What are typical stages of a CI/CD pipeline?

• A. Plan, Design, Code, Review
• B. Build, Test, Lint, Stage, and Deploy
• C. Initialize, Commit, Run, Publish
• D. Analyze, Iterate, Release, Monitor

Answer: (B)

CI/CD pipelines automate turning code changes into working software through a sequence of steps that build, verify, and safely release software. The best match includes building the code to produce artifacts, running automated tests to catch regressions, linting to enforce code quality and consistency, staging the app in an environment similar to production for final checks, and finally deploying the release. Each step serves a purpose: building ensures the code compiles and artifacts exist; testing provides fast feedback on functionality and reliability; linting catches style and potential issues early; staging validates behavior and configuration in a production-like setting before users are affected; deploying puts the verified release into production or into a release stream. The other sequences describe broader development activities (planning/design/review) or omit essential automation steps (no build, test, or staging), so they don’t reflect how a modern CI/CD pipeline typically progresses from code changes to a deployed product.