> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What is Auto DevOps > GitLab Auto DevOps is a CI/CD feature that automates pipeline generation, integrating best practices for build, test, and deployment stages. GitLab Auto DevOps is a built-in CI/CD feature that automatically detects your project’s language, framework, and configuration to generate a complete pipeline. It follows best practices across build, test, and deployment stages—integrating security scans, code quality checks, and container analysis—so you can focus on writing code instead of maintaining CI/CD scripts. Auto DevOps provides: * Automated build and containerization * Comprehensive testing (unit, integration, security) * Review Apps for testing merge request changes * Continuous delivery or deployment after merge Auto DevOps offers sensible defaults, but you can [customize the pipeline](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/customize_deployment.html) via CI/CD templates or project-specific `.gitlab-ci.yml` overrides. ![The image is a flowchart illustrating the Auto DevOps process, detailing stages like continuous integration, packaging, and deployment with various automated testing and deployment steps.](https://kodekloud.com/kk-media/image/upload/v1752877175/notes-assets/images/GitLab-CICD-Architecting-Deploying-and-Optimizing-Pipelines-What-is-Auto-DevOps/auto-devops-flowchart-integration-deployment.jpg) ## How Auto DevOps Works at the Project Level When you enable Auto DevOps in **Settings > CI/CD**, GitLab inspects your repository and applies predefined CI/CD templates. The default pipeline includes three core stages: ### 1. Build Stage * Detects a `Dockerfile` in your repo and builds a container image. * Falls back to [Heroku buildpacks](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks) if no Dockerfile is found. * Outputs a ready-to-use Docker image for subsequent stages. ### 2. Test Stage Runs your test suite and adds built-in checks: | Check Type | Description | | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Code Quality | Analyzes source code for maintainability and style issues. | | Static Application Security Testing (SAST) | Scans code for common vulnerabilities. | | Secret Detection | Searches for accidentally committed credentials. | | Dependency Scanning | Reviews `Gemfile.lock`, `package.json`, etc., for vulnerable dependencies. | | Container Scanning | Scans the built Docker image for OS-level vulnerabilities. | Supported languages include Ruby, Node.js, Java (Maven/Gradle), Python, Go, and more. All reports appear in the pipeline UI for immediate feedback. ### 3. Kubernetes Deployment If you register a [Kubernetes cluster](https://kubernetes.io/) in **Operations > Kubernetes**, Auto DevOps can deploy your app automatically. Supported cluster providers include: * [Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/what-is-eks.html) * [Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine) * Self-managed (Bare Metal) clusters ## Review Apps and Security Testing When a merge request is opened, Auto DevOps spins up a **Review App**—a temporary, live environment to validate changes before merge. This deployment uses the [Helm Auto Deploy chart](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/deploy_with_helm.html), which you can customize. Once the Review App is live, Auto DevOps runs Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) using [OWASP ZAP](https://www.zaproxy.org/). ZAP crawls the application, identifies vulnerabilities, and produces a comprehensive report with severity levels and remediation advice. ![The image shows an Auto DevOps pipeline with stages including Build, Test, Review, Dast, Production, and Performance, each containing various tasks.](https://kodekloud.com/kk-media/image/upload/v1752877176/notes-assets/images/GitLab-CICD-Architecting-Deploying-and-Optimizing-Pipelines-What-is-Auto-DevOps/auto-devops-pipeline-stages.jpg) ## Post-Merge Deployment and Performance Testing After you merge to the default branch, Auto DevOps can deploy your application to staging or production based on your configuration. Post-deployment, it executes browser-based performance tests to benchmark page load times against previous releases—ensuring optimal user experience. ## Deployment Strategies Choose from three release workflows to match your team’s requirements: | Strategy | Behavior | | -------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Continuous Deployment to Production | Deploys every successful pipeline run directly to production without manual steps. | | Automatic Staging + Manual Production Deploy | Automatically updates staging; requires manual approval to promote changes to production (e.g., click the play button). | | Timed Incremental Rollout | Performs staged deployments automatically with configurable delays (default: 5 minutes between stages). | Ensure your rollback procedures are tested and documented. Timed rollouts reduce risk but require proper monitoring and alerts. ![The image illustrates an Auto DevOps Deployment Strategy, showing different deployment methods: continuous deployment to production, automatic deployment to staging with manual production deployment, and continuous deployment using timed incremental rollout.](https://kodekloud.com/kk-media/image/upload/v1752877177/notes-assets/images/GitLab-CICD-Architecting-Deploying-and-Optimizing-Pipelines-What-is-Auto-DevOps/auto-devops-deployment-strategy.jpg) ## Links and References * [GitLab Auto DevOps documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/) * [GitLab CI/CD Overview](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/) * [Kubernetes Basics](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/what-is-kubernetes/) * [OWASP ZAP Proxy](https://www.zaproxy.org/) * [Heroku Buildpacks](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks)