Testing CI/CD in .NET

Overview

Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) are essential for delivering high‑quality .NET applications. This tutorial walks you through setting up a CI pipeline that runs automated tests and a CD pipeline that safely deploys your app.

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 8.0 or later
• Git repository (GitHub, Azure Repos, or GitLab)
• Access to Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI
• Docker (optional, for containerized testing)

Step‑by‑Step Guide

# azure-pipelines.yml
trigger:
  - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
  - task: UseDotNet@2
    inputs:
      packageType: 'sdk'
      version: '8.x'

  - script: dotnet restore
    displayName: 'Restore NuGet packages'

  - script: dotnet build --configuration $(buildConfiguration) --no-restore
    displayName: 'Build'

  - script: dotnet test --configuration $(buildConfiguration) --no-build --logger trx
    displayName: 'Run Tests'

  - task: PublishTestResults@2
    inputs:
      testResultsFiles: '**/*.trx'
      testRunTitle: 'Unit Tests'

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  build-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup .NET
        uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
        with:
          dotnet-version: '8.0.x'

      - name: Restore dependencies
        run: dotnet restore

      - name: Build
        run: dotnet build --configuration Release --no-restore

      - name: Test
        run: dotnet test --no-build --verbosity normal

# .gitlab-ci.yml
stages:
  - build
  - test

variables:
  DOTNET_ROOT: "/usr/share/dotnet"
  CONFIGURATION: "Release"

build:
  stage: build
  image: mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0
  script:
    - dotnet restore
    - dotnet build --configuration $CONFIGURATION --no-restore
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - bin/

test:
  stage: test
  image: mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0
  script:
    - dotnet test --no-build --configuration $CONFIGURATION --logger "junit;LogFile=test-results.xml"
  artifacts:
    when: always
    reports:
      junit: test-results.xml

Best Practices

• Fail the pipeline on any test failure.
• Run tests in parallel when possible.
• Separate unit, integration, and UI tests into distinct jobs.
• Cache NuGet packages to speed up builds.
• Use environment variables or secret stores for credentials.