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Deploy Checklist

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Ensure readiness before deploying your software release.

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What Deploy Checklist does

The Deploy Checklist skill provides a structured approach to verifying that your software is ready for deployment. This skill generates a comprehensive pre-deployment checklist tailored to your specific deployment needs, ensuring that critical steps are not overlooked. It includes checks for CI status, code reviews, database migrations, feature flags, and rollback plans, all of which are essential for a smooth deployment process.

When using this skill, you can customize the checklist based on your deployment context. For instance, if your deployment involves feature flags or database migrations, the skill will automatically include relevant verification steps. This customization helps teams adhere to their specific processes and reduces the risk of errors during deployment.

The skill also integrates with various connectors, allowing it to pull in relevant data from source control and CI/CD systems. This means that it can verify that all pull requests are approved and merged, and check the build and test status automatically, ensuring that the deployment is based on the latest and most stable code. Additionally, if monitoring tools are connected, the skill can pre-fill rollback trigger thresholds based on current metrics, providing a proactive approach to monitoring after deployment.

Overall, the Deploy Checklist skill is designed for development teams looking to streamline their deployment processes and minimize the chances of issues arising during or after a release. By following a clear checklist, teams can enhance their deployment reliability and maintain high standards of software quality.

When to use it

Use this skill when preparing to deploy a release, especially if it includes database migrations or feature flags.

When not to use it

This skill may not be suitable for one-off deployments or very simple projects that do not require extensive verification steps.

What you can build with it

Standard Software Release

Use the Deploy Checklist to ensure all critical checks are completed before a standard software release.

Feature Flag Deployment

Customize the checklist to include specific steps for verifying feature flags when deploying new features.

Database Migration Deployment

Utilize the skill to manage and verify database migration steps as part of your deployment process.

How to install Deploy Checklist

View source

1. Install with the skills CLI

npx skills add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/deploy-checklist --agent claude-code

2. Or install it manually

Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs

Inside SKILL.md

Written by anthropics

/deploy-checklist

If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.

Generate a pre-deployment checklist to verify readiness before shipping.

Usage

/deploy-checklist $ARGUMENTS

Output

## Deploy Checklist: [Service/Release]
**Date:** [Date] | **Deployer:** [Name]

### Pre-Deploy
- [ ] All tests passing in CI
- [ ] Code reviewed and approved
- [ ] No known critical bugs in release
- [ ] Database migrations tested (if applicable)
- [ ] Feature flags configured (if applicable)
- [ ] Rollback plan documented
- [ ] On-call team notified

### Deploy
- [ ] Deploy to staging and verify
- [ ] Run smoke tests
- [ ] Deploy to production (canary if available)
- [ ] Monitor error rates and latency for 15 min
- [ ] Verify key user flows

### Post-Deploy
- [ ] Confirm metrics are nominal
- [ ] Update release notes / changelog
- [ ] Notify stakeholders
- [ ] Close related tickets

### Rollback Triggers
- Error rate exceeds [X]%
- P50 latency exceeds [X]ms
- [Critical user flow] fails

Customization

Tell me about your deploy and I'll customize the checklist:

  • "We use feature flags" → adds flag verification steps
  • "This includes a database migration" → adds migration-specific checks
  • "This is a breaking API change" → adds consumer notification steps

If Connectors Available

If ~~source control is connected:

  • Pull the release diff and list of changes
  • Verify all PRs are approved and merged

If ~~CI/CD is connected:

  • Check build and test status automatically
  • Verify pipeline is green before deploy

If ~~monitoring is connected:

  • Pre-fill rollback trigger thresholds from current baselines
  • Set up post-deploy metric watch

Tips

  1. Run before every deploy — Even routine ones. Checklists prevent "I forgot to..."
  2. Customize once, reuse — Tell me your stack and I'll remember your deploy process.
  3. Include rollback criteria — Decide when to roll back before you deploy, not during.

Frequently asked questions about Deploy Checklist

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