AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
You are configuring a build pipeline for a JavaScript application. You want to run linting, unit tests, and build steps only when changes are pushed to the 'develop' branch. Which trigger should you configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse CI triggers with pull request triggers, mistakenly thinking a CI trigger without branch filters is sufficient, but the branch filter is essential to restrict execution to a specific branch.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable CI trigger with a branch filter for 'develop'.
Enabling a CI trigger with a branch filter for 'develop' ensures that the pipeline automatically runs linting, unit tests, and build steps only when changes are pushed to the 'develop' branch. This matches the requirement precisely, as CI triggers respond to push events, and the branch filter restricts execution to the specified branch.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable pull request trigger.
Why it's wrong here
A pull request trigger is designed to run the pipeline when a pull request is created or updated, not when code is pushed directly to a branch. Since the requirement is to build on direct pushes to the develop branch, this trigger would not fire in the intended scenario and would leave the branch unbuilt until a PR is opened.
- ✗
Enable scheduled trigger.
Why it's wrong here
A scheduled trigger runs the pipeline at predetermined times (e.g., nightly builds) and is independent of source control events. It cannot guarantee that a build occurs immediately after a push to develop, so it fails to provide continuous integration feedback for each commit.
- ✗
Enable continuous integration (CI) trigger without branch filters.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling CI without branch filters runs the pipeline on every push to any branch in the repository, including feature, release, or hotfix branches. This would cause excessive and unnecessary builds for branches that are not the target, wasting resources and diverging from the requirement to build only the develop branch.
- ✓
Enable CI trigger with a branch filter for 'develop'.
Why this is correct
Enabling CI with a branch filter for 'develop' ensures the pipeline is triggered automatically on every push to the develop branch, while ignoring pushes to other branches. This provides immediate build validation for changes integrated into the mainline, aligning exactly with the requirement of building on direct pushes to develop.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Designing a Build Pipeline
Key term
Pipeline
A pipeline is an automated series of steps that takes code from development to production, ensuring quality and speed.
Key term
Branch
A branch is a pointer to a specific commit in a version control system that allows you to work on features or fixes in isolation from the main codebase.
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