| name | devops-deployment |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Claude Code 2.1.183+. |
| description | Use when setting up CI/CD pipelines, containerizing applications, deploying to Kubernetes, or writing infrastructure as code. DevOps & Deployment covers GitHub Actions, Docker, Helm, and Terraform patterns. |
| tags | ["devops","ci-cd","docker","kubernetes","terraform"] |
| context | fork |
| agent | ci-cd-engineer |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | OrchestKit |
| user-invocable | false |
| disable-model-invocation | false |
| complexity | medium |
| persuasion-type | guidance |
| metadata | {"category":"workflow-automation"} |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Glob","Grep","WebFetch","WebSearch"] |
| paths | [".github/workflows/**","Dockerfile*","docker-compose*","**/k8s/**","**/terraform/**"] |
| path_patterns | ["*.tf","*.tfvars","**/k8s/**","**/helm/**","Dockerfile*",".github/workflows/*"] |
| invocation_hooks | ["command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo 'Warning: docker not found — container operations will fail'"] |
DevOps & Deployment Skill
Comprehensive frameworks for CI/CD pipelines, containerization, deployment strategies, and infrastructure automation.
Note: If disableSkillShellExecution is enabled (CC 2.1.91), the Docker install check won't run. Verify Docker is available for container operations: docker --version.
Overview
- Setting up CI/CD pipelines
- Containerizing applications
- Deploying to Kubernetes or cloud platforms
- Implementing GitOps workflows
- Managing infrastructure as code
- Planning release strategies
Pipeline Architecture
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Code │──>│ Build │──>│ Test │──>│ Deploy │
│ Commit │ │ & Lint │ │ & Scan │ │ & Release │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
│ │ │ │
v v v v
Triggers Artifacts Reports Monitoring
Key Concepts
CI/CD Pipeline Stages
- Lint & Type Check - Code quality gates
- Unit Tests - Test coverage with reporting
- Security Scan - npm audit + Trivy vulnerability scanner
- Build & Push - Docker image to container registry
- Deploy Staging - Environment-gated deployment
- Deploy Production - Manual approval or automated
Container Best Practices
Multi-stage builds minimize image size:
- Stage 1: Install production dependencies only
- Stage 2: Build application with dev dependencies
- Stage 3: Production runtime with minimal footprint
Security hardening:
- Non-root user (uid 1001)
- Read-only filesystem where possible
- Health checks for orchestrator integration
Kubernetes Deployment
Essential manifests:
- Deployment with rolling update strategy
- Service for internal routing
- Ingress for external access with TLS
- HorizontalPodAutoscaler for scaling
Security context:
runAsNonRoot: true
allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
- Drop all capabilities
Deployment Strategies
| Strategy | Use Case | Risk |
|---|
| Rolling | Default, gradual replacement | Low - automatic rollback |
| Blue-Green | Instant switch, easy rollback | Medium - double resources |
| Canary | Progressive traffic shift | Low - gradual exposure |
Rolling Update (Kubernetes default):
strategy:
type: RollingUpdate
rollingUpdate:
maxSurge: 25%
maxUnavailable: 0
Secrets Management
Use External Secrets Operator to sync from cloud providers:
- AWS Secrets Manager
- HashiCorp Vault
- Azure Key Vault
- GCP Secret Manager
References
Docker Patterns
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/docker-patterns.md")
Key topics covered:
- Multi-stage build examples with 78% size reduction
- Layer caching optimization
- Security hardening (non-root, health checks)
- Trivy vulnerability scanning
- Docker Compose development setup
CI/CD Pipelines
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/ci-cd-pipelines.md")
Key topics covered:
- Branch strategy (Git Flow)
- GitHub Actions caching (85% time savings)
- Artifact management
- Matrix testing
- Complete backend CI/CD example
Kubernetes Basics
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/kubernetes-basics.md")
Key topics covered:
- Health probes (startup, liveness, readiness)
- Security context configuration
- PodDisruptionBudget
- Resource quotas
- StatefulSets for databases
- Helm chart structure
Environment Management
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/environment-management.md")
Key topics covered:
- External Secrets Operator
- GitOps with ArgoCD
- Terraform patterns (remote state, modules)
- Zero-downtime database migrations
- Alembic migration workflow
- Rollback procedures
Observability
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/observability.md")
Key topics covered:
- Prometheus metrics exposition
- Grafana dashboard queries (PromQL)
- Alerting rules for SLOs
- Golden signals (SRE)
- Structured logging
- Distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry)
Railway Deployment
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/railway-deployment.md")
Key topics covered:
- railway.json configuration, Nixpacks builds
- Environment variable management, database provisioning
- Multi-service setups, Railway CLI workflows
- References:
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/railway-json-config.md, ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/nixpacks-customization.md, ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/multi-service-setup.md
Deployment Strategies
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/deployment-strategies.md")
Key topics covered:
- Rolling deployment
- Blue-green deployment
- Canary releases
- Traffic splitting with Istio
Deployment Checklist & Templates
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/checklists-and-templates.md") for pre/during/post-deployment checklists, Helm chart structure, template reference table, and extended thinking triggers.
Related Skills
zero-downtime-migration - Database migration patterns for zero-downtime deployments
security-scanning - Security scanning integration for CI/CD pipelines
ork:monitoring-observability - Monitoring and alerting for deployed applications
ork:database-patterns - Python/Alembic migration workflow for backend deployments
portless (upstream) - Named .localhost URLs for multi-service local dev (portless alias api 8080)
Key Decisions
| Decision | Choice | Rationale |
|---|
| Container user | Non-root (uid 1001) | Security best practice, required by many orchestrators |
| Deployment strategy | Rolling update (default) | Zero downtime, automatic rollback, resource efficient |
| Secrets management | External Secrets Operator | Syncs from cloud providers, GitOps compatible |
| Health checks | Separate startup/liveness/readiness | Prevents premature traffic, enables graceful shutdown |
Capability Details
Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/capability-details.md") for full keyword index and problem-solution mapping across all 6 capabilities (ci-cd, docker, kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code, deployment-strategies, observability).