Launch Checklist

Quick facts

Phase: Deliver | Version: 2.0.0 | Category: coordination | License: Apache-2.0

Try it: /launch-checklist "Your context here"

A launch checklist is a comprehensive verification document that ensures all functions are ready before releasing a feature or product. It coordinates across engineering, QA, design, marketing, support, legal, and operations to prevent launch-day surprises. Good launch checklists surface blockers early and create shared accountability for launch readiness.

When to Use

1-2 weeks before any significant launch
During launch planning kickoff meetings
When coordinating cross-functional releases
Before major version releases or feature rollouts
After incidents to improve launch processes

How to Use

Use the /launch-checklist slash command:

/launch-checklist "Your context here"

Or reference the skill file directly: skills/deliver-launch-checklist/SKILL.md

Instructions

When asked to create a launch checklist, follow these steps:

Define Launch Context Document what is launching, when, and who the key stakeholders are. Establish the launch tier (major release, minor feature, experiment) as this affects checklist scope.
Gather Functional Requirements For each function (engineering, QA, marketing, etc.), identify what must be complete, verified, or in place before launch. Distinguish between blockers (must-have) and nice-to-haves.
Assign Owners and Dates Every checklist item needs an owner and a target completion date. Ownership creates accountability; dates enable tracking.
Identify Dependencies and Blockers Flag items that block other work or are blocked by external factors. Surface these early so teams can unblock.
Define Go/No-Go Criteria Establish clear criteria for making the launch decision. What conditions must be met? Who makes the final call?
Document Rollback Plan Every launch should have a rollback strategy. Document how to revert if critical issues emerge post-launch.
Schedule Check-in Cadence Establish when the team will review checklist progress (daily standups, T-2 days review, launch day sync).

Output Template

Launch Checklist: [Launch Name]

Launch Overview

Field	Value
What	[Feature/product being launched]
Launch Date	[Target date]
Launch Type	[Major Release / Minor Feature / Experiment / Hotfix]
Launch Owner	[Name]
Go/No-Go Decision Maker	[Name]

Key Stakeholders

Role	Name	Contact
Product	[Name]	[Email/Slack]
Engineering	[Name]	[Email/Slack]
Design	[Name]	[Email/Slack]
Marketing	[Name]	[Email/Slack]
Support	[Name]	[Email/Slack]

Engineering Readiness

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Code complete and merged	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Code review approved	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Feature flags configured	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Database migrations ready	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] API documentation updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Performance benchmarks pass	[Name]	[Date]

QA & Testing

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Test plan executed	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Regression tests pass	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] UAT complete	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Cross-browser testing	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Mobile testing	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Accessibility testing	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Load testing complete	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Security review complete	[Name]	[Date]

Design & UX

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Final designs approved	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Design QA complete	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Asset handoff complete	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Copy/content finalized	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Error states designed	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Empty states designed	[Name]	[Date]

Marketing & Communications

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Launch announcement drafted	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Blog post/PR ready	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Social media content	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Email campaigns scheduled	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] App store listing updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Website/landing page updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Screenshots/videos created	[Name]	[Date]

Customer Support

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Support documentation updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] FAQ created/updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Support team trained	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Canned responses prepared	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Escalation path defined	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Support staffing confirmed	[Name]	[Date]

Legal & Compliance

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Terms of service reviewed	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Privacy policy updated	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] GDPR compliance verified	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Licensing requirements met	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Accessibility compliance	[Name]	[Date]

Operations & Infrastructure

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Infrastructure scaled	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] CDN configured	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] SSL certificates valid	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Backup systems verified	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Incident response plan ready	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] On-call rotation confirmed	[Name]	[Date]

Analytics & Monitoring

Item	Owner	Due
[ ] Analytics instrumentation	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Dashboards created	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Alerts configured	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Success metrics baselined	[Name]	[Date]
[ ] Logging in place	[Name]	[Date]

Go/No-Go Criteria

Must Have (Blockers)

