Guide 07

Safe deployment checklist for small web applications

Deployment is not only restarting a server. It means knowing what is being published, protecting environment files, and checking the result.

Before deployment

  • Confirm the change is approved.
  • Check that Git status is clean or any differences are explained.
  • Run relevant tests and build commands.
  • Take a backup or snapshot before risky changes.
  • Make sure server-owned environment files are not overwritten.

During deployment

  • Deploy a known version from Git or a controlled release.
  • Install only necessary dependencies.
  • Run database changes carefully and with backup when needed.
  • Restart or rebuild only the services that need it when possible.

After deployment

  1. Confirm that services are running.
  2. Open the live URL and test the main flow.
  3. Check relevant status or health pages.
  4. Read the agent's report and note any manual checks.

The agent can help: ask it to create the deployment plan, perform approved steps, read safe status output, and summarize verification.

Deployment prompts

  • "Create a deployment plan for this app, including pre-checks, deployment steps, rollback, and verification."
  • "Check whether any environment files, uploads, or server-owned files could be overwritten."
  • "Deploy only after tests pass and ask me before restarting production services."
  • "After deployment, verify the live URL and summarize what changed."
  • "If deployment fails, stop, collect safe diagnostics, and propose a rollback or repair plan."