# Implementation Roadmap

> Phased delivery plan for the Release Orchestrator implementation.

**Status:** Planned
**Source:** [Architecture Advisory Section 14](../../../product/advisories/09-Jan-2026%20-%20Stella%20Ops%20Orchestrator%20Architecture.md)
**Related:** [Implementation Guide](implementation-guide.md), [Test Structure](test-structure.md)

## Overview

The Release Orchestrator is delivered in 8 phases over 34 weeks, progressively building from foundational infrastructure to full plugin ecosystem support.

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## Phased Delivery Plan

### Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-4)

**Goal:** Core infrastructure and basic release management

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 1 | Database schema migration; INTHUB integration-manager; connection-profiles |
| Week 2 | ENVMGR environment-manager; target-registry (basic) |
| Week 3 | RELMAN component-registry; version-manager; release-manager |
| Week 4 | Basic release CRUD APIs; CLI commands; integration tests |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Can create environments with config
- Can register components with image repos
- Can create releases with pinned digests
- Can list/search releases

**Certified Path:** Manual release creation; no deployment yet

---

### Phase 2: Workflow Engine (Weeks 5-8)

**Goal:** Workflow execution capability

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 5 | WORKFL step-registry; built-in step types (approval, policy-gate, notify) |
| Week 6 | WORKFL workflow-designer; workflow template CRUD |
| Week 7 | WORKFL workflow-engine; DAG execution; state machine |
| Week 8 | Step executor; retry logic; timeout handling; workflow run APIs |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Can create workflow templates via API
- Can execute workflows with approval steps
- Workflow state machine handles all transitions
- Step retries work correctly

**Certified Path:** Approval-only workflows; no deployment execution yet

---

### Phase 3: Promotion & Decision (Weeks 9-12)

**Goal:** Promotion workflow with security gates

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 9 | PROMOT promotion-manager; approval-gateway |
| Week 10 | PROMOT decision-engine; security gate integration with SCANENG |
| Week 11 | Gate registry; freeze window gate; SoD enforcement |
| Week 12 | Promotion APIs; "Why blocked?" endpoint; decision record |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Can request promotion
- Security gates evaluate scan verdicts
- Approval workflow enforces SoD
- Decision record captures gate results

**Certified Path:** Promotions with security + approval gates; no deployment yet

---

### Phase 4: Deployment Execution (Weeks 13-18)

**Goal:** Deploy to Docker/Compose targets

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 13 | AGENTS agent-core; agent registration; heartbeat |
| Week 14 | AGENTS agent-docker; Docker host deployment |
| Week 15 | AGENTS agent-compose; Compose deployment |
| Week 16 | DEPLOY deploy-orchestrator; artifact-generator |
| Week 17 | DEPLOY rollback-manager; version sticker writing |
| Week 18 | RELEVI evidence-collector; evidence-signer; audit-exporter |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Agents can register and receive tasks
- Docker deployment works with digest verification
- Compose deployment writes lock files
- Rollback restores previous version
- Evidence packets generated for deployments

**Certified Path:** Full promotion -> deployment flow for Docker/Compose

---

### Phase 5: UI & Polish (Weeks 19-22)

**Goal:** Web console for release orchestration

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 19 | Dashboard components; metrics widgets |
| Week 20 | Environment overview; release detail screens |
| Week 21 | Workflow editor (graph); run visualization |
| Week 22 | Promotion UI; approval queue; "Why blocked?" modal |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Dashboard shows operational metrics
- Can manage environments/releases via UI
- Can create/edit workflows in graph editor
- Can approve promotions via UI

**Certified Path:** Complete v1 user experience

---

### Phase 6: Progressive Delivery (Weeks 23-26)

**Goal:** A/B releases and canary deployments

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 23 | PROGDL ab-manager; target-group A/B |
| Week 24 | PROGDL canary-controller; stage execution |
| Week 25 | PROGDL traffic-router; Nginx plugin |
| Week 26 | Canary UI; traffic visualization; health monitoring |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Can create A/B release with variations
- Canary controller advances stages based on health
- Traffic router shifts weights
- Rollback on health failure works

