Plan an update or deployment

Scope: an existing single-host lab. This is an operator checklist, not a claim that the deployment scripts provide a reliable release process.

Before updating

1. Record the currently running source revision and deployment method.
2. Review local changes and select the exact intended revision.
3. Take and verify a complete backup.
4. Review dependency and configuration changes, including store compatibility.
5. Identify the previous revision and the state restore procedure before stopping the service.

Current pipeline behavior

GitLab Pages builds from the default branch. Backend deployment is a separate job triggered by deploy-* tags. Its script currently pulls main, so a deployment tag does not guarantee that the tagged code is deployed. Do not use that script as an exact-revision release mechanism until repaired.

The rollback script uses a Git reflog entry and restores data snapshots. That is not equivalent to a verified recovery of code, dependencies, and application state. Rehearse recovery in an isolated environment.

Validate after an approved change

Check service startup, actual inference, model selection, and retrieval from known sample content. Inspect logs for errors. Record the resulting revision. A passing health endpoint alone is insufficient.

Documentation publication

Review the documentation branch, run the site checks, and merge only after approval. The default-branch Pages job then publishes the static output. Documentation changes do not require a backend deployment tag.

Next: Recovery coverage and contribution workflow.