Advanced Patterns — Deploy Strategies & Release Automation

# Conventional Commit format:

# <type>(<scope>): <description>

# [optional body]

# [optional footer]



# Types:

# feat:     new feature → bumps MINOR version (1.0.0 → 1.1.0)

# fix:      bug fix     → bumps PATCH version (1.0.0 → 1.0.1)

# docs:     documentation only

# refactor: code change, no feature/fix

# test:     adding tests

# chore:    maintenance

# BREAKING CHANGE: footer → bumps MAJOR version (1.0.0 → 2.0.0)



# Examples:

# feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support

# fix(api): correct null pointer in user endpoint

# feat!: redesign API response format    ← ! = breaking change

# feat(payments): add Stripe integration

#

# BREAKING CHANGE: The /users endpoint now returns camelCase fields



# .github/workflows/release.yml — automatic releases with release-please

name: Release Please



on:

  push:

    branches: [main]



jobs:

  release:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:

      contents: write

      pull-requests: write

    steps:

      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4

        id: release

        with:

          release-type: node         # parses package.json for version

          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      # release-please opens a "Release PR" that:

      # 1. Bumps version in package.json

      # 2. Generates CHANGELOG.md from commits

      # 3. When merged, creates a GitHub Release + git tag

# Blue-Green Deployment (Kubernetes + GitHub Actions)

# Two identical Deployments (blue=current, green=new)

# Switch traffic by updating Service selector



# .github/workflows/blue-green.yml

jobs:

  deploy:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:

      - uses: actions/checkout@v4



      # Determine current active color

      - name: Get active slot

        id: slot

        run: |

          CURRENT=$(kubectl get service my-app -o jsonpath='{.spec.selector.slot}')

          if [ "$CURRENT" = "blue" ]; then

            echo "deploy_slot=green" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

            echo "active_slot=blue" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

          else

            echo "deploy_slot=blue" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

            echo "active_slot=green" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

          fi



      # Deploy to inactive slot (no traffic yet)

      - name: Deploy to ${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }}

        run: |

          kubectl set image deployment/my-app-${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }} \

            app=ghcr.io/org/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

          kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app-${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }}



      # Smoke test the inactive slot (internal URL)

      - name: Smoke test

        run: curl -f http://my-app-${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }}-internal/health



      # Switch traffic: update Service selector

      - name: Switch traffic to ${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }}

        run: |

          kubectl patch service my-app -p \

            '{"spec":{"selector":{"slot":"${{ steps.slot.outputs.deploy_slot }}"}}}'



      # Keep old slot running (instant rollback by re-patching selector)

      - name: Annotate for rollback

        run: |

          kubectl annotate deployment my-app \

            last-active-slot=${{ steps.slot.outputs.active_slot }} --overwrite

# .github/workflows/deploy-with-rollback.yml

jobs:

  deploy:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    environment: production

    steps:

      - uses: actions/checkout@v4



      # Record current image for rollback

      - name: Save current image

        id: current

        run: |

          CURRENT_IMAGE=$(kubectl get deployment my-app \

            -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}')

          echo "image=$CURRENT_IMAGE" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT



      # Deploy new image

      - name: Deploy

        id: deploy

        run: |

          kubectl set image deployment/my-app app=ghcr.io/org/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

          kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app --timeout=5m



      # Health check — wait for service to stabilise

      - name: Health check

        id: health

        run: |

          for i in {1..12}; do

            STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://api.myapp.com/health)

            if [ "$STATUS" = "200" ]; then

              echo "Health check passed"

              exit 0

            fi

            echo "Health check attempt $i/12 failed (status $STATUS), retrying in 10s..."

            sleep 10

          done

          echo "Health checks failed after 2 minutes"

          exit 1



      # Automatic rollback on health failure

      - name: Rollback on failure

        if: failure() && steps.deploy.outcome == 'success'

        run: |

          echo "Deployment failed health checks — rolling back to ${{ steps.current.outputs.image }}"

          kubectl set image deployment/my-app app=${{ steps.current.outputs.image }}

          kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app --timeout=5m

          echo "Rollback complete" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY



      # Notify on success or failure

      - name: Notify Slack

        if: always()

        uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1

        with:

          payload: |

            {

              "text": "Deploy ${{ job.status }}: my-app:${{ github.sha }}"

            }

        env:

          SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}