Deployment Strategy Canary

Overview

Use this skill to release changes gradually while measuring real-user impact before broad rollout.

Scope Boundaries

• Use this skill when the task matches the trigger condition described in description.
• Do not use this skill when the primary task falls outside this skill's domain.

Shared References

• Promotion and stop decision rules:
  • references/canary-promotion-rules.md

Templates And Assets

• Rollout plan template:
  • assets/canary-rollout-plan-template.md
• Guardrail matrix template:
  • assets/canary-guardrail-matrix-template.csv

Inputs To Gather

• Critical SLOs and business guardrail metrics.
• Traffic segmentation options (region, tenant, cohort).
• Maximum acceptable degradation and rollback thresholds.
• Release window and incident response readiness.

Deliverables

• Canary progression plan (percentage/time/gates).
• Guardrail matrix and promotion rules.
• Automatic stop/rollback policy.
• Post-promotion verification and observation window plan.

Quick Progression Example

• Steps: 1% -> 5% -> 20% -> 50% -> 100%.
• Hold at each step for fixed minimum time and metric stability checks.
• Auto-rollback if error rate rises > threshold or SLO drops below floor.

Quality Standard

• Promotion gates are objective and pre-registered.
• Guardrails include technical and business impact signals.
• Rollback automation/authority is clearly defined.
• Segment choice avoids exposing highest-risk cohorts first.

Workflow

1. Define canary audience and progression steps in assets/canary-rollout-plan-template.md.
2. Set promotion and rollback criteria for each step using assets/canary-guardrail-matrix-template.csv.
3. Deploy canary and monitor guardrails in real time.
4. Promote only when criteria pass under references/canary-promotion-rules.md; otherwise stop/rollback.
5. Complete rollout and run post-release verification.

Failure Conditions

• Stop when promotion criteria are ambiguous or non-measurable.
• Stop when telemetry cannot detect regressions quickly.
• Escalate when rollback path is manual-only for high-criticality services.