Quick Answer
The answer is Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Deploy with a GKE target. This combination is correct because Cloud Deploy natively supports canary deployments and progressive delivery strategies for microservices on GKE, using Skaffold-based pipelines to manage traffic splitting and automated promotion or rollback per service. Cloud Source Repositories hosts the code, Cloud Build compiles and tests it, and Cloud Deploy handles the independent release cycles, allowing each microservice to be deployed on its own schedule without affecting others. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to decouple release management from infrastructure—a common trap is choosing Cloud Run or App Engine, which lack the fine-grained traffic control needed for canary rollouts on Kubernetes. Remember the mnemonic “Source, Build, Deploy” to recall the three services, and that Cloud Deploy is the key differentiator for canary strategies on GKE.
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.
You are designing a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices application deployed on GKE. Your team requires that each service have independent release cycles and canary deployments. Which combination of Google Cloud services should you use?
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and App Engine
Why wrong: App Engine is not GKE.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Run
Why wrong: Cloud Run is not GKE.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Deploy with GKE target
Cloud Deploy supports GKE and canary deployments.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Spinnaker
Why wrong: Spinnaker is not a Google Cloud service.
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 Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Deploy with GKE target
Option C is correct because Cloud Deploy provides native support for canary deployments and progressive delivery strategies to GKE targets, enabling independent release cycles per microservice. Cloud Source Repositories hosts the code, Cloud Build compiles and tests it, and Cloud Deploy manages the rollout with Skaffold-based pipelines, allowing fine-grained traffic splitting and automated promotion or rollback.
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 Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and App Engine
Why it's wrong here
App Engine is not GKE.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Run
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Run is not GKE.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Deploy with GKE target
Why this is correct
Cloud Deploy supports GKE and canary deployments.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Spinnaker
Why it's wrong here
Spinnaker is not a Google Cloud service.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse Cloud Run's traffic splitting with full canary deployment orchestration, or assume App Engine's flexible environment can target GKE, when in fact Cloud Deploy is the only Google Cloud service designed specifically for progressive delivery to GKE targets.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud Deploy uses Skaffold to define delivery pipelines and supports canary deployment strategies via Kubernetes manifests with traffic management (e.g., using Service Mesh or ingress controllers). Under the hood, Cloud Deploy creates a rollout object that manages the progression from a stable to a canary revision, automatically adjusting traffic percentages based on the defined strategy (e.g., 5%, 25%, 50%, 100%). In real-world scenarios, this allows teams to gradually shift traffic to a new version of a microservice while monitoring error rates and latency, and automatically roll back if thresholds are breached.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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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 Source Repositories, Cloud Build, and Cloud Deploy with GKE target — Option C is correct because Cloud Deploy provides native support for canary deployments and progressive delivery strategies to GKE targets, enabling independent release cycles per microservice. Cloud Source Repositories hosts the code, Cloud Build compiles and tests it, and Cloud Deploy manages the rollout with Skaffold-based pipelines, allowing fine-grained traffic splitting and automated promotion or rollback.
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 25, 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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