# CodePipeline
A fully managed CI/CD pipeline.

- **Pipeline** is what encompasses all components.
- **Stage** represents a step in the pipeline. The most common steps would be [[_CodeCommit|Source]] -> Build -> Deploy. You may add many stages, so use your creativity.
- **Action Groups** group several **Actions** together.
- **Actions** do things. The can pull source code, build and run tests, deploy to production, invoke a [[_Lambda|_Lambda]], invoke a [[_CloudFormation|CloudFormation]] template.
- **Artifacts** are zips containing files outputted by an **Action**. An **Artifact** can be passed to any future **Actions** and some **Actions** require to input an **Artifact** and can optionally output an **Artifact**.
- **Stage Transitions** link the pipeline stages together.

## CodePipeline Actions
Actions are not restricted to specific stages. You can use Deploy Actions is a Build Stage. Pipeline are only limited by your creativity. You can create custom actions if you need functionality beyond default.