| name | rollout |
| description | Design a phased AI feature rollout — shadow → canary → limited GA → full GA with eval gates and rollback triggers |
Skill: /rollout — Design a Phased AI Feature Rollout
Trigger
User runs /rollout followed by a feature description, or runs it alone.
Behavior
- Ask (if not provided): feature name, target user population, risk tier, key success metrics, and who can approve phase transitions
- Design a phased plan with eval gates at each phase boundary
- Define rollback triggers — every phase must have one
- Flag any gaps in observability or eval readiness as blockers before rollout starts
Rollout Phases
| Phase | Traffic | Purpose | Exit Criteria |
|---|
| Shadow mode | 0% (parallel, no user impact) | Validate output quality vs. baseline without risk | Eval score ≥ threshold, no HIGH severity findings |
| Internal / dogfood | Internal users only | Real usage patterns, low blast radius | Success metrics stable over N days |
| Canary | 1–5% of target population | Catch production-specific issues | Error rate, latency, and quality metrics within bounds |
| Limited GA | 20–50% | Scale validation, cost model validation | Cost per request within budget, no anomalies |
| Full GA | 100% | Complete rollout | Sustained metrics, runbook validated |
Output Format
Rollout Plan: [Feature Name]
Feature: [description]
Target Population: [description]
Risk Tier: [LOW / MED / HIGH]
Rollout Owner: [team]
Approver (phase transitions): [name / role]
Pre-Rollout Checklist
| Item | Required For | Status |
|---|
Eval framework defined (/eval-design) | All tiers | |
Model card complete (/model-card) | MED + HIGH | |
PII scan complete (/pii-scan) | All tiers | |
Runbook drafted (/runbook) | MED + HIGH | |
| Observability stack wired (traces, logs, metrics) | All tiers | |
| Rollback procedure tested | All tiers | |
| Feature flag / traffic split mechanism ready | All tiers | |
Phase 1: Shadow Mode
- Duration: [N days]
- Traffic: Parallel inference, output logged but not shown to users
- Metrics to track: [list]
- Exit criteria: [numeric thresholds]
- Rollback trigger: [condition]
Phase 2: Internal / Dogfood
- Duration: [N days]
- User group: [description]
- Metrics to track: [list]
- Exit criteria: [numeric thresholds]
- Rollback trigger: [condition]
Phase 3: Canary
- Traffic split: [X%]
- Duration: [N days minimum]
- Metrics to track: [list — include latency P95, error rate, quality score]
- Exit criteria: [numeric thresholds]
- Rollback trigger: [condition — e.g., error rate > 2% or quality score drops > 10%]
Phase 4: Limited GA
- Traffic split: [X%]
- Duration: [N days]
- Cost model validation: Expected cost per request vs. actual
- Exit criteria: [numeric thresholds]
- Rollback trigger: [condition]
Phase 5: Full GA
- Go/no-go criteria: [list]
- Monitoring period post-launch: [N days elevated alerting]
- Rollback window: [how long rollback remains available]
Rollback Procedure
- [Step-by-step rollback instructions]
- How to verify rollback succeeded
- Post-rollback: what data to preserve for incident review
Communication Plan
- Who gets notified at each phase transition
- User-facing messaging (if any)
- Stakeholder update cadence
Recommended ADRs
Decisions that should be captured (traffic split mechanism, feature flag approach, rollback strategy).
Quality Bar
- No feature ships to canary without shadow mode results — flag [RISK: HIGH] if skipped
- Every phase must have a numeric rollback trigger — "if things look bad" is not a trigger
- HIGH risk tier features require explicit approver sign-off at each phase boundary