AGENTS.md Template for Canary Release Architecture

Overview

AGENTS.md Template for Canary Release Architecture defines a structured operating manual for AI coding agents that governs a canary release workflow. It supports both single-agent and multi-agent orchestration, enabling safe progressive rollout with automated handoffs and governance.

When to Use This AGENTS.md Template

• When planning a canary deployment that involves multiple agents across deployment, traffic control, monitoring, and rollback.
• When you need explicit handoff rules, source-of-truth, and validation gates before promoting to production.
• When governance, security, and escalation paths matter for risk-managed rollouts.

Copyable AGENTS.md Template

# AGENTS.md
# Canary Release Architecture AGENTS.md Template

Project role
- Product engineering, platform engineering, and SRE collaborate to enable canary releases with automated approvals and rollback.

Agent roster and responsibilities
- PlannerAgent: designs the canary rollout plan, success criteria, and escalation thresholds.
- CanaryDeployerAgent: deploys the new revision to the canary environment using the deployment plane.
- TrafficShiftAgent: gradually shifts live traffic to the canary revision while monitoring SLIs.
- MonitorAgent: collects metrics, traces, and logs; evaluates health against predefined thresholds.
- RollbackAgent: triggers rollback to the previous stable revision if failure criteria are met.
- ReconcilerAgent: ensures desired state aligns across canary, production, and feature flags.
- AuditorAgent: records decisions and maintains an immutable audit trail.
- DomainExpertAgent: provides domain-specific risk assessment and validation checks.

Supervisor or orchestrator behavior
- The Orchestrator sequences Planner -> CanaryDeployer -> TrafficShift -> Monitor; if criteria are met, it promotes or continues; on failure, it invokes Rollback.
- All decisions require evidence from MonitorAgent and verifications from AuditorAgent.
- Handoffs occur only after explicit completion signals and validation checks.

Handoff rules between agents
- Planner to Deployer: plan approved, manifests ready, canary target identified.
- Deployer to TrafficShift: deployment completed, canary ready for traffic tests.
- TrafficShift to Monitor: traffic ramp started, metrics streaming is active.
- Monitor to Rollback/Promote: if SLIs met, escalate for promotion; if not, trigger rollback or pause.
- Rollback to Reconciler: rollback finished, reconcile state with production.

Context, memory, and source-of-truth rules
- All plans and decisions are recorded in a version-controlled AGENTS.md instance and a dedicated canary-logs store.
- Source of truth: deployment manifests, canary configuration, and feature flags live in Git, with verification via CI checks.
- Context memory is scoped to the current canary cycle and is refreshed each run.

Tool access and permission rules
- Tools: deployment plane (kubectl/helm/ArgoCD), traffic control API, metrics API, log API, feature flag system, secrets manager.
- Access must be role-based and time-bounded; secrets must never be hard-coded
- No tool may bypass validations from MonitorAgent and AuditorAgent.

Architecture rules
- Idempotent, auditable, and reversible; every action should be traceable to a plan.
- Canary and production environments must share only augmented data, not raw secrets in logs.
- Use feature flags to gate critical changes.

File structure rules
- Organize by environment and agent: canary/planner, canary/deployer, canary/traffic, canary/monitor, canary/rollback, canary/reconciler, canary/auditor, canary/configs.

Data, API, or integration rules
- Use stable, versioned APIs for all integrations; avoid hard-coding endpoints.
- Secrets managed by a vault; access granted per role.

Validation rules
- Define SLI thresholds and automated checks; require evidence from MonitorAgent before promotion.
- Ensure idempotent deployment steps with rollback guarantees.

Security rules
- Do not expose production secrets; use vault references.
- Enforce RBAC on all agents; require approvals for production changes.

Testing rules
- Include unit tests for each agent, integration tests for deployment and traffic control, and end-to-end tests for the canary cycle.

Deployment rules
- Deploy to canary first, then proceed with traffic shaping; promote only after positive validation.

Human review and escalation rules
- Automatic escalation to on-call if SLOs breach thresholds; human review required for production changes beyond predefined limits.

Failure handling and rollback rules
- Rollback to last stable revision upon failure signals; verify rollback integrity; re-run validation.

Things Agents must not do
- Do not bypass validation gates, alter production state without approval, or modify data in production without audit.

Recommended Agent Operating Model

The model assigns clear responsibilities, decision boundaries, and escalation paths for each role. Planner sets policy; Deployer and TrafficShaper execute with automated checks; Monitor and Rollback enforce safety; Reconciler and Auditor ensure alignment and traceability. Escalations follow a staged path: automated alerts → on-call rotation → product owner review.

Recommended Project Structure

canary-release-architecture/
├─ canary-planner/
├─ canary-deployer/
├─ canary-traffic/
├─ canary-monitor/
├─ canary-rollback/
├─ canary-reconciler/
├─ canary-auditor/
├─ canary-domain/
├─ configs/
└─ tests/

Core Operating Principles

• Single source of truth for canary configuration
• Idempotent, auditable actions with clear rollback paths
• Guardrails and approvals for production changes
• Explicit handoffs and evidence-based decisions

Agent Handoff and Collaboration Rules

• Planner → Deployer: release plan and manifests are validated
• Deployer → TrafficShaper: deployment completed and traffic tests started
• TrafficShaper → Monitor: traffic ramp initiated and metrics collected
• Monitor → Rollback/Promote: decision based on SLIs and thresholds
• Auditor → Reconciler: audit evidence ensures state parity

Tool Governance and Permission Rules

• RBAC controls for all agents; secrets in vaults only
• All commands must be traceable to a plan with evidence
• Production changes require reviewer sign-off

Code Construction Rules

• Keep deployment manifests idempotent
• Environment-specific configuration must be parameterized
• Avoid hard-coded values; fetch from vault or config service

Security and Production Rules

• Limit blast radius; canary only impacts a subset of users during rollout
• Encrypt data in transit, rotate credentials regularly
• Audit trails for every state change

Testing Checklist

• Unit tests for each agent
• Integration tests for deployment, traffic shaping, and monitoring
• End-to-end tests for the canary cycle

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping validation gates before production changes
• Unclear ownership during handoffs
• Ignoring security and secrets management in automation

Related implementation resources: AI Use Case for Sales Pipeline Reviews and Deal Risk Scoring and AI Agent Use Case for Refineries Using Pipeline Acoustic Monitoring Arrays To Isolate Micro-Fissures Before Leaks Occur.

FAQ

What is the purpose of this AGENTS.md Template for Canary Release Architecture?

To provide a copyable, operating-level AGENTS.md that governs multi-agent canary rollout and rollback with clear handoffs, memory, and governance.

How many agents are recommended for this workflow?

Essential agents include Planner, CanaryDeployer, TrafficShaper, Monitor, Rollback, Reconciler, and Auditor; optional DomainExpert adds risk checks.

What are the key handoff points?

Planner to Deployer, Deployer to TrafficShaper, TrafficShaper to Monitor, Monitor to Rollback/Promote, Rollback to Reconciler.

How is promotion to production validated?

Validation requires positive SLIs from MonitorAgent, successful traffic tests, and an audit trail from AuditorAgent before production change approval.

What security practices are required in this workflow?

RBAC, vault-managed secrets, encrypted data in transit, and restricted production access with approvals and traceable actions.