Chimp
Release: publishing, versions and rollback
Release puts your website or app live at its free address, such as yourapp.veragen.app, safely. Open the app and click Release in the steps across the top. It opens when QA is approved.
Watch the video
Release and Roll Back2:14 videoThe release checklist
Everything on the Release checklist has to be green before you can publish. Chimp checks it again every time:
| Spec approved | The spec this was built from. |
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| QA approved | With the run and its scores. |
| The tested build is the one being published | If the build changed after QA, run QA again. |
| No blocking bugs | No blocker or critical bug open in Skunk Works. Minor and major bugs are listed in the notes. |
| Publish scan passed | See below. |
| Address ready | The free address, with HTTPS. |
| Payments set up | For an online store only: the project's store takes payments, as Mercato's Payouts & payments shows it. A saved Stripe account is not enough: the item is green only when Stripe has confirmed the account and it can take card payments. If Mercato cannot reach the account, the item is red with Mercato's reason and a link to Payouts & payments, where Connect again connects the store once more; if Stripe still needs details, press Finish in Stripe there; if Stripe could not be asked just now, try again in a few minutes. Other websites and apps show Payments as not needed. Where payments are not available on the account, including while online payments are not switched on for the platform (the item says so), this item cannot turn green: to publish the store without taking payments, open its Settings and choose Publish without payments → Make it a web app. |
| Store connected | For an online store only: the build being published carries an active store key. If its key was revoked in Sales channels, or the store was never connected, press Save in the app's Settings: Chimp makes a new key and adds a change to Build that connects the site again. |
| Documentation written | The Overview, the acceptance tests and the test results, in the app's Documentation folder in Data Management. |
The publish scan
Press Run the publish scan. It checks the pages QA found for look-alike sign-in forms, pretending to be another company, hidden redirects and secrets left in the pages. Where the platform has a safe-browsing check set up, every outside link is also looked up against known unsafe sites; the scan's result says whether the outside links were looked up. If something needs fixing (such as a missing Report this site link), the item stays red: fix it and run the scan again. If something looks suspicious, the release is held for review by VeraGen instead; you can publish once a reviewer allows it.
Release notes
Write them for me writes the notes from the stories in this release, the changes you asked for in Build, and the bugs fixed during testing, and lists the known open bugs. Edit them in the box (a line starting ## is a heading, - is an item) and press Save my changes. You can also ask the AI box, for example "Make the notes shorter". The notes are saved in Data Management when you publish.
Publish
Press Publish version N at the foot of the page, then confirm. Owners and admins publish; owners and admins can make it owners only in Settings → Who approves. Publishing makes a new version that never changes and points the address at it.
Going live
Going live usually takes a minute or two. While it does, Release shows Going live with each step as it happens, and the bar at the foot says Going live…:
| Copying your site | The new version is saved and published. |
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| Switching your address over | The address is being moved to the new version. CloudFront is updating its servers around the world, which usually takes a minute or two; Release shows how long it has been waiting so far. If the address has not switched over within 5 minutes, the release rolls back by itself and Releases says the address did not switch over. Nothing was wrong with your site: press Publish to try again. No bug is filed. |
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| Checking your pages | The smoke test opens your main pages on the live address and ticks each one off. |
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| Trying the shop: a product, a cart, a test checkout | For an online store only (see below). |
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| Sending a test message through your form | One test message through the site's forms (see below). |
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| Live | Every check passed and the version is live. If a check fails, this step says Rolled back and why. |
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You can leave the page while it goes live: it carries on, and Release shows the result when you come back.
Once the address has switched over, a smoke test opens the live address and your main pages. For an online store it also checks the shop on the live address: it finds a product, adds it to a cart and opens the checkout page, without paying. That test checkout is then closed, so it holds no stock and never counts as an abandoned cart. A store with nothing for sale yet passes, and Releases says the cart and checkout were not tried. For every site, the smoke test also sends one test message through the site's forms from the live address, named VeraGen release check. It is checked like a real message but is never emailed to you, never added to Thrive and never starts an automation. A version built before forms could send passes, and Releases says no form was tried. If a page does not show your app, the shop does not work, or the forms cannot send, the address goes back to the previous version by itself (or offline, for a first release), a blocker bug is filed in Skunk Works, and Releases says what failed. Fix it, run QA, and publish again.
When it is live, Open the site opens it, and the Live step starts.
Versions
Versions lists every version you have published. Roll back makes an older version live again within a minute; Return to this goes forward again; when the app is offline, Make this live brings any version back. Nothing is deleted. A build that is already a version is never published a second time: after rolling back, Release says which version holds the latest build, and you make it live again from Versions. Take it offline (under Versions) stops the address showing the app; Make this live beside a version brings it back.
Report this site
Every page of a website or app on a free address carries a small Report this site link, so anyone can tell VeraGen about a harmful site. VeraGen reviews every report. If VeraGen takes an app down, every address of it says so, Release shows the reason, and it cannot be published. Contact VeraGen support (hello@veragen.ai) if you think that is a mistake.