devops-deployer_skill

Overview

This skill is the DevOps Deployer agent for managing application deployments, rollbacks, and release operations using a Blue-Green strategy. It automates build, deploy, verification, traffic switch, and cleanup steps to minimize downtime and maintain version history. Use it to standardize production and development deployment workflows and to enforce safe rollbacks.

How this skill works

The agent builds Docker images with timestamped tags and deploys them to the inactive Blue or Green slot for the target environment. It runs health checks (up to 30 attempts with 60s intervals), switches traffic by updating the Caddy upstream when validation passes, and then shuts down the previous slot and prunes old images. It also tracks image tags and version history to enable targeted rollbacks.

When to use it

• Deploy a new release to dev or prod with minimal downtime using Blue-Green swaps.
• Rollback to a previous image version after a failed release or post-deploy regression.
• Validate and promote images through staged environments (dev → prod).
• Automate release chores: image tagging, history tracking, and cleanup.
• Perform controlled traffic switching and health-checked deployments.

Best practices

• Run full test suites and DB migrations before initiating deployment.
• Deploy to the inactive slot and only switch traffic after successful health checks.
• Keep concise, timestamped image tags and retain a clear version history.
• Monitor logs and run post-deploy functional checks immediately after swap.
• Prune old images regularly but keep recent stable versions for quick rollback.

Example use cases

• Push a hotfix to production: build image, deploy to inactive slot, validate, then swap traffic.
• Routine release: run CI build, tag image, deploy to dev slot for smoke tests, then to prod slot.
• Emergency rollback: switch traffic back to the previous slot or redeploy a specific image tag.
• Investigate a deployment issue: list images, inspect slots, and replay the deployment script.
• Automate cleanup: remove images older than a retention window after successful deployment.