Deployment Procedures
Deployment principles and decision-making for safe production releases. Learn to THINK, not memorize scripts.
⚠️ How to Use This Skill
This skill teaches deployment principles, not bash scripts to copy.
- Every deployment is unique
- Understand the WHY behind each step
- Adapt procedures to your platform
1. Platform Selection
Decision Tree
What are you deploying?
│
├── Static site / JAMstack
│ └── Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages
│
├── Simple web app
│ ├── Managed → Railway, Render, Fly.io
│ └── Control → VPS + PM2/Docker
│
├── Microservices
│ └── Container orchestration
│
└── Serverless
└── Edge functions, Lambda
Each Platform Has Different Procedures
| Platform | Deployment Method |
|---|
| Vercel/Netlify | Git push, auto-deploy |
| Railway/Render | Git push or CLI |
| VPS + PM2 | SSH + manual steps |
| Docker | Image push + orchestration |
| Kubernetes | kubectl apply |
2. Pre-Deployment Principles
The 4 Verification Categories
| Category | What to Check |
|---|
| Code Quality | Tests passing, linting clean, reviewed |
| Build | Production build works, no warnings |
| Environment | Env vars set, secrets current |
| Safety | Backup done, rollback plan ready |
Pre-Deployment Checklist
- All tests passing
- Code reviewed and approved
- Production build successful
- Environment variables verified
- Database migrations ready (if any)
- Rollback plan documented
- Team notified
- Monitoring ready
3. Deployment Workflow Principles
The 5-Phase Process
1. PREPARE
└── Verify code, build, env vars
2. BACKUP
└── Save current state before changing
3. DEPLOY
└── Execute with monitoring open
4. VERIFY
└── Health check, logs, key flows
5. CONFIRM or ROLLBACK
└── All good? Confirm. Issues? Rollback.
Phase Principles
| Phase | Principle |
|---|
| Prepare | Never deploy untested code |
| Backup | Can't rollback without backup |
| Deploy | Watch it happen, don't walk away |
| Verify | Trust but verify |
| Confirm | Have rollback trigger ready |
4. Post-Deployment Verification
What to Verify
| Check | Why |
|---|
| Health endpoint | Service is running |
| Error logs | No new errors |
| Key user flows | Critical features work |
| Performance | Response times acceptable |
Verification Window
- First 5 minutes: Active monitoring
- 15 minutes: Confirm stable
- 1 hour: Final verification
- Next day: Review metrics
5. Rollback Principles
When to Rollback
| Symptom | Action |
|---|
| Service down | Rollback immediately |
| Critical errors | Rollback |
| Performance >50% degraded | Consider rollback |
| Minor issues | Fix forward if quick |
Rollback Strategy by Platform
| Platform | Rollback Method |
|---|
| Vercel/Netlify | Redeploy previous commit |
| Railway/Render | Rollback in dashboard |
| VPS + PM2 | Restore backup, restart |
| Docker | Previous image tag |
| K8s | kubectl rollout undo |
Rollback Principles
- Speed over perfection: Rollback first, debug later
- Don't compound errors: One rollback, not multiple changes
- Communicate: Tell team what happened
- Post-mortem: Understand why after stable
6. Zero-Downtime Deployment
Strategies
| Strategy | How It Works |
|---|
| Rolling | Replace instances one by one |
| Blue-Green | Switch traffic between environments |
| Canary | Gradual traffic shift |
Selection Principles
| Scenario | Strategy |
|---|
| Standard release | Rolling |
| High-risk change | Blue-green (easy rollback) |
| Need validation | Canary (test with real traffic) |
7. Emergency Procedures
Service Down Priority
- Assess: What's the symptom?
- Quick fix: Restart if unclear
- Rollback: If restart doesn't help
- Investigate: After stable
Investigation Order
| Check | Common Issues |
|---|
| Logs | Errors, exceptions |
| Resources | Disk full, memory |
| Network | DNS, firewall |
| Dependencies | Database, APIs |
8. Anti-Patterns
| ❌ Don't | ✅ Do |
|---|
| Deploy on Friday | Deploy early in week |
| Rush deployment | Follow the process |
| Skip staging | Always test first |
| Deploy without backup | Backup before deploy |
| Walk away after deploy | Monitor for 15+ min |
| Multiple changes at once | One change at a time |
9. Decision Checklist
Before deploying:
- Platform-appropriate procedure?
- Backup strategy ready?
- Rollback plan documented?
- Monitoring configured?
- Team notified?
- Time to monitor after?
10. Best Practices
- Small, frequent deploys over big releases
- Feature flags for risky changes
- Automate repetitive steps
- Document every deployment
- Review what went wrong after issues
- Test rollback before you need it
Remember: Every deployment is a risk. Minimize risk through preparation, not speed.
