# Deployment Checklist # Deployment Checklist > **Project:** {{PROJECT_NAME}} > **Version:** {{VERSION}} > **Date:** {{DATE}} > **Author:** {{AUTHOR}} > **Status:** Draft | In Review | Approved > **Reviewers:** {{REVIEWERS}} ## Document History | Version | Date | Author | Changes | |---------|------|--------|---------| | 0.1 | {{DATE}} | {{AUTHOR}} | Initial draft | --- ## Deployment Metadata | Field | Value | |-------|-------| | **Version** | {{VERSION}} | | **Target Environment** | {{ENVIRONMENT}} | | **Deployment Date** | {{DATE}} | | **Deployment Time** | {{TIME}} {{TIMEZONE}} | | **Deploy Engineer** | {{ENGINEER}} | | **Approver** | {{APPROVER}} | | **Deployment Type** | {{TYPE}} | | **Change Request #** | {{CR_NUMBER}} | | **Rollback Version** | {{ROLLBACK_VERSION}} | --- ## 1. Pre-Deployment Checklist ### Code Quality Gates - [ ] **Code reviewed and approved** — all PRs in this release have ≥ {{REVIEW_COUNT}} approvals - [ ] **All unit tests passing** — CI pipeline green on the release branch - [ ] **All integration tests passing** — CI pipeline integration stage green - [ ] **Code coverage meets minimum** — ≥ {{COV_GATE}}% (current: {{CURRENT_COV}}%) - [ ] **No HIGH/CRITICAL security findings** — SAST and SCA scans clean - [ ] **No secrets detected** — secret scanning clean - [ ] **Linting passes** — no errors in CI lint stage ### Staging Verification - [ ] **Staging deployment complete** — this exact artifact has been deployed to staging - [ ] **E2E tests passing on staging** — automated suite green ({{PASS_COUNT}}/{{TOTAL_COUNT}} tests) - [ ] **Manual QA sign-off obtained** — QA team has reviewed new features - [ ] **Performance baseline not degraded** — P95 within {{PERF_GATE}}% of baseline - [ ] **Visual regression checks passed** (if UI changes) ### Database & Migrations - [ ] **Database migrations reviewed** — SQL reviewed by a second person - [ ] **Migrations tested on staging** — ran successfully, duration recorded: {{MIGRATION_TIME}}min - [ ] **Down/rollback migration tested** — `migrate down` executes without errors - [ ] **Migration script idempotent** — safe to run twice without errors - [ ] **Estimated migration time on production** documented: {{PROD_MIGRATION_TIME}}min - [ ] **Data backup taken** (if destructive migration) — backup ID: {{BACKUP_ID}} ### Environment & Configuration - [ ] **All environment variables documented** and updated in {{SECRET_STORE}} - [ ] **New secrets provisioned** in production secret store - [ ] **Configuration changes reviewed** — no unintended changes from staging - [ ] **External API keys** are live (not sandbox) credentials - [ ] **DNS records verified** (if changes required) ### Feature Flags - [ ] **Feature flags configured** — new features default OFF in production - [ ] **Kill switches in place** for all new significant features - [ ] **Rollout plan documented** — which flags, in what order, over what timeline - [ ] **Feature flag audit complete** — no stale flags from previous releases ### Rollback Readiness - [ ] **Rollback plan documented** — see Section 5 and [rollback-plan.md](./rollback-plan.md) - [ ] **Previous version artifact available** — `{{PREV_IMAGE}}` in registry - [ ] **Rollback tested** on staging (if DB migrations are included) - [ ] **Rollback owner assigned** — {{ROLLBACK_OWNER}} is available during deployment ### Operational Readiness - [ ] **On-call engineer notified** — {{ONCALL}} is aware and available - [ ] **Deployment window confirmed** — {{TIME}} - {{END_TIME}} (off-peak) - [ ] **Monitoring dashboards open** and ready - [ ] **War room set up** — {{WAR_ROOM_LINK}} - [ ] **Change request approved** — CR-{{CR_NUMBER}} approved by {{APPROVER}} on {{DATE}} --- ## 2. During Deployment | Step | Time | Actor | Status | Notes | |------|------|-------|--------|-------| | Announce deployment start in war room | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Enable maintenance mode (if required) | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Trigger deployment pipeline: `{{PIPELINE_LINK}}` | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Monitor deployment progress | | {{ENGINEER}} | | Watching for errors | | Run database migrations (if applicable) | | {{DB_OWNER}} | | Duration: {{TIME}}min | | Verify migration success: `{{VERIFY_CMD}}` | | {{DB_OWNER}} | | | | Confirm new instances healthy (health checks green) | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Confirm all instances running new version | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Run smoke tests: `bash scripts/smoke-tests.sh {{ENV}}` | | {{QA}} | | | | Verify health endpoint: `curl {{URL}}/health` | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | | Disable maintenance mode (if enabled) | | {{ENGINEER}} | | | --- ## 3. Post-Deployment Checklist ### Immediate Verification (First 15 Minutes) - [ ] **Health checks passing** — all instances healthy per load balancer - [ ] **Smoke tests pass** — automated smoke suite green - [ ] **Critical user journey manual test** — manually verify {{CRITICAL_JOURNEY}} - [ ] **Error rate normal** — < {{ERROR_THRESHOLD}}% (check {{DASHBOARD_LINK}}) - [ ] **P99 latency normal** — < {{P99_THRESHOLD}}ms - [ ] **Database connections normal** — no connection pool saturation - [ ] **No unexpected errors in logs** — {{LOG_DASHBOARD_LINK}} shows clean logs ### Feature Validation (First 30 Minutes) - [ ] **New features functional** — quick manual test of each feature in scope - [ ] **Feature flags enabled per rollout plan** — {{FF_DASHBOARD}} shows correct state - [ ] **Third-party integrations working** — payments, email, external APIs responding - [ ] **Version confirmed** — `GET /api/version` or equivalent returns `{{VERSION}}` ### Monitoring Setup (First 60 Minutes) - [ ] **Performance baseline compared** — P95 matches or beats staging baseline - [ ] **CPU and memory normal** — no upward trend - [ ] **Alerting verified** — test alert confirms delivery to on-call - [ ] **Stakeholders notified** — release announcement sent to {{NOTIFY_LIST}} - [ ] **Documentation updated** — release notes published --- ## 4. Rollback Procedure (Quick Reference) **Rollback triggers (any one sufficient):** - Smoke tests fail after deployment - Error rate > {{ROLLBACK_ERROR}}% for > {{ROLLBACK_DURATION}} consecutive minutes - P99 > {{ROLLBACK_P99}}ms sustained - Data integrity issue detected **Rollback authorization:** {{ROLLBACK_AUTHORITY}} or senior engineer on duty **Rollback steps:** ```bash # 1. Announce in war room: "Initiating rollback to {{ROLLBACK_VERSION}}" # 2. Trigger rollback: {{ROLLBACK_CMD}} # 3. If DB migration was included — run down migration: {{DOWN_MIGRATION_CMD}} # 4. Verify rollback: curl {{URL}}/health bash scripts/smoke-tests.sh {{ENV}} ``` **Expected rollback time:** {{ROLLBACK_TIME}} minutes **Full rollback procedure:** [rollback-plan.md](./rollback-plan.md) --- ## 5. Emergency Deployment Process Emergency deployments require: 1. Sign-off from {{EMERGENCY_AUTHORITY}} (Engineering Manager or above) 2. At least {{EMERGENCY_REVIEWS}} code reviewer (can be async if truly urgent) 3. Staging deployment and smoke test (cannot be skipped) 4. Enhanced post-deploy monitoring for {{EMERGENCY_MONITOR}}h 5. Full retroactive change request within {{CR_SLA}}h of deployment **Emergency deployment allowed:** Security vulnerabilities, data loss bugs, P1 service outages --- ## 6. Deployment Window & Blackout Periods **Standard deployment window:** {{DEPLOY_WINDOW}} **Emergency deployments:** Any time, with approvals **Blackout periods (no production deployments):** | Period | Dates | Reason | |--------|-------|--------| | End of year | {{EOY_START}} – {{EOY_END}} | High traffic, minimal support | | {{EVENT_1}} | {{DATE_1}} | {{REASON_1}} | | {{EVENT_2}} | {{DATE_2}} | {{REASON_2}} | --- ## Sign-Off **Pre-deployment confirmed by:** {{ENGINEER}} on {{DATE}} at {{TIME}} **Deployment completed by:** {{ENGINEER}} on {{DATE}} at {{TIME}} **Post-deployment verified by:** {{ENGINEER}} on {{DATE}} at {{TIME}} --- ## Related Documents - [Release Notes](./release-notes.md) - [Rollback Plan](./rollback-plan.md) - [Go-Live Runbook](../OPERATIONS/go-live-runbook.md) - [Operational Runbook](../OPERATIONS/operational-runbook.md) --- ## Approval | Role | Name | Date | Signature | |------|------|------|-----------| | Author | | | | | Reviewer | | | | | Approver | | | |