Jenkins

Jenkins is an open-source automation server and leading provider of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) solutions for software development teams worldwide. Originally developed as Hudson in 2004 and forked to Jenkins in 2011, the platform has become the de facto standard for automating software build, test, and deployment processes. With an extensive plugin ecosystem comprising over 1,800 community-contributed plugins, Jenkins enables developers to integrate virtually any tool in the software development lifecycle, from version control systems to deployment platforms. As a community-driven project under the Continuous Delivery Foundation, Jenkins serves millions of users globally across organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. The platform's flexibility, extensibility, and vendor-neutral approach have made it the most widely adopted CI/CD tool in the DevOps ecosystem. Jenkins supports distributed build environments, pipeline-as-code through Jenkinsfile, and seamless integration with modern cloud platforms and container orchestration systems. The project maintains both a free open-source version and enterprise distributions through various commercial partners who provide additional support, security, and management features for large-scale deployments.