GitLab's unconventional journey to CI/CD and Kubernetes

Engineering teams at GitLab faced challenges in delivering new features swiftly while maintaining minimal cycle times, prompting a transition to continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) practices and an eventual migration to Kubernetes. Initially, GitLab relied on a feature freeze period to stabilize releases, but this approach resulted in inefficiencies and delays in bug fixes and feature deployment. The Delivery team was formed to manage the migration, opting to stress-test the existing system and automate manual tasks rather than immediately adopting new technologies. This strategy revealed system weaknesses and fostered a cultural shift towards a CI/CD mindset among engineers, leading to substantial improvements in deployment frequency and stability. By automating 90% of the release tasks, the team significantly increased their deployment rate from seven to 35 deploys per month, freeing up time for further infrastructure enhancements and migration efforts. This transition, although initially undertaken without Kubernetes, set the stage for a smoother adoption of the new platform. The changes have not only enhanced GitLab's development velocity but also improved its ability to handle user traffic, demonstrating the value of leveraging existing systems to facilitate continuous delivery.

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