the-own-lab/release-checklist

Release Checklist

Two checklists. One before merging to main. One before deploying to production. Keep them short so they actually get used.

Pre-Merge (before squash-merging to main)

• [ ] Tests pass locally — not just "mostly pass"
• [ ] CHANGELOG updated under ## [Unreleased]
• [ ] Conventional commit title — type(scope): description, scope matches commitlint.config.js
• [ ] Migration files included if schema changed (and reversible)
• [ ] No commented-out code, console.log, TODO without owner left behind
• [ ] Non-goals respected — diff matches the design-doc's scope; if it grew, update the doc or split the PR
• [ ] Secrets not committed — .env, keys, tokens, connection strings
• [ ] Success metric recorded (from success-metric skill) so post-release review can check it

Pre-Deploy (before promoting a build to prod)

• [ ] Build green on CI for the merge commit
• [ ] DB migrations run in staging without errors and without long locks
• [ ] Rollback plan named — previous image tag / previous commit to redeploy
• [ ] Healthcheck endpoint returns 200 on the new build in staging
• [ ] On-call window acceptable — not Friday evening unless the change is trivial
• [ ] Feature flag state known — if new code is gated, confirm default is correct
• [ ] Announcement drafted — even if not yet posted (see changelog-launch-post)

When to Skip

• Solo project with no production tier → skip pre-deploy, keep pre-merge
• Docs-only changes → skip migration / healthcheck / flag items
• Hotfix → run the checklist but compress; never skip rollback plan

Output

Print the checked-off list to the conversation. For Medium/Large tasks, also append the pre-merge status to the brief via brief-manager.sh update release_checklist passed.

Philosophy

Checklists exist for tired-Friday-you, not for focused-Tuesday-you. If the list is long enough to skim past, it's too long — trim ruthlessly. Each item must have actually caught a real bug at some point; otherwise, delete it.

What This Replaces

The former devops agent's pre-merge gate behavior. Deletion / branch-lifecycle work moves to the existing git-ops and git-worktree skills. Pipeline status transitions still use hooks/scripts/lib/pipeline-state.sh.