🧠 Release Manager Agent Specification¶

🎯 Purpose¶

The Release Manager Agent is the strategic coordinator and gatekeeper of ConnectSoft’s release lifecycle. It is responsible for ensuring that software artifacts:

Are approved for release based on business, technical, and compliance criteria
Follow correct gating rules and change freeze policies
Are aligned with the Studio timeline and trace visibility
Are tagged with clear outcomes such as Approved, Rejected, Delayed, Published

“If the Deployment Orchestrator Agent delivers — the Release Manager Agent decides if and when delivery is allowed.”

🧭 Role in the Platform¶

Dimension	Description
Governance	It owns the approval lifecycle, defines readiness, and controls when deployment may begin.
Policy Execution	Applies organizational rules: staging → production promotion, test validation, scheduled cutoffs.
Human Collaboration	Coordinates with Studio users (DevOps leads, product owners) for manual sign-off or overrides.
Event Coordination	Emits `ReleasePlanned`, `ReleaseApproved`, `ReleasePublished`, and `ReleaseFrozen` lifecycle events.

🧱 Strategic Position in the Factory¶

sequenceDiagram
    participant QACluster
    participant ReleaseManager
    participant StudioUser
    participant DeploymentOrchestrator
    participant ObservabilityAgent

    QACluster->>ReleaseManager: Emit TestsPassed
    ReleaseManager->>StudioUser: Request Approval
    StudioUser-->>ReleaseManager: Approve or Delay
    ReleaseManager->>DeploymentOrchestrator: Emit ReleaseApproved
    DeploymentOrchestrator->>ObservabilityAgent: Emit DeploymentCompleted

Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

🧠 What It Guards¶

Environments: Prevents production deploys without validation or approval
Modules: Ensures only tested, reviewed modules are promoted
Timing: Enforces freeze windows or blackouts (e.g., weekends, regulatory lockout periods)
Traceability: Tags release outcomes in Studio with traceId, releaseId, agentId, status
Human Escalation: Supports approval chains, delayed decisions, and trace-linked justifications

📘 Example Mission Statement¶

“Given a validated module suite, test signal, and Studio-visible plan, the Release Manager Agent will confirm readiness gates, apply policy filters, optionally request human sign-off, and then emit ReleaseApproved. If rejected or delayed, the agent provides structured feedback with reasons and history.”

📌 Outcomes the Agent Must Guarantee¶

Outcome	Description
✅ No unapproved module reaches production
✅ All release actions are traceable and tied to Studio sessions
✅ All approvals are role-based and timestamped
✅ Rejects or delays are logged and observable
✅ Downstream agents are only triggered on success

🎯 Alignment with Platform Principles¶

Principle	Alignment
Event-Driven	Releases emit lifecycle events to trigger downstream flows
AI-First	Decision chains are structured, automatable, and prompt-aware
Modular	Works per module, per environment, per tenant/edition
Security-First	Applies freeze rules and RBAC approvals before handoff
Observability-Driven	Every outcome is logged, traceable, and visible in Studio timelines

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent exists to ensure that ConnectSoft deployments only proceed when explicitly validated, approved, and policy-compliant. It translates QA, business, and governance signals into release control actions — forming the critical boundary between build success and production impact.

📋 Responsibilities¶

The Release Manager Agent is responsible for governing, validating, and authorizing the release lifecycle. Its responsibilities span across:

Policy enforcement
Human approval orchestration
Timeline coordination
Triggering downstream deployment

It serves as a decision-making agent that connects QA outputs, Studio trace plans, and production authorization gates.

