deployment-pipeline-design

# Deployment Pipeline Design

Architecture patterns for multi-stage CI/CD pipelines with approval gates and deployment strategies.

## Purpose

Design robust, secure deployment pipelines that balance speed with safety through proper stage organization and approval workflows.

## When to Use

- Design CI/CD architecture
- Implement deployment gates
- Configure multi-environment pipelines
- Establish deployment best practices
- Implement progressive delivery

## Pipeline Stages

### Standard Pipeline Flow

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

### Detailed Stage Breakdown

1. **Source** - Code checkout
2. **Build** - Compile, package, containerize
3. **Test** - Unit, integration, security scans
4. **Staging Deploy** - Deploy to staging environment
5. **Integration Tests** - E2E, smoke tests
6. **Approval Gate** - Manual approval required
7. **Production Deploy** - Canary, blue-green, rolling
8. **Verification** - Health checks, monitoring
9. **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