An engineer is developing an application that requires frequent updates to close feedback loops and enable teams to quickly apply patches. The team wants their code updates to get to market as often…

Continuous delivery is a practice where every code change is automatically built, tested, and staged so it can be released to production at any time with a manual trigger. This allows teams to push patches and updates to market as often as needed while maintaining control over the release cadence, directly satisfying the requirement for frequent, rapid delivery.

Continuous integration focuses on frequently merging code changes and running automated tests, but does not by itself manage or accelerate the release-to-market process.

Continuous deployment automatically deploys every passing commit to production without human approval, removing team control over release timing rather than enabling on-demand, frequent releases.

Continuous monitoring is an operational practice that observes running systems for issues; it does not address the software build or release pipeline.