✅ Key Responsibilities Breakdown¶

Responsibility	Description
🧭 Release Planning	Registers a new upcoming release in the timeline, linked to trace and module metadata.
🔐 Gate Enforcement	Checks if QA status is green, blueprint modules are valid, observability readiness is confirmed.
📅 Change Freeze Awareness	Validates against current change control windows (e.g., weekends, holidays, critical incidents).
👥 Approval Workflow Triggering	Emits human approval requests when required, escalates when overdue or rejected.
📝 Release Snapshot Generation	Compiles modules, versions, approvals, environment scope into a `ReleaseSnapshot.json`.
📡 Event Emission	Emits `ReleasePlanned`, `ReleaseApproved`, `ReleaseDelayed`, `ReleaseRejected`, and `ReleasePublished`.
⛔ Block Invalid Releases	Rejects promotion if readiness checks, security conditions, or approval steps are violated.
📘 Studio Timeline Sync	Writes status and decisions into the Studio UI for traceability and audit.
🧠 Memory Recording	Stores all release attempts, reasons for rejection, human overrides, and success/failure decisions.
⚙️ Trigger Deployment Agent	On approval, emits `ReleaseApproved` → activates the `DeploymentOrchestratorAgent`.

📘 Example: Responsibilities in Action¶

Scenario: Deploy to production¶

QA Agent emits TestsPassed
Release Manager:
- Confirms all modules validated
- Applies release gating policies
- Checks if changeFreeze = false
- If requiresApproval = true → asks for Studio sign-off
- On success → emits ReleaseApproved
- Deployment Orchestrator activates

📜 Responsibilities vs. Capabilities¶

Category	Release Manager Agent
Thinks about readiness	✅ Yes
Executes rollout	❌ No (Deployment Orchestrator)
Triggers human input	✅ Yes
Enforces SLA checks	❌ No (Observability Agent)
Emits governance artifacts	✅ Yes
Controls Studio timeline	✅ Yes

🧠 Critical Flow Dependencies¶

Must delay deployment if any readiness gates are invalid
Must fail closed — i.e., assume “block” by default
Must explain each decision with structured metadata

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent owns the release control plane. It ensures that only valid, authorized, and traceable module sets are promoted — enforcing gating, approval, and policy rules with precise coordination of agents, orchestrators, and Studio timelines.

📥 Inputs¶

The Release Manager Agent consumes structured, traceable inputs from various upstream agents, orchestrators, Studio users, and memory. These inputs define:

What is being proposed for release
Who or what validated it
What the target environment and tenant is
Whether policies and freeze rules are satisfied

The agent uses these to make an informed, policy-compliant, trace-bound release decision.

🗃️ Core Input Types¶

Input	Description
📦 Module Manifest	List of modules, versions, and environments to be released. Often pulled from `ReleasePlan.yaml`.
🧪 QA Signals	Emitted by QA agents (e.g., `TestsPassed`, `SmokeTestsPassed`, `CodeCoverageVerified`) tied to `traceId`.
🛡️ Security and Policy States	Signals from `SecurityPolicyEnforcerAgent` or config overlays about release readiness or blockers.
📅 Calendar Rules	Change freeze data (e.g., from Studio, `ChangeControl.json`, or incident suppression periods).
👥 Studio Approval Metadata	Approver identity, RBAC role, sign-off timestamp, and any delay or rejection rationale.
🧠 Memory of Prior Attempts	From `ReleaseHistory.json`, including previous failures, escalations, or override records.
🔁 Trace Context	Standardized trace metadata (e.g., `traceId`, `projectId`, `tenantId`, `environment`, `releaseId`).
🧾 Blueprint Metadata	Traceable blueprint and domain context definitions for the release scope (e.g., edition-specific deployments).

🧠 Example Input Payload¶

traceId: trace-2025-05-23-0842
releaseId: release-001291
projectId: pet-insurance
modules:
  - policy-service: 2.3.1
  - claims-api: 1.7.9
  - notifications: 0.9.4
environment: production
tenantId: vetplan-premium
qaSignals:
  - TestsPassed
  - CoverageCheck > 85%
requiresApproval: true
changeFreeze: false
approvals:
  - user: j.doe
    role: ReleaseManager
    approvedAt: 2025-05-23T09:32:00Z

🧠 Memory-Based Input Retrievals¶

Source	Purpose
`ReleaseHistory.json`	Was this version previously released or rejected?
`ReleaseSnapshot.yaml`	What was the planned state for this trace or sprint?
`QAResults.log`	Did tests or coverage fail?
`ApprovalRecords.yaml`	Who signed off and under what justification?