[Blocker 1]
[Blocker 2]
[Blocker 3]

Should Have

[Should-have 1]
[Should-have 2]

Nice to Have

[Nice-to-have 1]
[Nice-to-have 2]

Rollback Plan

Trigger Conditions

[Condition 1]
[Condition 2]

Rollback Steps

[Step 1]
[Step 2]
[Step 3]

Rollback Owner

[Name] . [Contact]

Rollback Time Estimate

[Duration]

Check-in Schedule

Checkpoint	Date	Attendees
T-7 days review	[Date]	[Names]
T-2 days go/no-go	[Date]	[Names]
Launch day sync	[Date/Time]	[Names]
T+1 day review	[Date]	[Names]

Open Issues

Issue	Owner	Status	Impact
[Issue 1]	[Name]	[Status]	[Blocker/Risk]
[Issue 2]	[Name]	[Status]	[Blocker/Risk]

Example Output

Launch Checklist: TaskFlow Mobile v3.0

Launch Overview

Field	Value
What	TaskFlow Mobile v3.0 . New navigation + Recurring Tasks
Launch Date	March 10, 2026
Launch Type	Major Release
Launch Owner	Sarah Chen (Product)
Go/No-Go Decision Maker	Marcus Rodriguez (VP Product)

Key Stakeholders

Role	Name	Contact
Product	Sarah Chen	sarah@taskflow.io
Engineering	David Park	david@taskflow.io
Design	Lisa Wang	lisa@taskflow.io
Marketing	James Miller	james@taskflow.io
Support	Rachel Kim	rachel@taskflow.io

Engineering Readiness

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Code complete and merged	David Park	Feb 21	Done	All PRs merged to release branch
[x] Code review approved	Tech Lead	Feb 21	Done
[x] Feature flags configured	David Park	Feb 22	Done	`recurring_tasks_enabled`, `new_nav_enabled`
[x] Database migrations ready	Backend Team	Feb 20	Done	Tested on staging
[ ] API documentation updated	David Park	Feb 28	In Progress	80% complete
[x] Performance benchmarks pass	Platform Team	Feb 25	Done	App launch <2s, nav transitions <100ms

QA & Testing

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Test plan executed	QA Team	Feb 28	Done	847 test cases, 99.2% pass
[x] Regression tests pass	QA Team	Feb 27	Done	12 flaky tests fixed
[ ] UAT complete	Sarah Chen	Mar 3	In Progress	8/12 stakeholders signed off
[x] Cross-browser testing	QA Team	Feb 26	Done	N/A for mobile
[x] Mobile testing	QA Team	Feb 28	Done	iOS 15-17, Android 11-14
[x] Accessibility testing	QA Team	Feb 27	Done	VoiceOver, TalkBack verified
[x] Load testing complete	Platform Team	Feb 25	Done	Handles 10x normal load
[ ] Security review complete	Security Team	Mar 5	Pending	Scheduled for Mar 3-5

Design & UX

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Final designs approved	Lisa Wang	Feb 15	Done
[x] Design QA complete	Lisa Wang	Feb 26	Done	3 minor spacing issues fixed
[x] Asset handoff complete	Lisa Wang	Feb 18	Done
[x] Copy/content finalized	Content Team	Feb 20	Done
[x] Error states designed	Lisa Wang	Feb 18	Done
[x] Empty states designed	Lisa Wang	Feb 18	Done

Marketing & Communications

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Launch announcement drafted	James Miller	Feb 28	Done	CEO review pending
[ ] Blog post/PR ready	James Miller	Mar 5	In Progress	First draft in review
[ ] Social media content	Marketing Team	Mar 7	Not Started	Waiting for final screenshots
[ ] Email campaigns scheduled	Marketing Team	Mar 8	Not Started	Segments defined
[ ] App store listing updated	James Miller	Mar 8	Not Started	New screenshots needed
[ ] Website/landing page updated	Web Team	Mar 8	In Progress	60% complete
[ ] Screenshots/videos created	Design Team	Mar 5	In Progress	Video in editing

