Continuous integration refers to the process by which developers are frequently able to merge their code into the codebase and have automated tests check the integration of that code for errors. Typical tests include test for coding standard, unit test and behavioural tests. The automated process doesn't mean that there will be no errors, just that the errors will be found more quickly, many (ideally all) of them before reaching the production environment. Having a computer run the tests frees developers from having to manually run checks every time code is released.