🚦 Triggering Inputs¶

Trigger Event	Initiator
`TestsPassed`	QA Agent
`ReleaseIntentDeclared`	Studio or Planner
`ReleaseScheduledWindowOpened`	Calendar/scheduler FSM
`StudioUserApprovalReceived`	CLI or GUI
`PolicyViolationDetected`	Security Agent

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent uses inputs that define the intent, readiness, and compliance state of a potential release. It must combine these inputs with memory and calendar state to authorize or block the delivery of modules to runtime environments.

📤 Outputs¶

The Release Manager Agent emits structured, traceable outputs that reflect its decision on whether a release may proceed, including:

Lifecycle event emissions
Studio trace updates
Memory artifacts for auditing and history
Trigger signals for downstream agents (e.g., Deployment Orchestrator)

These outputs drive factory-wide release coordination and traceable runtime behavior.

📡 Core Output Events¶

Event	Description
🟢 `ReleasePlanned`	Emitted when a new release candidate is registered and validated against scope and freeze constraints.
✅ `ReleaseApproved`	Emitted once all readiness gates, approvals, and policies are satisfied. Triggers downstream deployment.
⏳ `ReleaseDelayed`	Emitted when a change freeze, missing approval, or schedule block postpones the release.
❌ `ReleaseRejected`	Emitted if QA validation fails, policies are violated, or Studio user explicitly denies approval.
📘 `ReleasePublished`	Emitted after downstream agents confirm successful deployment. Signals final release state and completeness.

📄 Structured Artifacts and Memory Entries¶

1. 📄 `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

Captures the final state of a release decision.

{
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-0842",
  "releaseId": "release-001291",
  "status": "Approved",
  "modules": {
    "policy-service": "2.3.1",
    "claims-api": "1.7.9"
  },
  "approvedBy": "j.doe",
  "approvedAt": "2025-05-23T09:32:00Z",
  "changeFreeze": false
}

2. 🧠 `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

Maintains a log of prior approvals, rejections, rationales, and timestamps per module and environment.

3. 📄 `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

Stores a structured audit trail of who approved which module for which environment, and under what RBAC role.

📘 Studio Trace Integration¶

The following outputs also appear in the Studio UI:

Timeline status updates (e.g., “🟢 Approved by Jane Doe @ 09:32”)
Justifications for rejections or overrides
Visual diff of approved vs. delayed modules
Link to ReleaseSnapshot.yaml for trace reviewers

🔁 Downstream Agent Triggers¶

Event	Target Agent
`ReleaseApproved`	✅ `DeploymentOrchestratorAgent`
`ReleaseRejected`	⚠️ `Studio UI`, `TestCoordinatorAgent` (to refocus testing)
`ReleaseDelayed`	⏳ Notifies orchestrator FSM to pause at release state

📊 Observability Signals Emitted¶

OpenTelemetry spans with:
- agentId = release-manager
- status = Approved | Rejected | Delayed
- releaseId, traceId, approverId, durationMs
Prometheus metrics:
- release_approved_total
- release_rejected_total
- release_delay_seconds
- approval_duration_seconds

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent outputs the decisions that define delivery. Through structured events, memory logs, Studio updates, and downstream triggers, it ensures that every release is intentional, observable, and authorized.

📚 Knowledge Base¶

The Release Manager Agent makes release decisions based on a rich, structured set of internal and external knowledge sources. These include:

Historical decisions (approvals, rejections, exceptions)
Module traces and validations
Release plans and gate policies
Human sign-offs and calendar windows
Runtime memory across modules and tenants

This memory model enables the agent to reason over past behavior, align with ongoing trace timelines, and enforce structured release policy.

🧠 Embedded Knowledge Modules¶

Knowledge	Description
🎯 Gating Rules	Built-in understanding of required QA signals, policy checks, and approval flows for each environment (e.g., “prod requires approval + observability check”).
📅 Change Freeze Rules	Embedded logic for interpreting time-based deployment restrictions (from Studio calendars or configuration files).
🛡 Security Policy Templates	Pre-encoded release blockers (e.g., “No releases allowed if image scan is failed,” “No unsigned artifacts to prod”).
🧾 Approval Chain Models	Standard roles and scopes for who can approve releases (e.g., DevOps → staging; Product Owner → production).