Customer Support

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Support documentation updated	Rachel Kim	Feb 28	Done	15 new articles
[x] FAQ created/updated	Rachel Kim	Feb 27	Done	Recurring tasks FAQ added
[ ] Support team trained	Rachel Kim	Mar 7	Scheduled	Training session Mar 5
[x] Canned responses prepared	Rachel Kim	Feb 28	Done	8 new macros
[x] Escalation path defined	Rachel Kim	Feb 25	Done	Eng on-call for Tier 3
[x] Support staffing confirmed	Rachel Kim	Feb 20	Done	+2 agents launch week

Legal & Compliance

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Terms of service reviewed	Legal Team	Feb 15	Done	No changes needed
[x] Privacy policy updated	Legal Team	Feb 15	Done	Recurring task data handling added
[x] GDPR compliance verified	Legal Team	Feb 20	Done	DPA updated
[x] Licensing requirements met	Legal Team	Feb 10	Done
[x] Accessibility compliance	QA Team	Feb 27	Done	WCAG 2.1 AA

Operations & Infrastructure

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Infrastructure scaled	Platform Team	Feb 25	Done	+50% capacity provisioned
[x] CDN configured	Platform Team	Feb 22	Done
[x] SSL certificates valid	Platform Team	Feb 20	Done	Expires Dec 2026
[x] Backup systems verified	Platform Team	Feb 24	Done	Recovery test passed
[x] Incident response plan ready	Platform Team	Feb 26	Done	Runbook updated
[ ] On-call rotation confirmed	David Park	Mar 7	Pending	Scheduling in progress

Analytics & Monitoring

Item	Owner	Due	Status	Notes
[x] Analytics instrumentation	Analytics Team	Feb 25	Done	24 new events tracked
[x] Dashboards created	Analytics Team	Feb 28	Done	v3.0 Launch Dashboard
[x] Alerts configured	Platform Team	Feb 26	Done	Error rate, latency, crash rate
[x] Success metrics baselined	Sarah Chen	Feb 28	Done	See PRD for targets
[x] Logging in place	Backend Team	Feb 22	Done

Go/No-Go Criteria

Must Have (Blockers)

All P0 bugs resolved
Security review complete (BLOCKED - scheduled Mar 3-5)
Performance benchmarks met
UAT sign-off from 10+ stakeholders (8/12 complete)
On-call rotation confirmed for launch week
Rollback plan tested

Should Have

Marketing materials ready
App store listing updated with new screenshots
Support team training complete

Nice to Have

Launch blog post published same day
Social media campaign live at launch

Rollback Plan

Trigger Conditions

Crash rate >2% (baseline: 0.3%)
Error rate >5% on any critical API
Major functionality broken (login, task creation, sync)
Security vulnerability discovered

Rollback Steps

Disable feature flags (recurring_tasks_enabled, new_nav_enabled)
If flag disable insufficient: Push App Store emergency update reverting to v2.9
Communicate to users via in-app banner and email
Post incident channel update (#launch-v3-war-room)

Rollback Owner

David Park . david@taskflow.io . +1-555-0123

Rollback Time Estimate

Feature flag disable: <5 minutes
App store rollback: 24-48 hours (Apple review)

Check-in Schedule

Checkpoint	Date	Attendees
T-7 days review	Mar 3, 10am PT	All stakeholders
T-2 days go/no-go	Mar 8, 2pm PT	Sarah, David, Marcus, Rachel
Launch day sync	Mar 10, 8am PT	Core team
T+1 day review	Mar 11, 10am PT	All stakeholders

Open Issues

Issue	Owner	Status	Impact
Security review not yet started	Security Team	Scheduled Mar 3	BLOCKER - must complete before launch
4 UAT stakeholders haven’t responded	Sarah Chen	Following up	Risk - need sign-offs by Mar 5
Android 14 notification permission edge case	David Park	Investigating	Low - affects <1% users
Marketing screenshots delayed	Design Team	In Progress	Risk - app store update may slip

