Launch playbook

Proof beats vibes.

AI can help you build fast, but launch quality is still boring, concrete work. This playbook shows what to prove before the link goes public.

Public surface

Open what visitors can open.

Do not trust a route map. Open every page, every navigation item, every CTA, every footer link, every downloadable file, and every empty state. Run the mobile path first because many launch bugs hide below 430 pixels.

Check the homepage, support pages, legal pages, and 404.
Test every form with empty, invalid, and valid input.
Confirm demo labels are honest and not mistaken for production.

Trust and safety

Assume the public can read the tree.

Before deployment, scan the committed files for secrets, sample customer data, private endpoints, and copied production screenshots. The launch is not ready if a future visitor can see something you would not send in an email.

Keep `.env` ignored and untracked.
Route legal, medical, financial, or safety claims to human review.
Write a privacy page that matches what the site actually does.

Accessibility

Use the site without a mouse.

Keyboard testing catches broken overlays, invisible focus, fake buttons, missing labels, and hover-only interfaces. It also forces you to make the main workflow understandable in order.

Tab through the page from the browser address bar.
Check that each form field has a visible label.
Turn on reduced motion and confirm the page still makes sense.

SEO and performance

Make the first request useful.

Search engines and humans both need real HTML, specific titles, clean descriptions, crawlable links, and pages that do not shift while loading. Start with no heavy script unless the page earns it.

Give every page a unique title and description.
Include sitemap and robots files.
Keep image dimensions stable and avoid layout shift.

Launch ops

Write the human-only list before launch day.

Accounts, domains, legal copy, analytics, and final deployment choices should be obvious before launch. The fastest way to lose a launch window is discovering that nobody knows who owns DNS.

Document deploy command, publish directory, and rollback path.
Keep domain, account, legal, and payment tasks in `HUMAN-TODO.md`.
Run live Lighthouse after deployment, not just local checks.