This PCD practice question tests your understanding of building and testing applications. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A developer needs to build a CI/CD pipeline that automatically tests and deploys a Node.js application to Cloud Run whenever a pull request is merged to the main branch. Which Google Cloud service should be used to trigger the pipeline?
Cloud Functions
Why wrong: Cloud Functions can be triggered by events but is not a CI/CD service.
Cloud Deploy
Why wrong: Cloud Deploy handles delivery, not build triggering.
Cloud Build
Cloud Build triggers integrate with source repositories to start builds on events.
App Engine
Why wrong: App Engine is for hosting applications, not for CI/CD pipelines.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Cloud Build
Cloud Build is the correct service because it is Google Cloud's fully managed CI/CD platform that can automatically trigger pipeline executions in response to repository events, such as a pull request merge to the main branch. By configuring a Cloud Build trigger with a source repository (e.g., Cloud Source Repositories, GitHub, or Bitbucket), the developer can define build steps to test the Node.js application and deploy it to Cloud Run using the `gcloud run deploy` command or a dedicated builder. This makes Cloud Build the native and most direct choice for building, testing, and deploying to Cloud Run in a single automated pipeline.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions can be triggered by events but is not a CI/CD service.
Cloud Deploy
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Deploy handles delivery, not build triggering.
Cloud Build
Why this is correct
Cloud Build triggers integrate with source repositories to start builds on events.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
App Engine
Why it's wrong here
App Engine is for hosting applications, not for CI/CD pipelines.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse Cloud Deploy (a delivery-only service) with a full CI/CD pipeline, overlooking that Cloud Build is the service that actually performs the build, test, and deployment steps triggered by repository events.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, Cloud Build triggers use a webhook or polling mechanism to detect changes in the source repository; when a pull request is merged to main, the trigger invokes a `cloudbuild.yaml` or `Dockerfile`-based pipeline that runs in isolated containers. A subtle but important behavior is that Cloud Build can automatically tag the built container image with the commit SHA and deploy it to Cloud Run using the `gcloud` builder, ensuring traceability and rollback capability. In a real-world scenario, teams often combine Cloud Build with Cloud Deploy for advanced delivery strategies, but for a simple test-and-deploy pipeline triggered by a merge, Cloud Build alone is sufficient and recommended.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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FAQ
Building and testing applications — This question tests Building and testing applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Cloud Build — Cloud Build is the correct service because it is Google Cloud's fully managed CI/CD platform that can automatically trigger pipeline executions in response to repository events, such as a pull request merge to the main branch. By configuring a Cloud Build trigger with a source repository (e.g., Cloud Source Repositories, GitHub, or Bitbucket), the developer can define build steps to test the Node.js application and deploy it to Cloud Run using the `gcloud run deploy` command or a dedicated builder. This makes Cloud Build the native and most direct choice for building, testing, and deploying to Cloud Run in a single automated pipeline.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This PCD practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCD exam.
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