deployment-pipeline

name	deployment-pipeline
description	Defines CI/CD stages, deployment gates, environment protection, and rollback procedures. Trigger on 'CI/CD', 'deploy', 'pipeline', 'GitHub Actions workflow', 'staging environment', 'rollback procedure'. DO NOT USE for semantic versioning, tagging, or changelog generation (use release-engineering) or infrastructure provisioning (use stack-standards).
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	{"clients":["openai-codex","gemini-cli","opencode","github-copilot"]}
metadata	{"owner":"codex","domain":"deployment-pipeline","maturity":"draft","risk":"low","tags":["deployment","pipeline"]}

Purpose

Design CI/CD pipelines that safely move code from commit to production: build → test → lint → staging deploy → smoke test → production deploy. Define gate conditions at each stage and automatic rollback triggers to catch failures before users do.

When to use this skill

Use when:

• Setting up CI/CD for a new project
• Current deployment is manual or unreliable
• Adding staging/preview environments
• Implementing deployment gates or approval workflows

Do NOT use when:

• Local development scripts only (no deployment target)
• Project already has mature CI/CD (make incremental improvements instead)

Operating procedure

1. Define pipeline stages:

   # GitHub Actions example structure
   name: Deploy Pipeline
   
   on:
     push:
       branches: [main]
     pull_request:
       branches: [main]
   
   jobs:
     build:
       # Compile, bundle, create artifacts
     
     test:
       needs: build
       # Unit tests, integration tests
     
     lint:
       # Can run parallel to test
       # Type checking, style, security scanning
     
     deploy-staging:
       needs: [test, lint]
       if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
       # Deploy to staging environment
     
     smoke-test:
       needs: deploy-staging
       # Verify staging deployment works
     
     deploy-production:
       needs: smoke-test
       environment: production  # Requires approval
   

2. Configure environment protection (GitHub example):

   deploy-production:
     environment:
       name: production
       url: https://myapp.com
     # In GitHub settings: require approval, restrict to main branch
   

Output defaults

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Build
        run: npm ci && npm run build
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build
          path: dist/

  test:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm test

  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: 
                 

  
     [, ]
       
     
     
    
        
         

  
     
       
     
     
    
        
         

References

• GitHub Actions Documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/actions
• GitHub Actions Deployment: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/deployment/about-deployments/about-continuous-deployment
• Managing Environments: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/deployment/targeting-different-environments/managing-environments-for-deployment

Failure handling

• Flaky tests blocking deployment: Quarantine flaky tests; fix them but don't let them block all deploys
• Staging differs from production: Use infrastructure-as-code; staging should mirror prod configuration
• Rollback script doesn't work: Test rollback procedure regularly; include in deployment verification
• Secrets exposed in logs: Use add-mask command; never echo environment variables containing secrets
• Concurrent deploys cause conflicts: Use concurrency groups; consider deploy locks for shared infrastructure