FROM PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION READINESS CHECKLISTS A production readiness checklist is a list of requirements that must all be met before a system is allowed to launch. Pilots use checklists before every flight because humans forget things under pressure, even experts. A checklist turns hard-won lessons into a routine anyone can follow. A strong checklist for an agent might include the following items. • Evaluation: there is a test suite with realistic cases, including difficult ones, and the agent passes at an agreed score. • Budgets and limits: there are caps on spending, steps, and time per run, and per user and per day. • Logging and tracing: every run records enough detail to reconstruct what happened. • Monitoring and alerting: dashboards show health, and alarms notify a person when error rates, costs, or delays go beyond limits. • Security review: threats such as prompt injection, data leaks, and misuse of tools have been examined, and permissions follow the principle of least privilege, which means giving the agent only the access it truly needs. • Rollback plan: there is a tested way to return to the previous working version quickly. • Human escalation path: for risky or confusing cases, the agent can hand over to a person, and someone is responsible for answering. • Input validation: unexpected, malformed, or oversized inputs are handled safely. • Error handling and retries: failures are caught, retried sensibly, and reported, as in Chapter 56. • Data privacy and compliance: sensitive data is protected, and legal rules are followed. • Documentation and runbooks: a runbook is a written guide that tells an on-call person what to do when something goes wrong. • Ownership: a named person or team is responsible for the agent after launch. • Cost forecast: expected monthly cost has been estimated, as in Chapter 53. • Gradual rollout plan: the launch will proceed in stages, as in Chapter 58. Every item must be marked done, or the launch is delayed or a risk is formally accepted by someone with authority. A partial item should never be treated as done.