From source control to Deployment Request

Two core flows, one pipeline

Freeze date vs. release date

Why dev → test only doesn't work

ReleaseOps needs all three — a two-instance setup has nowhere left to release to.

The assessment playbook, stage by stage

Studio to production, step by step

• 1️⃣Build and install the app from the IDE
• 2️⃣Publish the app to the App Repository
• 3️⃣Find the Update Set that publish just created
• 4️⃣Create a Release record on the destination instance
• 5️⃣Promote the Update Set → create a Deployment Request
• 6️⃣Activate the Release
• 7️⃣Mark the Deployment Request "Ready to Assess" → watch the playbook run
• 8️⃣Set up a manual pause point with a Deployment Request Task

Build & install the app from the IDE

• 🛠️Build the app in your IDE.
• 📥now-sdk build, then now-sdk install.
• 🔎Now it's visible in Studio.

Publish the app to the App Repository

• 1️⃣Open the app in Studio.
• 2️⃣App Details → Publish.
• 3️⃣Now visible company-wide.

Find the Update Set publish created

• 1️⃣Search Local Update Sets on dev.
• 2️⃣Publish created one automatically.
• 3️⃣That's the Deployment Request payload.

Create the Release record — the basics

• 1️⃣On the destination instance: new Release record.
• 2️⃣Set the destination environment.

Create the Release record — pipeline & timing

• 1️⃣Pick a pipeline: Scheduled or On Demand.
• 2️⃣Set freeze date and release date.
• 3️⃣Save.

Promote the Update Set → create a Deployment Request

• 1️⃣On dev: Promote Update Set.
• 2️⃣Check "Create new deployment request."
• 3️⃣Link the Release you made.

Activate the Release

• 1️⃣Release record → Activate Release.
• 2️⃣State: Active.

Ready to Assess → watch it move

• 1️⃣Click Ready to Assess.
• 2️⃣State → Assessing, automatically.
• 3️⃣Watch the activity log narrate it live.

Inside Workflow Studio: find the playbook

• 1️⃣Open Workflow Studio.
• 2️⃣Filter Playbooks by ReleaseOps.
• 3️⃣Four stages, left to right — next up.

Instance Scan

A static policy check on dev. Failures branch to a Reconciling task.

Move to Test

"Test" is a label, not a hard-coded instance — the destination is configurable.

Run ATF Tests

Two sad paths: failures, and low code coverage.

Ready for Deploy

The finish line for assessment — not a push to prod.

Setting up a manual pause point

• 1️⃣Deployment Request Tasks — empty by default.
• 2️⃣Add a new task.

Pausing it, and resolving it

• 1️⃣The task is wired to a specific playbook stage.
• 2️⃣Resolve it → the playbook picks back up.

What ReleaseOps can't do yet

Deployed to prod

Built, assessed, and released — with sign-off exactly where the team wanted it.

• 🧱Same payload, now playbook-driven.
• ⏸️Sign-off is a tracked task, not a Slack thread.
• 🚀Release fires on schedule, unattended.

Back to the workshop

That's the full pipeline — architecture, the assessment playbook, and the pause-point mechanics. Head back to the main deck, or into the hands-on exercise.