release-loop

Skill: release-loop

This is the outer loop of the operating model — the SRE/ops loop that sits above work-loop's inner build loop. work-loop makes the software run and verify locally; the release loop takes the integrated whole the rest of the way: deploy it to an ephemeral environment, run e2e, observe telemetry, feed the deployed findings back to the inner loop, redeploy, and iterate until the deployed whole converges — then stop at the human consent gate for the prod ship (G5), which it surfaces as a release-readiness record to ratify, not a bare go/no-go.

It exists because a deployed, integrated, distributed system surfaces failures no pre-deploy testing replicates (the irreducible shift-right). Without an outer loop, those findings reach a human as raw deploy errors — the human-as-relay anti-pattern. The release loop closes that gap autonomously, on reversible infrastructure, and surfaces only the irreducible.

Vocabulary. "Surface" means: stop, emit a short description of the situation (what happened, what state things are in), and wait for human direction. It is the project's house verb, shared with work-loop and discovery-loop.

Output rendering

Lead with the useful outcome or next action. Use warm, non-blaming language and everyday words. Define an unfamiliar term in a few plain words before naming it; keep proper names and exact technical terms intact. During tool work, do not narrate routine calls. Send an update only for safety, a blocker, a needed decision, a material scope change, a long wait, or an active host requirement. When requesting input, ask only for what is needed now. Ask dependent questions one at a time; otherwise group related questions. Offer no more than three clear choices when choices help. Shape the answer to the facts: one fact needs one sentence; related facts use prose; separate items use bullets; real sequences use numbered steps. For prose artifacts, use descriptive headings, short resumable sections, one fact per sentence, and no repeated summary. Emphasize at most one load-bearing point per section. Group long inventories instead of truncating them. Make the result stand alone. Do needed arithmetic, give real dates or times, and say what a file or link establishes instead of making the reader inspect it. For code and comments, prefer obvious structure and names. Comment on intent, constraints, or trade-offs that the code cannot state clearly. Use a table, tree, flow, or other visual only when it makes a relationship materially easier to understand. Report the current state, not the path taken. Omit dead ends, resolved trade-offs, hedges, and advice the user did not request. When editing maintained prose, consolidate repeated rules and navigation before adding another caveat. Silence and brevity never reduce the work, checks, or requested coverage. Preserve depth, evidence, constraints, warnings, code, diffs, errors, and exact names, paths, and counts. Keep verification compact: pass or fail, count, and runtime. Name a suite when it failed or when the name changes what the reader should do. Before sending, check that the reader can act without counting, converting, opening a file, or asking what a line means.

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