release-gatelisted

# Release Gate Use this before staging or production release. ## Workflow 1. Confirm the reviewed commit or artifact being released. 2. Confirm environment and deployment mechanism. 3. Run the smallest deployment validation available. 4. Smoke-test the critical route or workflow. 5. Record rollback path. 6. Create a HITL issue if deployment needs missing human-held access. ## Scope & Exemption Rules Apply this gate selectively based on risk level to prevent release gridlock: - **Exempt (Skip this gate)**: Low-risk changes per `AI_ENGINEERING_WORKFLOW.md` (documentation-only edits, comments, minor styling/CSS tweaks, test-only additions, and narrow bug fixes with no business-rule change, data schema, auth, or infrastructure changes) skip the full staging/rollback release gate. - **Mandatory (Do not skip)**: Medium and High-risk changes (user-facing features, business logic changes, migrations, authentication/permissions, deployment pipelines, and third-party integrations) must satisfy all checks below before release. ## Required For Medium/High Risk - CI status - Review status - Target environment - Smoke test command - Rollback command or previous artifact - Health check signal ## Guardrails - Prefer deploying reviewed artifacts over rebuilding unreviewed source. - Do not deploy production from unreviewed PRs. - Do not silently work around missing secrets, DNS, or account permissions. - Test database safety (disposable/dedicated storage, staging backup timing) follow