Release-readiness checklist

Gate a descendant like software and a model

A model descendant is simultaneously an artifact, a behavior, a dependency graph, and an operational change. Release readiness therefore spans more than benchmark quality. Use this checklist before shadow, repeat the relevant portions before canary, and preserve the completed evidence with the release record.

Minimum release bundle

A candidate should not advance without:

• immutable package digest and verified parent lineage;
• compatible runtime, tokenizer, schema, and dependency declarations;
• evaluation results against frozen, current, and critical-slice suites;
• calibration, abstention, and failure-mode evidence;
• security scan, license review, data-lineage review, and artifact provenance;
• resource profile on target hardware, including tail latency and peak memory;
• shadow plan, canary thresholds, automatic stop conditions, and rollback package;
• named technical, safety, product, and operational owners;
• approval record tied to the exact artifact digest.

Decision states

• Blocked: one or more hard gates fail or required evidence is absent.
• Lab-ready: package can be evaluated in an isolated environment.
• Shadow-ready: candidate may receive mirrored traffic without affecting outcomes.
• Canary-ready: bounded live traffic is allowed with automatic rollback.
• General-release-ready: canary evidence satisfies the predeclared promotion policy.

FUNCTION release_decision(candidate, checklist, policy)
    REQUIRE checklist.artifact_digest == candidate.digest

    missing <- REQUIRED_ITEMS_NOT_COMPLETE(checklist, policy.scope_tier)
    IF missing IS NOT EMPTY
        RETURN BLOCKED(missing)
    END IF

    IF ANY_HARD_GATE_FAILED(checklist)
        RETURN BLOCKED("hard gate failed")
    END IF

    highest_stage <- MINIMUM(
        checklist.lineage.stage,
        checklist.evaluation.stage,
        checklist.security.stage,
        checklist.operations.stage,
        checklist.approvals.stage
    )

    RETURN READY_FOR(highest_stage)
END FUNCTION

Recordkeeping

Export or copy the completed checklist into the project repository or governance system. Browser state is a convenience, not the system of record. Approval should reference the candidate digest, evaluator version, dataset versions, policy version, and UTC decision time.