ci-cd-pipeline-design

name	ci-cd-pipeline-design
description	Design CI/CD pipelines with explicit stage order, quality gates, artifact traceability, and rollback safety. Use when build/test/release flow is being created or changed and teams need deterministic release controls before adoption; do not use for application-domain algorithm or schema design.

CI CD Pipeline Design

Overview

Use this skill to design delivery pipelines that are deterministic, auditable, and safe under both success and failure paths.

Scope Boundaries

• Use this skill when the task matches the trigger condition described in description.
• Do not use this skill when the primary task falls outside this skill's domain.

Inputs To Gather

• Repository topology (mono-repo/multi-repo), services affected, and deployment targets.
• Required checks (lint, test, security, compliance, performance) and risk tolerance.
• Artifact model (build outputs, provenance, signing, retention).
• Rollout model (blue/green, canary, phased, manual approvals).

Deliverables

• Pipeline stage blueprint with gate criteria and ownership.
• Artifact traceability model (source -> build -> deployable -> environment).
• Failure-path policy (auto-stop, rollback, manual override policy).
• Verification checklist for rollout and rollback readiness.

Quick Start Blueprint

Baseline stage order

1. validate (format/lint/static checks)
2. test (unit/integration)
3. package (immutable artifact creation)
4. security (SCA, secrets, policy checks)
5. pre-release (staging deploy + smoke)
6. release (progressive production rollout)

Example gate policy

• No deploy if unit tests, integration tests, or security checks fail.
• Deploy only immutable artifacts produced by current commit.
• Rollback trigger: SLO breach or error-rate threshold breach during rollout window.

Quality Standard

• Stage order is deterministic and enforces risk reduction early.
• Each gate has binary pass/fail criteria and named owner.
• Artifacts are immutable and traceable to source commit.
• Rollback path is validated, not assumed.
• Manual approvals are explicit and auditable where required.

Workflow

1. Define delivery risks and non-negotiable release constraints.
2. Design stage sequence from fastest/high-signal checks to rollout.
3. Define gate criteria and failure behavior per stage.
4. Define artifact lineage and environment promotion rules.
5. Validate success and failure paths with dry-runs.
6. Publish operating policy and handoff guidance.

Failure Conditions

• Stop when release-critical gates are undefined or non-deterministic.
• Stop when rollback path cannot be executed within required recovery time.
• Escalate when policy/compliance gates are bypassed without approved exception.