Jenkins

Jenkins is an open-source automation server for continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. It orchestrates building, testing, and deploying code automatically whenever changes are committed. With over a thousand plugins available, Jenkins integrates with virtually any tool in the development ecosystem, from version control systems to cloud deployment platforms.

Pipelines in Jenkins are defined either through a web UI or as code using Jenkinsfile, a Groovy-based DSL that lives alongside application source code. This pipeline-as-code approach means build and deployment logic is version-controlled, reviewable, and reproducible. Jenkins supports parallel execution, conditional stages, and complex multi-branch workflows that handle different deployment paths for feature branches, staging, and production.

For web development teams, Jenkins is one of the most established CI/CD platforms, though it requires more setup and maintenance than newer managed alternatives like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI. It runs on your own infrastructure, giving full control over build environments and secrets management. This self-hosted nature makes it preferred by organizations with strict security requirements or complex build processes that benefit from dedicated build agents.