Is It Out of Scope? — Web development
Is setting up CI/CD for the client's repo out of scope for a web development project?
Usually yes, unless the original quote already specified an automated deploy pipeline.
Most fixed-price builds ship with a manual deploy step — push, then deploy by hand or via a one-off script. A client noticing this and asking for "proper CI/CD" is asking for a genuinely separate piece of tooling.
Is it out of scope?
Yes, unless it was quoted. A CI/CD pipeline — automated tests, build, and deploy on push — is its own configuration deliverable distinct from building the site itself.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Deliverables clause→ — The quote covers building and deploying the site once; an automated CI/CD pipeline is a separate, unquoted tooling deliverable.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
The build didn't include a CI/CD pipeline — that's separate tooling work to set up automated tests and deploys, which I can scope and quote on its own.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags CI/CD setup requests outside_scope on development contracts unless the SOW explicitly listed an automated deploy pipeline.