Real-World Examples

See this skill applied to three different product contexts:

Storevine (B2B): Storevine B2B ecommerce platform . Campaigns v1 GA launch checklist

Prompt:

/launch-checklist

Feature: Campaigns v1.0 . native email marketing for Storevine merchants
Launch date: April 28, 2026
Launch type: Major Release
Launch owner: Growth PM

Key compliance and infrastructure requirements:
- Legal sign-off on CAN-SPAM + GDPR required before any production send
- DMARC/SPF/DKIM sender authentication required for Gmail/Yahoo inbox
  delivery (enforced by Google and Yahoo since 2024)
- SendGrid dedicated IP warm-up plan needed before full-volume sends
- Feature flag rollout: start at 10% of merchants [fictional], scale
  to 100% over 2 weeks based on send failure rates

Stakeholders:
- Engineering Lead (Platform Squad)
- Merchant Success (launch comms + support)
- Legal (CAN-SPAM/GDPR review)
- Storevine Marketing (announcement + dog-food)

Key risks from stakeholder summary:
- Legal review not started; hard gate on compliance sign-off
- Klaviyo partner team needs 48-hour advance notice before GA announcement
- Power-user merchant beta cohort expectations may exceed v1 scope

Need: full pre-launch checklist with go/no-go criteria, rollback plan,
and check-in schedule.

Output:

Launch Checklist: Campaigns v1.0 GA

Brainshelf (Consumer): Brainshelf consumer PKM app . Resurface feature launch checklist for Sprint 8 ship

Prompt:

/launch-checklist

resurface launch checklist. shipping at end of sprint 8 (feb 14-16).
this is our first email feature so dns, deliverability, and compliance
are all new for us. need the full checklist.

key stakeholders: priya (pm/launch owner), alex (eng), jess (eng),
dan (design), sam (frontend), chloe (data), jordan (growth),
marco (ceo, go/no-go).

go/no-go meeting: feb 12. launch window: feb 14-16 behind feature flag.
opt-in enrollment starts mar 2. a/b test starts mar 9.

Output:

Launch Checklist: Resurface . Morning Email Digest

Workbench (Enterprise): Workbench enterprise collaboration platform - Blueprints v1 GA launch readiness checklist

Prompt:

/launch-checklist

I need a comprehensive launch checklist for Blueprints v1 GA. Here's the context:

**Launch details:**
- Launch name: Blueprints GA
- Target date: April 28, 2026
- Rollout: From 80 closed-beta accounts to all ~500 enterprise customers [fictional]
- Ship decision confirmed by Sandra C. on April 14, 2026

**Key stakeholders:**
- Rachel V. (PM), Karen L. (Eng Lead), Tomás G. (Design Lead), Derek H. (Head of Marketing), Mei-Lin T. (Enterprise Sales Lead), James W. (VP Eng)

**Critical items I'm tracking:**
- SAML SSO certification -- must be complete before GA (enterprise blocker)
- IT admin provisioning guide -- enterprise security teams need this before they'll onboard
- Confluence migration communication plan -- many prospects are switching from Confluence
- A/B test code cleanup -- remove experiment flags, ship required-sections as default
- WebSocket provider scaling -- validated at 80 accounts, need to load test for 500

**Rollback concern:** If a critical bug surfaces in the first 48 hours, we need a clean rollback to the pre-Blueprints state without data loss for accounts that already created Blueprints during GA.

Please generate the full launch checklist with go/no-go criteria and a rollback plan.

Output:

Launch Checklist: Blueprints v1 GA

Quality Checklist

Before finalizing, verify:

All functional areas are represented
Every item has an owner and target date
Blockers are clearly distinguished from nice-to-haves
Go/No-Go criteria are specific and measurable
Rollback plan is documented and tested
Check-in cadence is scheduled

Output Format

Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md to structure the output.