Guide · DevOps & Platform
Production Readiness Checklist for SaaS
Going from MVP to production? Use this checklist to verify security, backups, monitoring, and cost controls before real users arrive.
For AI systems, prefer gated Core Profile checks over a generic SaaS checklist alone. Start with: Core Profile
Ship blockers, not vibes
Production readiness is the gap between "demo works" and "customers depend on this." Skip the scoreboard fantasy—ask what would page you at 2am and what would empty the bank account. Teams that deferred "ops stuff" until after launch have paid both ways: a $12k AI bill with no alerts, and a day of data lost because restore was never rehearsed.
Five gates before real users
Secrets & IAM — keys only on the server; secrets in a manager; IAM least privilege, not admin-for-convenience.
Backups — automated snapshots plus a restore you've actually run; write down RPO/RTO so support isn't guessing.
Observability — structured logs, uptime check, alert on error rate and latency—not "we'll look at CloudWatch later."
Cost & abuse — budget alerts, rate limits on public APIs, AI quotas if you call models.
Change & incidents — deploy with rollback; a one-page runbook and who to call.
Minimum tool stack that covers the gates
AWS Budgets + Secrets Manager + CloudWatch (or Datadog/PagerDuty) covers most early SaaS. CI should be able to roll back a bad release without SSH folklore.
APRF Change Management and Platform Engineering describe the same bar as framework gates. Use this checklist to find blockers; use an assessment when you need a prioritized gap list for investors or enterprise buyers.
Next: Core Profile
Open the related pillar specification for mandatory checks, artifacts, and pass conditions. Self-attest is optional.
Related
Frequently asked questions
- What is production readiness?
- Production readiness means your system can handle real users, failures, and growth. It includes reliable infrastructure, security hardening, observability, backups, and cost controls.
- When should I use a production readiness checklist?
- Before launching to real users or moving from MVP to scale. Use it to identify gaps in security, backups, monitoring, and cost controls before they become incidents.
- How do I check if my SaaS is production ready?
- Take a production readiness assessment that covers API security, backups, monitoring, cost controls, and IAM. It identifies your biggest gaps and gives you a prioritized fix list.