Master Release Gates & Framework
To ensure the production release of Flour n Sugar MVP 1 delivers an exceptional user experience while keeping engineering velocity high, release readiness is governed by 10 Hard Release Gates, a prioritized MoSCoW Framework, and an end-to-end Traceability Matrix.
The 10 Hard Release Gates
Before MVP 1 is deployed to production, every item in this table must be fully satisfied and signed off. A failure in any one of these 10 gates constitutes an automatic release blocker:
| Gate | Critical Requirement | Acceptance Verification Criteria | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. 🔐 Auth & Identity | Email/password, Google OAuth, session refresh, and password reset work flawlessly in production. | Clean test signups, session persistence across tabs, rate-limited auth endpoints. | Auth Lead | READY |
| 2. 👤 Tenant Isolation | Strict authorization boundaries prevent Store A from accessing or mutating Store B's resources. | Automated IDOR and multi-tenant security regression tests passing with 0 vulnerabilities. | SecOps | READY |
| 3. 🏪 Store Onboarding | A baker can complete or resume setup, optionally add products, preview, and publish a storefront. | End-to-end user testing on both mobile and desktop without manual DB intervention. | Product | READY |
| 4. 🛍️ Catalog Management | Products, categories, images, prices, and Indian units (KG, g, pcs) create and display correctly. | Full CRUD testing across 10 sample bakery menus with varied price variants. | QA Lead | READY |
| 5. 💬 WhatsApp Linkage | Click-to-chat opens with pre-filled context (product, variant, price, storefront URL). | Verified on iOS WhatsApp, Android WhatsApp, and WhatsApp Web. | Growth | READY |
| 6. 📍 Local Discovery | Geolocation detection and manual city/locality searches return accurate nearby bakers. | Tested across multiple test coordinates (Lucknow central, outer ring, no results fallback). | Backend | READY |
| 7. 📱 Mobile First QA | Storefronts and discovery browse smoothly on 320px–414px mobile viewports without horizontal scrolling. | Responsive QA passed on iOS Safari and Android Chrome. | Frontend | READY |
| 8. 🗄️ Database Integrity | PostgreSQL migrations executed, connection pooling configured, automated daily backups active. | Test restoration from an automated database snapshot successfully completed. | DevOps | READY |
| 9. 🚨 Observability | Sentry error monitoring captures uncaught exceptions; structured logs emit request IDs. | Deliberately triggered test error captured in dashboard with stack trace. | SRE Lead | READY |
| 10. 🔄 Disaster Rollback | Immediate deployment rollback procedure documented and rehearsed on staging. | Automated CI rollback tested on staging environment within < 3 minutes. | DevOps | READY |
MoSCoW Prioritization Framework
To prevent the classic problem where a production checklist endlessly delays launch, all release items across the platform are categorized into four clear priority statuses:
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Must Have (P0) │ -> Non-negotiable release blockers (The 10 Gates). Cannot launch without.
├─────────────────────────┤
│ Should Have (P1) │ -> Critical improvements targeted for Day 1–3 post-launch hotfixes.
├─────────────────────────┤
│ Nice to Have (P2) │ -> Quality-of-life enhancements scheduled for MVP 1.1 sprint.
├─────────────────────────┤
│ Post-MVP (P3) │ -> Deferred to Phase 2 (Native Ordering, Payments, Delivery).
└─────────────────────────┘
Traceability Matrix Architecture
To connect documentation directly to engineering implementation and automated test suites:
Requirement ───> Module Code ───> Automated Test ───> Production Check ───> Gate Status
| Requirement ID | Module / Component | Primary Source Path | Automated Test Suite | Production Gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| REQ-AUTH-01 | User Authentication & Sessions | apps/web/auth/* | auth.test.ts | Gate 1 (Auth) |
| REQ-AUTH-02 | Multi-Tenant Authorization Guard | middleware.ts, api/store/* | tenant-guard.test.ts | Gate 2 (Isolation) |
| REQ-STORE-01 | Store Onboarding Wizard | components/onboarding/* | onboarding.spec.ts | Gate 3 (Store) |
| REQ-CAT-01 | Catalog CRUD & Indian Units | components/catalog/* | catalog-units.test.ts | Gate 4 (Catalog) |
| REQ-CHAT-01 | WhatsApp Context Deep Links | lib/whatsapp.ts | whatsapp-link.test.ts | Gate 5 (WhatsApp) |
| REQ-GEO-01 | Geolocation & Radius Query | api/discovery/nearby | haversine.test.ts | Gate 6 (Discovery) |
| REQ-RESP-01 | Mobile Responsive Layouts | components/storefront/* | playwright/mobile.spec.ts | Gate 7 (Mobile) |
| REQ-DATA-01 | PostgreSQL Schema & Migration | prisma/schema.prisma | migration.test.ts | Gate 8 (Database) |
| REQ-OBS-01 | Sentry & Structured Logging | lib/logger.ts, sentry.config | sentry-ping.test.ts | Gate 9 (Observability) |
| REQ-REL-01 | Vercel Rollback & Healthcheck | .github/workflows/deploy.yml | healthcheck.spec.ts | Gate 10 (Rollback) |
Release Sign-Off Protocol
Release to production requires formal sign-off from three leads:
- Engineering Lead: Verifies Gates 1, 2, 8, 9, 10 (Auth, Multi-Tenancy, Database, Observability, Rollback).
- Product Lead: Verifies Gates 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Onboarding, Catalog, WhatsApp, Discovery, Mobile UX).
- Operations & QA Lead: Verifies end-to-end regression test pass rate (100% of P0 tests passing).