Runbook — Deployment

Mirror Mirror Data Sovereignty Course — Template

Purpose: Document every change before it ships. No silent updates. No mystery deployments. If it touches production, it goes through this runbook.

When to use: Any time you push code, update a workflow, change DNS, modify credentials, deploy a site, or alter any system that other people or processes depend on.

Pre-Deployment Checklist

• [ ] Define change scope — What exactly is changing? Write it in one sentence.
• Example: "Updating the Venus intake form to add birth state field"
• Example: "Deactivating 3 redundant NFC tap handler workflows"
• [ ] List all files/systems affected
• Files modified (paths)
• Workflows changed (IDs + names)
• Database tables affected
• DNS/domain changes
• Credential changes
• [ ] Validate dependencies — Will this break anything downstream?
• Check: What workflows call this endpoint?
• Check: What pages link to this URL?
• Check: What credentials does this use?
• Check: What Airtable fields does this reference?
• [ ] Backup current state
• For code: git status + commit or stash current work
• For workflows: export workflow JSON before modifying
• For data: note current record counts / field values
• [ ] Test in staging if possible
• Dry run: --dry-run flag or test with sample data
• Verify: expected output matches actual output

Deployment Steps

• Execute the change — Run the deploy script, update the workflow, push the code
• Verify immediately — Check the live output within 5 minutes
• Does the page load?
• Does the workflow execute without error?
• Does the data appear correctly?
• Update the deployment queue — Mark the item as complete with date and verification note
• Notify stakeholders — Post to Discord #deployments or notify affected team members
• Log the outcome — Add entry to the decision log or deployment log

Rollback Plan

If something breaks:

• Revert to backup — Restore the previous workflow JSON / git checkout / DNS revert
• Verify rollback worked — Same checks as step 2 above
• Document what went wrong — Add to decision log with lessons learned
• Re-plan the deployment — Fix the issue and go through the checklist again

Deployment Log Entry Template

Date:        YYYY-MM-DD
Change:      [one-sentence description]
Files:       [list of paths/IDs]
Deployed by: [name]
Verified:    [yes/no + what was checked]
Notes:       [anything unexpected]

Ship with intention. Every deployment is a decision.