What is the difference between Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment?

Continuous Integration (CI): Developers merge code frequently (multiple times a day). Every merge triggers an automated build and test run to catch integration issues early.

Continuous Delivery (CD): Every passing build is automatically prepared for release to production. A human approves the final deployment step.

Continuous Deployment: Extends Delivery — every passing build is automatically deployed to production with no human intervention.