| name | ops-deploy |
| description | Deploy Rails applications via… |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read"] |
Ops: Deploy
Deploy the Rails application to remote environments.
Argument: $ARGUMENTS — environment (staging, production) and optional method (kamal, ci; default: kamal)
Safety
CRITICAL: Production deployments require explicit human confirmation before proceeding. Always ask for confirmation when $ARGUMENTS contains production.
Discovery
- Read
config/deploy.yml to discover the Kamal configuration: service name, registry, image, servers, accessories
- Read
config/deploy.staging.yml and config/deploy.production.yml for environment-specific overrides
- Verify the specific environment-variable keys needed for the deploy are present in
.env.staging / .env.production (or in SSM) without printing secret values
- Read
Dockerfile to understand the Docker build stages
CI/CD Path (Preferred)
The standard deployment path is via CI/CD — pushing to environment branches triggers auto-deploy.
git push origin HEAD:staging
git push origin HEAD:production
Monitor the deployment via GitHub Actions:
gh run list --branch {environment} --limit 3
gh run watch {run-id}
Kamal Deployment (Manual)
Pre-Deploy Checks
-
Verify Kamal is installed:
kamal version
-
Verify Docker builds locally:
docker build -t {app_name}:test .
-
Check current deployment state:
kamal details -d {environment}
-
Check for deploy lock:
kamal lock status -d {environment}
If locked from a previous interrupted deploy: kamal lock release -d {environment}
Deploy to Staging
kamal deploy -d staging
Deploy to Production
Requires explicit human confirmation.
kamal deploy -d production
Deploy with Specific Git Ref
kamal deploy -d {environment} --version {git-sha-or-tag}
Rollback
If a deploy causes issues, roll back to the previous version:
kamal app containers -d {environment}
kamal rollback {previous-version} -d {environment}
Post-Deploy Verification
After any deployment:
-
Health check the deployed environment:
curl -sf -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code} in %{time_total}s" https://{app_host}/up
-
Verify ECS service stability (running count matches desired count):
aws ecs describe-services \
--cluster {cluster-name} \
--services {service-name} \
--region {aws-region} \
--query 'services[0].{Running:runningCount,Desired:desiredCount,Status:status}' \
--output table
-
Check for migration status (if migrations were included):
kamal app exec --roles=web "bin/rails db:migrate:status" -d {environment}
-
Check logs for errors in the first 5 minutes (use ops-check-logs skill)
-
Verify Solid Queue workers are running (use ops-verify-jobs skill)
-
Verify OpenTelemetry traces are being exported (use ops-verify-telemetry skill)
Kamal Utility Commands
| Command | Purpose |
|---|
kamal details -d {env} | Show current deployment details |
kamal app logs -d {env} | Tail application logs |
kamal app exec --roles=web "bin/rails console" -d {env} | Open Rails console on remote |
kamal audit -d {env} | Show deploy audit log |
kamal env push -d {env} | Push updated environment variables |
kamal lock status -d {env} | Check deploy lock status |
kamal lock release -d {env} | Release a stale deploy lock |
kamal traefik reboot -d {env} | Restart the Traefik proxy |
Output Format
Report deployment result as a table:
| Target | Environment | Method | Status | Verification |
|---|
| Rails app | staging | Kamal | SUCCESS/FAIL | /up returns 200 |
| ECS tasks | staging | N/A | STABLE/UNSTABLE | running == desired |
| Solid Queue | staging | N/A | RUNNING/DOWN | workers have heartbeat |