Building a Reliable Rollback Plan

Fast hot updates only work if you can exit gracefully when metrics spike. Document the response long before you need it.

Rollback planning is the safety net that gives engineering and product leaders the confidence to approve weekly OTA releases. Use this playbook to ensure every push has an exit ramp.

1. Retain the Right Artifacts

Keep at least the last two stable bundles in your CDN with distinct manifest entries. Tag each artifact using the semantic scheme from our versioning article. Store SHA256 hashes and signed metadata so you can validate integrity before redeploying.

2. Automate Rollback Scripts

  1. Flip the active version pointer in your manifest or configuration table.
  2. Invalidate CDN caches for the broken build.
  3. Notify the stakeholder distribution list.
  4. Create a retro issue outlining root cause and remediation.

Simulation days help. Trigger a fake rollback quarterly to prove the script works and to keep muscle memory fresh.

3. Wire Observability to the Plan

Tie the rollback to the rollout metrics from our metrics guide. As soon as crash-free sessions fall below your threshold, alert the on-call owner with a link to the rollback runbook. Track mean-time-to-recovery as a KPI.

Remember: Rollbacks should be productized, not improvised. Bake the scripts into your CI/CD pipeline so anyone on the team can activate them during off hours.

When the rollback path is just as polished as deployment, teams can iterate rapidly without fear of harming customers.