GitLab CI/CD
GitLab CI/CD is the built-in continuous integration and deployment system bundled with GitLab's source control platform, configured entirely through a `.gitlab-ci.yml` file checked into the repository. Pipelines are defined as stages (build, test, deploy) containing jobs that run in Docker containers on GitLab-hosted shared runners or on self-hosted runners a team registers against their own infrastructure — the latter is common for Nigerian teams wanting to avoid recurring compute costs or needing deployment access to infrastructure not reachable from the public internet.
Because CI/CD is native to GitLab rather than a bolted-on integration, pipelines have direct access to merge request status, container registry, package registry, and built-in Kubernetes deployment tooling without extra configuration. Auto DevOps can generate a working pipeline (build, test, container scan, deploy) for common frameworks with minimal setup, which is useful for smaller teams that don't want to hand-write pipeline YAML from scratch.
GitLab's free tier includes 400 CI/CD minutes per month on shared runners, which is workable for small projects but gets consumed quickly by larger test suites — most teams either self-host runners (free, unlimited, only limited by their own hardware) or upgrade to a paid tier for more shared-runner minutes. Self-hosted runners are a particularly good fit for Nigerian teams given local compute (a spare server or a cheap VPS) is often cheaper than paying for additional CI minutes in a currency pegged to USD.