Writing multi-stage YAML pipelines
In addition to the visual designer for release definitions, it is also possible to implement continuous deployment using YAML pipelines. When doing so, it is still recommended to differentiate between the build (Continuous Integration (CI)) and release (Continuous Deployment (CD)) phases of a pipeline. The concept of stages is used to make this possible. A YAML pipeline can be divided into one or more stages. A stage can represent an environment such as test, acceptance, or production, but this isn’t always true. If, in an application scenario, it makes sense to add extra stages such as pre-production or staging, you can include additional stages as applicable. It is good practice to publish pipeline artifacts in earlier stages and to consume or download artifacts in later stages.
Multi-stage YAML pipelines are the new default for creating pipelines in Azure DevOps. Since working with YAML pipelines can have a steeper learning curve than...