Contributed by Tracy Ragan, cdCon 2026 Program Chair
As Chairperson of cdCon 2026, I am excited to share the vision behind this year’s cdCon and why it’s shaping up to be one of the most important gatherings our community has hosted. This year, cdCon is intentionally designed around intensive learning and deep knowledge sharing in four critical areas that are actively driving the evolution of DevOps, CI/CD, and platform engineering.
The way we build, deliver, and operate software is changing rapidly. CI/CD pipelines are no longer responsible for shipping application code alone; they now support complex platforms, distributed systems, and increasingly, AI and machine learning workloads. At the same time, security expectations are rising, and open source software continues to form the backbone of modern delivery. cdCon 2026 is focused on giving practitioners the clarity, skills, and shared understanding needed to navigate and lead this change.
AI and ML in CI/CD and Platform Engineering
AI and machine learning are no longer experimental side projects in the CI/CD world. They are increasingly embedded into pipelines, platforms, and operational workflows, and CI/CD itself must evolve to support the delivery of large models, AI agents, and continuously learning systems alongside traditional application code.
At cdCon 2026, this track will feature talks about how AI and ML are being applied practically across CI/CD and platform engineering, from intelligent pipeline optimization and failure detection to model packaging, versioning, promotion, and automated decision-making that spans the entire delivery pipeline.
This track is not about hype. It is about understanding where AI delivers real value today, how to responsibly integrate models and AI workloads into existing workflows, and how to avoid introducing new operational, governance, or security risks. Attendees will leave with a grounded understanding of how modern delivery architectures must adapt to support both software and AI systems at scale.
Platform Engineering: Principles and Automation
Platform engineering has emerged as a defining discipline for scaling DevOps. This track is dedicated to the principles, patterns, and automation strategies that enable internal developer platforms to succeed as long-lived products.
Sessions will explore how organizations are reducing cognitive load, standardizing workflows, and improving developer experience while still maintaining flexibility and operational control. Topics will include platform architectures, golden paths, automation frameworks, and lessons learned from teams that have transitioned from ad hoc DevOps practices to intentional, platform-driven delivery models.
This is where theory meets execution, focused on what works in production and how to operationalize platform engineering at scale.
Securing Software Workflows: Principles and Best Practices Automation
Security can no longer be bolted on at the end of the pipeline. It must be engineered into software workflows from the start, and automated wherever possible. This track focuses on the principles and best practices for securing CI/CD pipelines, software supply chains, and deployment workflows without slowing teams down.
A key emphasis at cdCon 2026 will be the practical adoption of open source security tooling coming from the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and other open source projects across the ecosystem, guided by the work of the Continuous Delivery Foundation’s CI/CD Cybersecurity SIG and its associated project focused on exposing and operationalizing these tools for practitioners. Sessions will demonstrate how OpenSSF and complementary open source tooling and specifications, such as supply chain integrity checks, provenance, SBOM generation and consumption, and policy enforcement, can be mapped directly into CI/CD workflows using clear, repeatable patterns.
The intent is to move beyond isolated security scans and one-off integrations, and instead establish automated, opinionated guardrails that scale across teams and pipelines. By aligning DevOps workflows with open source security capabilities, this track shows how CI/CD pipelines and DevOps teams become key participants in defending and securing the software they deliver, especially systems that heavily consume open source components, while keeping pipelines fast, usable, and developer-friendly.
CDF Projects: From Community to Production
Open source remains the backbone of continuous delivery, and CD Foundation is the home of the projects that make it possible. cdCon 2026 will feature deep dives and community-led sessions on the core Continuous Delivery Foundation projects, including Jenkins, CDEvents, Ortelius, Screwdriver, Spinnaker, and JayeX.
These sessions are designed to help users, contributors, and platform teams understand how these projects are evolving, how they fit together, and how they are being used in real production environments. Whether you are an end-user, long-time contributor, or just getting started, this track reinforces the strength of community-driven innovation and shared ownership.
A Conference Built for Practitioners
cdCon 2026 is intentionally focused. By concentrating on these four areas, we are creating space for deeper conversations, stronger learning outcomes, and more meaningful collaboration. This is a conference for practitioners who want to understand not just what is changing, but how to apply those changes in real systems.
I invite you to join us and take an active role in the conversations shaping the future of DevOps and continuous delivery. If you have access to professional education or travel budgets, I strongly encourage you to invest them in cdCon 2026.
The insights, frameworks, and community you will gain here are foundational for understanding the skills, tooling, and training you and your teams will need next. cdCon 2026 is not just another conference; it is a strategic opportunity to align your learning with where the industry is headed and help write the next chapter of continuous delivery, together.