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

code

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

Detailed Stage Breakdown

•Source - Code checkout
•Build - Compile, package, containerize
•Test - Unit, integration, security scans
•Staging Deploy - Deploy to staging environment
•Integration Tests - E2E, smoke tests
•Approval Gate - Manual approval required
•Production Deploy - Canary, blue-green, rolling
•Verification - Health checks, monitoring
•Rollback - Automated rollback on failure

Approval Gate Patterns

Pattern 1: Manual Approval

yaml

# 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

yaml

# 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

yaml

# 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

yaml

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

yaml

# 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

yaml

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

python

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