Critical Path - CI/CD Glossary Definition
The critical path is the longest chain of dependent steps in a pipeline, the sequence that determines the minimum possible total duration. Speeding up any step not on the critical path does not make the pipeline finish sooner.
Finding it
In a job graph with needs: dependencies, trace the longest dependent chain from start to finish. If build (5m) blocks integration tests (8m) which block deploy (2m), the critical path is 15 minutes regardless of how many other jobs run in parallel beside it. Optimizing the slowest step on that chain, or breaking a dependency, is the only way to shorten the run.
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