Modern applications demand faster releases, reliable deployments, and scalable infrastructure. AWS provides a complete CI/CD ecosystem that helps developers go from code commit to production deployment seamlessly.
In this article, we’ll break down the AWS CI/CD pipeline architecture using services like CodeCommit, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, Amazon ECR, and Amazon ECS with Fargate.
Understanding the Architecture
This pipeline implements a multi-stage deployment flow:
Developer Commit
The journey starts with an Application Developer committing code into AWS CodeCommit (a secure, managed Git repository).
This event automatically triggers the CI/CD pipeline.
Pipeline Orchestration with CodePipeline
AWS CodePipeline acts as the conductor of this workflow.
It fetches the source code, manages the build, runs tests, and handles deployments.
Build & Test with CodeBuild
AWS CodeBuild compiles the code, runs unit/integration tests, and packages the application as a Docker image.
This ensures code quality before deployment.
Store Image in Amazon ECR
The Docker image is pushed to Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR).
ECR acts as the centralized container image repository for both non-production and production deployments.
Non-Production Deployment
CodePipeline deploys the image into an Amazon ECS Cluster (non-production) using AWS Fargate.
Fargate removes the need to manage EC2 servers, making it fully serverless.
Application Load Balancer (ALB) distributes traffic across services.
QA teams validate the application in this environment.
Quality Assurance & Testing
QA/Test Users access the application through the non-production ALB.
Once tests pass, the pipeline promotes the build for production.
Trigger Production Deployment
Another CodePipeline stage is triggered for production.
Approvals (manual or automated) can be added here to ensure governance.
Production Deployment
The tested image is deployed into a Production ECS Cluster (Fargate).
Again, ALB ensures traffic routing and high availability.
User Access
Production Users interact with the application via the production ALB.
The system scales automatically to meet demand.
🧩 Key AWS Services in Action
AWS CodeCommit → Secure Git repository for source control.
AWS CodePipeline → Automates the CI/CD workflow.
AWS CodeBuild → Builds, tests, and packages code into Docker images.
Amazon ECR → Stores and manages container images.
Amazon ECS with Fargate → Runs containers without managing servers.
Application Load Balancer (ALB) → Routes traffic to ECS services.
Amazon VPC → Provides isolation between non-production and production environments.
🌟 Benefits of This Architecture
✅ Full Automation – From code commit to production deployment with minimal manual steps.
✅ Faster Releases – Smaller, more frequent deployments enable rapid feature delivery.
✅ Scalability – ECS with Fargate scales seamlessly based on traffic.
✅ Isolation of Environments – Separate non-prod and prod ensures quality testing before release.
✅ Reduced Ops Overhead – Fargate eliminates server management.
✅ Reliability – Load Balancers and ECS ensure high availability and resiliency.
🔮 Final Thoughts
This AWS CI/CD pipeline is a battle-tested design for teams embracing containerized applications and microservices. By combining serverless compute (Fargate) with automated pipelines (CodePipeline & CodeBuild), organizations can deliver software faster, safer, and with higher confidence.
If you’re looking to modernize your delivery pipeline, this architecture provides the foundation for continuous innovation.
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