Deployment Pipeline Design

Architecture patterns for multi-stage CI/CD pipelines with approval gates and deployment strategies.

Do not use this skill when

• The task is unrelated to deployment pipeline design
• You need a different domain or tool outside this scope

Instructions

• Clarify goals, constraints, and required inputs.
• Apply relevant best practices and validate outcomes.
• Provide actionable steps and verification.
• If detailed examples are required, open resources/implementation-playbook.md.

Purpose

Design robust, secure deployment pipelines that balance speed with safety through proper stage organization and approval workflows.

Use this skill when

• Design CI/CD architecture
• Implement deployment gates
• Configure multi-environment pipelines
• Establish deployment best practices
• Implement progressive delivery

Pipeline Stages

Standard Pipeline Flow

┌─────────┐   ┌──────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌────────┐   ┌──────────┐
│  Build  │ → │ Test │ → │ Staging │ → │ Approve│ → │Production│
└─────────┘   └──────┘   └─────────┘   └────────┘   └──────────┘

Detailed Stage Breakdown

1. Source - Code checkout
2. Build - Compile, package, containerize
3. Test - Unit, integration, security scans
4. Staging Deploy - Deploy to staging environment
5. Integration Tests - E2E, smoke tests
6. Approval Gate - Manual approval required
7. Production Deploy - Canary, blue-green, rolling
8. Verification - Health checks, monitoring
9. Rollback - Automated rollback on failure

Approval Gate Patterns

Pattern 1: Manual Approval

# GitHub Actions
production-deploy:
  needs: staging-deploy
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://app.example.com
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Deploy to production
      run: |
        # Deployment commands

Pattern 2: Time-Based Approval

# GitLab CI
deploy:production:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - deploy.sh production
  environment:
    name: production
  when: delayed
  start_in: 30 minutes
  only:
    - main

Pattern 3: Multi-Approver

# Azure Pipelines
stages:
- stage: Production
  dependsOn: Staging
  jobs:
  - deployment: Deploy
    environment:
      name: production
      resourceType: Kubernetes
    strategy:
      runOnce:
        preDeploy:
          steps:
          - task: ManualValidation@0
            inputs:
              notifyUsers: 'team-leads@example.com'
              instructions: 'Review staging metrics before approving'

Reference: See assets/approval-gate-template.yml

Deployment Strategies

1. Rolling Deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 10
  strategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
    rollingUpdate:
      maxSurge: 2
      maxUnavailable: 1

Characteristics: - Gradual rollout - Zero downtime - Easy rollback - Best for most applications

2. Blue-Green Deployment

# Blue (current)
kubectl apply -f blue-deployment.yaml
kubectl label service my-app version=blue

# Green (new)
kubectl apply -f green-deployment.yaml
# Test green environment
kubectl label service my-app version=green

# Rollback if needed
kubectl label service my-app version=blue

Characteristics: - Instant switchover - Easy rollback - Doubles infrastructure cost temporarily - Good for high-risk deployments

3. Canary Deployment

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Rollout
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 10
  strategy:
    canary:
      steps:
      - setWeight: 10
      - pause: {duration: 5m}
      - setWeight: 25
      - pause: {duration: 5m}
      - setWeight: 50
      - pause: {duration: 5m}
      - setWeight: 100

Characteristics: - Gradual traffic shift - Risk mitigation - Real user testing - Requires service mesh or similar

4. Feature Flags

from flagsmith import Flagsmith

flagsmith = Flagsmith(environment_key="API_KEY")

if flagsmith.has_feature("new_checkout_flow"):
    # New code path
    process_checkout_v2()
else:
    # Existing code path
    process_checkout_v1()

Characteristics: - Deploy without releasing - A/B testing - Instant rollback - Granular control

Pipeline Orchestration

Multi-Stage Pipeline Example

```yaml name: Production Pipeline

on: push: branches: [ main ]

jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Build application run: make build - name: Build Docker image run: docker build -t myapp:${{ github.sha }} . - name: Push to registry run: docker push myapp:${{ github.sha }}

test: needs: build runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Unit tests run: make test - name: Security scan run: trivy image myapp:${{ github.sha }}

deploy-staging: needs: test runs-on: ubuntu-latest environment: name: staging