**Certified Path:** Target-group A/B; Nginx router-based A/B

---

### Phase 7: Extended Targets (Weeks 27-30)

**Goal:** ECS and Nomad support; SSH/WinRM agentless

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 27 | AGENTS agent-ssh; SSH remote executor |
| Week 28 | AGENTS agent-winrm; WinRM remote executor |
| Week 29 | AGENTS agent-ecs; ECS deployment |
| Week 30 | AGENTS agent-nomad; Nomad deployment |

**Exit Criteria:**
- SSH deployment works with script execution
- WinRM deployment works with PowerShell
- ECS task definition updates work
- Nomad job submissions work

**Certified Path:** All target types operational

---

### Phase 8: Plugin Ecosystem (Weeks 31-34)

**Goal:** Full plugin system; external integrations

| Week | Deliverables |
|------|--------------|
| Week 31 | PLUGIN plugin-registry; plugin-loader |
| Week 32 | PLUGIN plugin-sandbox; plugin-sdk |
| Week 33 | GitHub plugin; GitLab plugin |
| Week 34 | Jenkins plugin; Vault plugin |

**Exit Criteria:**
- Can install and configure plugins
- Plugins can contribute step types
- Plugins can contribute integrations
- Plugin sandbox enforces limits

**Certified Path:** GitHub + Harbor + Docker/Compose + Vault

---

## Resource Requirements

### Team Structure

| Role | Count | Responsibilities |
|------|-------|------------------|
| Tech Lead | 1 | Architecture decisions; code review; unblocking |
| Backend Engineers | 4 | Module development; API implementation |
| Frontend Engineers | 2 | Web console; dashboard; workflow editor |
| DevOps Engineer | 1 | CI/CD; infrastructure; agent deployment |
| QA Engineer | 1 | Test automation; integration testing |
| Technical Writer | 0.5 | Documentation; API docs; user guides |

### Infrastructure Requirements

| Component | Specification |
|-----------|---------------|
| PostgreSQL | Primary database; 16+ recommended; read replicas for scale |
| Redis | Job queues; caching; session storage |
| Object Storage | S3-compatible; evidence packets; large artifacts |
| Container Runtime | Docker; for plugin sandboxes |
| Kubernetes | Optional; for Stella core deployment (not required for targets) |

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## Risk Mitigation

| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|------------|--------|------------|
| Agent security complexity | High | High | Early security review; penetration testing; mTLS implementation in Phase 4 |
| Workflow state machine edge cases | Medium | High | Comprehensive state transition tests; chaos testing |
| Plugin sandbox escapes | Low | Critical | Security audit; capability restrictions; resource limits |
| Database migration issues | Medium | Medium | Staged rollout; rollback scripts; data validation |
| UI performance with large workflows | Medium | Medium | Virtual rendering; lazy loading; performance testing |
| Integration compatibility | High | Medium | Abstract connector interface; extensive integration tests |

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## Success Metrics

| Phase | Key Metrics |
|-------|-------------|
| Phase 1 | Release creation time < 5s; API latency p99 < 200ms |
| Phase 2 | Workflow execution reliability > 99.9% |
| Phase 3 | Gate evaluation time < 500ms; SoD enforcement 100% |
| Phase 4 | Deployment success rate > 99%; rollback time < 60s |
| Phase 5 | UI initial load < 2s; real-time update latency < 1s |
| Phase 6 | Canary rollback trigger time < 30s |
| Phase 7 | All target type coverage with unified API |
| Phase 8 | Plugin sandbox isolation verified by security audit |

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## References

- [Sprint Index](../../implplan/SPRINT_20260110_100_000_INDEX_release_orchestrator.md)
- [Implementation Guide](implementation-guide.md)
- [Test Structure](test-structure.md)
- [Architecture Overview](architecture.md)