# Release Checklist

## Pre-Release (D-7 to D-1)

### Planning

- [ ] Release date confirmed
- [ ] Release scope finalized (features, fixes)
- [ ] Release notes written
- [ ] Communication planned (internal + external)
- [ ] Support informed of changes
- [ ] Documentation updated

### Code

- [ ] Feature freeze respected
- [ ] All PRs merged
- [ ] Complete code reviews
- [ ] No critical TODOs pending
- [ ] Release branch created (if applicable)
- [ ] Version bumped (package.json, build.gradle, etc.)

### Tests

- [ ] Unit tests passing (100%)
- [ ] Integration tests passing
- [ ] E2E tests passing
- [ ] Performance tests validated
- [ ] Security tests validated
- [ ] Complete regression tests
- [ ] UAT (User Acceptance Testing) validated

### Infrastructure

- [ ] Production environment ready
- [ ] Production configuration verified
- [ ] Scaling configured if necessary
- [ ] Monitoring in place
- [ ] Alerts configured
- [ ] Backups verified

---

## Release Day (D-Day)

### Before Deployment

- [ ] Release team briefed
- [ ] Communication channels ready (Slack, email)
- [ ] Rollback plan ready and tested
- [ ] Maintenance window communicated (if applicable)
- [ ] Support on standby
- [ ] Database backed up

### Deployment

- [ ] Final staging deployment OK
- [ ] Smoke tests in staging OK
- [ ] Release tag created
- [ ] Production deployment launched
- [ ] Monitoring watched during deployment
- [ ] Smoke tests in production OK

### Post-Deployment Verification

- [ ] Application accessible
- [ ] Critical functionalities verified
- [ ] No errors in logs
- [ ] Performance metrics normal
- [ ] No alerts triggered
- [ ] Third-party integrations functional

---

## Post-Release (D+1 to D+7)

### Monitoring

- [ ] Error rate normal (< 0.1%)
- [ ] Response time acceptable
- [ ] No performance degradation
- [ ] User feedback collected
- [ ] Support tickets tracked

### Communication

- [ ] Release notes published
- [ ] Internal team informed
- [ ] Clients/users notified
- [ ] Blog post / changelog updated

### Documentation

- [ ] Technical documentation up to date
- [ ] Runbook updated if necessary
- [ ] Post-mortem if incidents
- [ ] Lessons learned documented

### Cleanup

- [ ] Release branches merged/deleted
- [ ] Feature flags cleaned up
- [ ] Test environments cleaned up
- [ ] Temporary resources deleted

---

## Rollback Checklist

In case of critical issue:

- [ ] Rollback decision made (criteria defined in advance)
- [ ] Immediate communication to team
- [ ] Rollback executed
- [ ] Rollback verification
- [ ] Communication to users
- [ ] Post-mortem scheduled

### Rollback Criteria

- [ ] Error rate > 5%
- [ ] Critical functionality not working
- [ ] Data loss detected
- [ ] Security vulnerability discovered
- [ ] Major business impact

---

## Release Types

### Major Release (X.0.0)

- [ ] All criteria above
- [ ] Marketing communication
- [ ] Support team training
- [ ] Migration guide if breaking changes
- [ ] Prior beta testing

### Minor Release (x.Y.0)

- [ ] Standard criteria
- [ ] Detailed release notes
- [ ] User notification

### Patch (x.y.Z)

- [ ] Targeted tests on the fix
- [ ] Fast deployment possible
- [ ] Communication if critical

### Hotfix

- [ ] Accelerated process
- [ ] Minimal but essential tests
- [ ] Immediate deployment
- [ ] Mandatory post-mortem

---

## Emergency Contacts

| Role | Name | Contact |
|------|------|---------|
| Release Manager | | |
| Tech Lead | | |
| DevOps | | |
| Support Lead | | |
| Product Owner | | |

---

## Release History

| Version | Date | Status | Notes |
|---------|------|--------|-------|
| | | | |
