Inline Mermaid diagram in CONTRIBUTING.md instead of file reference

Co-authored-by: leofang <5534781+leofang@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: Copilot

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -97,7 +97,82 @@ The CUDA Python project uses a comprehensive CI pipeline that builds, tests, and
 
 Alternative Mermaid diagram representation:
 
-![ci-pipeline](ci/ci-pipeline.md)
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    %% Trigger Events
+    subgraph TRIGGER["🔄 TRIGGER EVENTS"]
+        T1["• Push to main branch<br/>• Push to pull-request/* branches"]
+        T2["• Pull request<br/>• Manual workflow dispatch"]
+        T1 --- T2
+    end
+
+    %% Build Stage
+    subgraph BUILD["🔨 BUILD STAGE"]
+        subgraph BUILD_PLATFORMS["Parallel Platform Builds"]
+            B1["linux-64<br/>(Self-hosted)"]
+            B2["linux-aarch64<br/>(Self-hosted)"] 
+            B3["win-64<br/>(GitHub-hosted)"]
+        end
+        BUILD_DETAILS["• Python versions: 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13<br/>• CUDA version: 13.0.0 (build-time)<br/>• Components: cuda-core, cuda-bindings,<br/>  cuda-pathfinder, cuda-python"]
+    end
+
+    %% Artifact Storage
+    subgraph ARTIFACTS["📦 ARTIFACT STORAGE"]
+        subgraph GITHUB_ARTIFACTS["GitHub Artifacts"]
+            GA1["• Wheel files (.whl)<br/>• Test artifacts<br/>• Documentation<br/>(30-day retention)"]
+        end
+        subgraph GITHUB_CACHE["GitHub Cache"]
+            GC1["• Mini CTK cache"]
+        end
+    end
+
+    %% Test Stage
+    subgraph TEST["🧪 TEST STAGE"]
+        subgraph TEST_PLATFORMS["Parallel Platform Tests"]
+            TS1["linux-64<br/>(Self-hosted)"]
+            TS2["linux-aarch64<br/>(Self-hosted)"]
+            TS3["win-64<br/>(GitHub-hosted)"]
+        end
+        TEST_DETAILS["• Download wheels from artifacts<br/>• Test against multiple CUDA runtime versions<br/>• Run Python unit tests, Cython tests, examples"]
+        ARTIFACT_FLOWS["Artifact Flows:<br/>• cuda-pathfinder: main → backport<br/>• cuda-bindings: backport → main"]
+    end
+
+    %% Release Pipeline
+    subgraph RELEASE["🚀 RELEASE PIPELINE"]
+        subgraph RELEASE_STAGES["Sequential Release Steps"]
+            R1["Validation<br/>• Artifact integrity<br/>• Git tag verification"]
+            R2["Publishing<br/>• PyPI/TestPyPI<br/>• Component or all releases"]
+            R3["Documentation<br/>• GitHub Pages<br/>• Release notes"]
+            R1 --> R2 --> R3
+        end
+        RELEASE_DETAILS["• Manual workflow dispatch with run ID<br/>• Supports individual component or full releases"]
+    end
+
+    %% Main Flow
+    TRIGGER --> BUILD
+    BUILD --> ARTIFACTS
+    ARTIFACTS --> TEST
+    TEST --> RELEASE
+
+    %% Artifact Flow Arrows (Cache Reuse)
+    GITHUB_CACHE -.->|"mini CTK reuse"| BUILD
+    
+    %% Artifact Flow Arrows (Wheel Fetch)
+    GITHUB_ARTIFACTS -.->|"wheel fetch"| RELEASE
+
+    %% Styling
+    classDef triggerStyle fill:#e8f4fd,stroke:#2196F3,stroke-width:2px,color:#1976D2
+    classDef buildStyle fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#9C27B0,stroke-width:2px,color:#7B1FA2
+    classDef artifactStyle fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#FF9800,stroke-width:2px,color:#F57C00
+    classDef testStyle fill:#e8f5e8,stroke:#4CAF50,stroke-width:2px,color:#388E3C
+    classDef releaseStyle fill:#ffebee,stroke:#f44336,stroke-width:2px,color:#D32F2F
+
+    class TRIGGER,T1,T2 triggerStyle
+    class BUILD,BUILD_PLATFORMS,B1,B2,B3,BUILD_DETAILS buildStyle
+    class ARTIFACTS,GITHUB_ARTIFACTS,GITHUB_CACHE,GA1,GC1 artifactStyle
+    class TEST,TEST_PLATFORMS,TS1,TS2,TS3,TEST_DETAILS,ARTIFACT_FLOWS testStyle
+    class RELEASE,RELEASE_STAGES,R1,R2,R3,RELEASE_DETAILS releaseStyle
+```
 
 ### Pipeline Execution Details