Web App Production Launch Checklist

18 items · Technical · Hard difficulty · 2 hours

Essential pre-production steps to launch your web app safely.

• Verify environment variables are set to production values

  Confirm API endpoints, DB connection strings, feature flags, and keys match prod.

• Store secrets in a secure secrets manager

  Use Vault, Secrets Manager, or CI/CD encrypted variables; avoid plaintext files.

• Confirm SSL/TLS certificate is installed and not expiring

  Check coverage for all domains, expiry date, and intermediate chain.

• Configure CDN for static assets and test asset delivery

  Set caching rules, origin, and purge a sample asset to verify.

• Update DNS records and set TTLs for cutover

  Lower TTLs before release if you need rapid rollback, then restore higher TTLs.

• Plan and test database migrations

  Document migration steps, downtime windows, and fallback strategies.

• Test migrations in a staging environment with production-like data

  Run full migrations on a replica to validate timing and schema changes.

• Take a production backup of database and uploaded files

  Include snapshot, logical export, and file store backup before changes.

• Run production database migrations

  Apply migrations during maintenance window and monitor for errors.

• Trigger production deployment via CI/CD pipeline

  Use automated pipeline, blue/green or canary strategy where possible.

• Run post-deploy smoke tests and health checks

  Verify main user flows, login, API health, and database connectivity.

• Configure error tracking and verify alert rules

  Ensure Sentry/Datadog/stack traces are enabled and test an incoming error.

• Set up uptime monitoring and alerting channels

  Add probes, set thresholds, and route alerts to on-call contacts.

• Configure recurring backups and retention policy

  Automate DB and file backups with retention and periodic restore tests.

• Implement and test a clear rollback plan

  Document steps, required artifacts, and test a rollback in staging.

• Set production logging level and remove debug flags

  Switch to INFO/WARN, remove verbose debug output and sensitive data.

• Conduct a quick performance baseline and spot-check

  Run brief load checks on critical endpoints to detect regressions.

• Update release docs, runbook, and notify stakeholders

  Publish release notes, update runbook steps, and announce via Slack/status.

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