Continuous Integration (CI) is one of the key practices that helps teams deliver high-quality software faster. It ensures that every change to your codebase is tested, validated, and ready for deployment. For Python developers, GitLab CI/CD offers a seamless and powerful platform to automate everything from running tests and checking code style to deploying applications.

In this article, we’ll dive into how to set up and use GitLab CI in your Python projects — whether you’re building web apps, data pipelines, or automation scripts.

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GitLab CI/CD is GitLab’s built-in continuous integration and delivery system. It works by using a file named .gitlab-ci.yml that lives in your repository and defines what should happen whenever you push code or create a merge request.

With GitLab CI, you can:

• Automate testing and code validation
• Run builds in isolated environments
• Lint, format, or analyze code