Which GitLab lifecycle stage involves building and testing applications?

The stage of the GitLab lifecycle that focuses on building and testing applications is the Verify stage. This phase is crucial for ensuring that the code behaves as expected and meets the required quality standards before moving on to deployment. During the Verify stage, the development team runs various tests, such as unit tests, integration tests, and potentially performance tests, to identify any issues or bugs within the application. By catching problems early in the development process, teams can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on resolving issues later in the lifecycle.

The Verify stage encompasses automated testing processes that assess the functionality and performance of the application, ensuring that each change made to the codebase does not introduce new errors or regressions. This practice directly contributes to the robustness of the software, making it a vital part of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

In contrast, other stages have different focuses: the Configure stage is typically about setting up the necessary environments and configurations for the application; the Release stage involves deploying the application for user access; and the Secure stage focuses on implementing security measures and validating code for vulnerabilities. Each of these stages plays a key role in the overall software development lifecycle, but it is the Verify stage that specifically addresses building and testing applications.