Deployment Procedures

Deployment Procedures

Every deployment is a risk. Minimize risk through preparation, not speed.

1. Pre-Deployment Principles

The 4 Verification Categories

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

2. The 5-Phase Deployment 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

3. Platform-Specific Procedures

Vercel

# Preview deploy (automatic on PR)
git push origin feature-branch

# Production deploy
git push origin main
# or
vercel --prod

Firebase

# Deploy hosting
firebase deploy --only hosting

# Deploy functions
firebase deploy --only functions

Docker/VPS

# Build and push
docker build -t app:latest .
docker push registry/app:latest

# On server
docker pull registry/app:latest
docker-compose up -d

4. Rollback Strategies

When to Rollback

Rollback by Platform

5. Zero-Downtime Strategies

6. Anti-Patterns

7. Decision Checklist

Before deploying:

• Platform-appropriate procedure?
• Backup strategy ready?
• Rollback plan documented?
• Monitoring configured?
• Team notified?
• Time to monitor after?

8. Best Practices

1. Small, frequent deploys over big releases
2. Feature flags for risky changes
3. Automate repetitive steps
4. Document every deployment
5. Review what went wrong after issues
6. Test rollback before you need it

9. Example Deployment Flow

develop → staging (auto) → main → production (auto)
    │          │              │
    └── PR ────┴── Review ────┴── Deploy

Branch Protection

• main requires PR approval
• CI must pass before merge
• No force push allowed

Golden Rule: If in doubt, don't deploy. Wait, prepare, then deploy.