release-gate

name	release-gate
description	Check deployment, staging, rollback, and health verification before release. Use for user-facing, infrastructure, CI/CD, integration, or high-risk changes.

Release Gate

Use this before staging or production release.

Workflow

1. Confirm the reviewed commit or artifact being released.
2. Confirm environment and deployment mechanism.
3. Run the smallest deployment validation available.
4. Smoke-test the critical route or workflow.
5. Record rollback path.
6. Create a HITL issue if deployment needs missing human-held access.

Required For Medium/High Risk

• CI status
• Review status
• Target environment
• Smoke test command
• Rollback command or previous artifact
• Health check signal

Guardrails

• Prefer deploying reviewed artifacts over rebuilding unreviewed source.
• Do not deploy production from unreviewed PRs.
• Do not silently work around missing secrets, DNS, or account permissions.
• Do not run automated tests against staging or production databases.
• Back up staging before intentional staging data changes, not before ordinary test runs.