What is AWS CodePipeline?

What is AWS CodePipeline?

If you've been building on AWS for any length of time, you've probably reached the point where manually deploying changes starts to feel painful. You push code, SSH into a server, pull the latest, restart a service, cross your fingers. It works until it doesn't.

AWS CodePipeline is Amazon's answer to that problem. It's a fully managed continuous delivery service that automates the steps required to release your software. You define a pipeline — a series of stages — and CodePipeline orchestrates the flow from source code change to production deployment.

No more manual steps. No more crossed fingers.

The Pipeline Model: Source, Build, Deploy

At its simplest, a CodePipeline consists of three stages:

Source. This is where your pipeline begins. Something changes — a commit is pushed, a branch is updated — and the pipeline kicks off. CodePipeline integrates with AWS CodeCommit, GitHub, Bitbucket, and S3 as source providers. If you're already using CodeCommit as your Git repository, the integration is seamless. If you're on GitHub, that works just as well.

Build. Once the source stage captures a change, the code moves to the build stage. This is where your code gets compiled, tests run, and artifacts are produced. The natural pairing here is AWS CodeBuild, which spins up a managed build environment, executes your buildspec commands, and outputs the resulting artifacts. You define what happens in a buildspec.yml file — install dependencies, run unit tests, package your application.

Deploy. The final stage takes the artifacts from the build stage and pushes them to your target environment. CodePipeline supports deployment to EC2, ECS, Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, CloudFormation, and S3. The deployment provider you choose depends on where your application runs.

These three stages form the backbone, but you can add more. Need a manual approval step before production? Add an approval action. Want to run integration tests in a staging environment before deploying to prod? Add a test stage between build and deploy.

Why Not Just Use GitHub Actions?

Fair question. If you've read my post on automating AWS deployments with GitHub Actions, you know that GitHub Actions is a strong CI/CD option, especially if your code already lives on GitHub.

The difference comes down to where your ecosystem lives. If you're deep in AWS — using CodeCommit for source control, CodeBuild for builds, and deploying to AWS services — CodePipeline keeps everything under one roof. You get native integration with IAM for permissions, CloudWatch for monitoring, and CloudTrail for audit logging. Everything speaks the same language.

GitHub Actions is more flexible for cross-platform work and has a larger marketplace of community actions. CodePipeline is more tightly integrated with AWS services.

In practice, I've seen teams use both. GitHub Actions for the build and test cycle, CodePipeline for the deployment orchestration within AWS. They're not mutually exclusive.

Setting Up a Basic Pipeline

Here's the high-level flow for getting a pipeline running:

1. Create your source repository. If you're using CodeCommit, set up your repo and push your code. If GitHub, connect your account to CodePipeline.

2. Define your build configuration. Create a buildspec.yml in your repository root. This tells CodeBuild what commands to run — install, pre-build, build, and post-build phases.

3. Create the pipeline. In the AWS console, navigate to CodePipeline and create a new pipeline. Select your source provider, configure the build stage to use CodeBuild, and select your deployment target.

4. Trigger and observe. Push a change to your repository. Watch the pipeline execute each stage in sequence. If something fails, the pipeline stops and you can inspect the logs.

The entire setup can be done through the console in under 30 minutes for a straightforward application. For more complex setups, I recommend defining your pipeline as Infrastructure as Code using CloudFormation or CDK.

Pipeline Visibility

One of the practical benefits of CodePipeline is visibility. Each stage and action has a clear status — succeeded, failed, or in progress. When something breaks, you know exactly which stage failed and can drill into the logs.

This is especially valuable on teams. Everyone can see the state of the pipeline without asking around. The deployment process becomes transparent and auditable.

When CodePipeline Makes Sense

CodePipeline is a good fit when:

• Your infrastructure is primarily on AWS
• You want managed CI/CD without maintaining Jenkins or other build servers
• You need audit trails and IAM-based access control on your release process
• You want to chain together multiple AWS developer tools into a single workflow

It's less ideal if you need complex conditional logic, matrix builds, or heavy cross-platform support. For those scenarios, GitHub Actions or a dedicated CI system might serve you better.

What's Next

In a future post, I'll walk through building a complete pipeline from scratch — CodeCommit repo to CodeBuild to deployment on ECS — with the CloudFormation templates to make it reproducible. If you're looking to get your CI/CD process off the ground on AWS, that's the one to watch for.

Questions about setting up your first pipeline? Reach out or leave a comment below.

-- Nat