Rollback plan template (software releases)

R7 Rollback decision and runbook

When: Something is wrong after a release. Decide in minutes, not hours. Owner: Incident owner · Time: 5 min decision

# R7 Rollback decision and runbook
When: Something is wrong after a release. Decide in minutes, not hours.
Owner: Incident owner · Time: 5 min decision

Release: ______  Date: ______  Signed off by: ______

## Roll back if any is true
- [ ] Data is being lost, corrupted or exposed
- [ ] A core flow is blocked for many users and no flag can switch the change off
- [ ] Error rate or latency is far above baseline and rising
- [ ] The fix is not understood yet

## Fix forward only if
- [ ] The cause is understood and the fix is small
- [ ] A flag or config change switches the problem off
- [ ] The migration cannot be safely reversed (then mitigate and fix forward)

## Runbook
- [ ] Announce in the incident channel: "Rolling back release X.Y.Z at HH:MM"
- [ ] Run the rollback command from the release ticket
- [ ] Verify the previous version is serving (version endpoint / About screen)
- [ ] Re-run the smoke test core section
- [ ] Tell support and update the status page
- [ ] File the regression issue and block the release until fixed

Fill these in before you release

• The exact rollback command or button, and who can run it.
• Whether each database migration can be reversed, and what happens to data written after the release.
• Which feature flags can switch the change off without a deploy.
• How you'll confirm the old version is serving (a version endpoint or About screen).

Record the video part

After a rollback, record the repro on staging for the regression issue while it is fresh. Bobbin is a free Chrome extension that records your screen, a window or a tab with your microphone and an optional webcam bubble. No account, no watermark, no time limit, and nothing is uploaded: the file stays on your computer.

1. Click the Bobbin icon in Chrome's toolbar and choose Record screen, window or tab.
2. Pick your microphone and turn on the camera if you want the webcam bubble.
3. Press Start recording, choose what to share in Chrome's picker, and wait for the 3-second countdown.
4. Pause with Alt+Shift+P, stop with Alt+Shift+S, then press Download to save the file.

To keep other tabs and notifications out of it, share just the Chrome tab (the webcam bubble appears only in screen and window recordings). Bobbin saves MP4 where your browser supports it (Chrome 126 or newer), WebM otherwise, and tells you which it used.

File size: our 60-minute 1080p test came to about 246 MB (roughly 4 MB a minute) on a simple synthetic screen; busy real screens can be larger, so a 1–2 minute clip is usually small enough to attach.