GitHub repositories in real time as well as conduct seamless integrations between them.

You can accelerate your Drupal projects by using these CI/CD tools that assist in the development and deployment of your codes. They also enhance code quality and promote team collaboration.

Best Practices with CI/CD Pipelines 

We have selected some of the best practices that can help you work with CI/CD pipelines. They can do a great job for you.

  • Utilize version control systems such as Git to track changes and enable better collaboration among developers. This way, it will be transparent, accountable, and revertable in case there are things that need to be undone.
  • Branching strategy: Employ a structured branching strategy (for instance, GitFlow) to manage changes in the code effectively. With this strategy, workflow is easier to streamline; the integrity of the code is maintained while parallel development is facilitated without conflicts.
  • Environment parity: Make sure that the development, staging, and production environments align with each other as closely as possible. There should be no discrepancies between environments to avoid the ‘works on my machine’ issue that has caused multiple failed deployments in history.
  • Monitoring and logging: Have comprehensive monitoring and logging features to detect once deployment happens.

Final Thoughts

Drupal automation via CI/CD Pipelines is the key to making a change. If you want to ensure your code is unbreakable, streamline development processes, and deploy faster, then CI/CD Pipelines are necessary for any current Drupal project. 
We invite you today to find out how we can help you enjoy the full benefits of CI/CD Pipelines in your Drupal projects. Let’s work together and unlock the true power of automation so that it can drive your Drupal development forward.