What division and stages should be in an optimized CI/CD process for automatic building and deployment of applications?

An optimized CI/CD process for automatic building and deployment of applications typically consists of the following stages:

1. Build — compiling source code, installing dependencies, preparing artifacts.
2. Test — running unit tests, integration tests, static code analysis.
3. Package — creating deployable artifacts (e.g., Docker images, archives).
4. Deploy — automatic deployment to testing or production environments.
5. Monitoring and notifications — tracking the success of build and deployment, notifying the team.

Separating stages allows for quick identification of errors and prevents non-working code from moving further down the pipeline. It is also recommended to use branching in version control systems (e.g., GitFlow) for managing releases and features.

Example of a simple CI/CD pipeline:

• Commit to repository
• Run build and tests
• Upon success — create artifact
• Automatic deployment to staging
• Manual or automatic deployment to production

This approach ensures reliability and speed in releasing new versions.