deployment-checklist

A production deployment checklist is a structured validation gate that enforces pre-launch readiness across authentication, security, observability, scaling, and rollback planning. It prevents early outages by requiring evidence-backed verification before promoting LLM/API services to live environments.

To validate production readiness for an LLM gateway, run a 56-item, 7-area deployment checklist covering authentication, security, observability, scaling, documentation, rollback, and external dependencies. Attach cURL outputs, graphs, and test logs as evidence for each checked item.

A go-live gate should check five critical readiness items immediately before an API release: passing tests, load validation, health endpoints, active monitoring, and rollback rehearsal. This confirms operational stability right before traffic promotion.

To handle intentionally missing items in a deployment readiness review, record the unmet validation requirement with a specific reason, then attach a mitigation plan and schedule follow-up actions. This tracks satisfied and intentionally missing items to reduce operational blind spots.

Yes, you can use this deployment checklist when promoting from staging after infrastructure or model changes. It enforces production deployment readiness for LLM/API services by validating external dependencies, scaling, and security to prevent early outages.