ci-cd-and-automation

Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/ci.yml that triggers on pull requests and pushes to main. Add sequential steps for checkout, Node setup with npm caching, dependency install, lint, type check, tests, build, and a security audit.

Define a Postgres service container in the job with health checks, then run migrations and integration tests against it using a DATABASE_URL environment variable. Store credentials in GitHub Secrets rather than hardcoding them, even for test databases.

A complete pipeline runs lint, type checking, unit tests, build, integration tests, optional E2E tests, security audit, and bundle size checks. No gate should be skipped; failures must block merging through branch protection rules.

Slow pipelines usually lack dependency caching and run jobs sequentially. Apply caching for node_modules, split lint, typecheck, and test into parallel jobs, use path filters to skip unrelated work, and shard large test suites across runners.

Use feature flags to merge incomplete or risky features to main without enabling them for users. They support canary rollouts, A/B tests, and instant rollback without redeploying, but each flag needs a cleanup date to avoid technical debt.