💾 Retrieved Memory Sources¶

File	Contents
`ReleaseHistory.json`	All past approvals, delays, and rejections with trace links, user IDs, and reasons.
`QAResults.log`	Status of test signals, test coverage %, failed tests per module per environment.
`ApprovalRecords.yaml`	Manual sign-offs, CLI approvals, Studio signers, RBAC roles, timestamps.
`ReleaseSnapshot.yaml`	What modules, versions, and environments are part of the active trace's intended release.
`ChangeControl.json`	Current freeze windows, blackouts, or embargo periods by environment/region/tenant.

🔎 Example Memory Fragment¶

{
  "releaseId": "release-01929",
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-18-7781",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "reasons": [
    "QA validation missing for claims-api",
    "changeFreeze = true",
    "Release window blocked by security audit"
  ],
  "lastReviewedAt": "2025-05-18T15:42:00Z",
  "approvedBy": null
}

🧠 Semantic Memory Capabilities¶

Detect prior failed attempts for the same module in same environment
Recall reason chains (e.g., repeated failures of the same team)
Warn against high-risk releases (e.g., combining multiple unstable modules)
Avoid release collisions in multi-tenant or multi-region contexts

🧭 Example Rule Evaluation from Memory¶

“If the last 2 production releases of invoice-service failed within 24 hours, escalate approval request to VP-level approver.”

🔐 Memory Security¶

Constraint	Description
RBAC enforced	Only authorized roles can view or override past decisions
Tenant isolation	Each release memory scope is per tenant and per trace
Studio-signed approvals	All human approvals stored with verifiable signature

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent operates with a governance-aware memory model that allows it to make policy-driven, context-rich, historically informed decisions. This ensures consistency, transparency, and traceability across all release flows.

🔄 Process Flow (Macro)¶

The Release Manager Agent operates within a release governance FSM — moving a release candidate through a series of validation, approval, and publication checkpoints.

This macro-level flow outlines how the agent transitions between states and emits decisions, ultimately controlling whether a release enters deployment.

🧠 High-Level Flow Diagram¶

flowchart TD
    A[📥 Release Intent Received] --> B[🔍 Validate QA Signals + Module Trace]
    B --> C{🚦 Change Freeze Active?}
    C -- Yes --> D[⏳ Emit ReleaseDelayed]
    C -- No --> E{🛂 Approval Required?}
    E -- No --> F[✅ Emit ReleaseApproved]
    E -- Yes --> G[📩 Request Human Approval]
    G --> H{👥 Approved by Studio User?}
    H -- Yes --> F
    H -- No --> I[❌ Emit ReleaseRejected]

    F --> J[🧠 Write ReleaseSummary.json]
    I --> J
    D --> J

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📋 Phases Explained¶

Phase	Description
A. Release Intent	Triggered by a `ReleaseIntentDeclared` event or trace milestone (via planner or Studio).
B. Validation	Confirms QA signals, version availability, required modules, and artifact integrity.
C. Change Freeze Check	Evaluates `ChangeControl.json` or active freeze signals from Studio or policy agents.
D. Delay Emission	Defers release until freeze window ends; triggers Studio UI alert.
E. Approval Chain Trigger	If environment requires approval, prompts user or workflow.
F. Release Approval	Emits `ReleaseApproved` event to trigger downstream agents.
G. Human Approval Flow	Connects with Studio, CLI, or chatbot approval workflows.
H. Rejection on Failure or Denial	Produces structured failure event and justifications.
J. Memory & Audit Update	Writes release summary, approval record, and decision trace.

📘 Sample Event Sequence¶

QA Agent emits TestsPassed
Release Manager validates module trace
Detects freeze window → emits ReleaseDelayed
Waits for window to lift, re-evaluates
Studio user approves release
Emits ReleaseApproved
Deployment Orchestrator activated

🔁 FSM Summary Table¶

State	Transition Trigger	Next
`release_proposed`	ReleaseIntentDeclared	`validating_release`
`validating_release`	QA Passed & no freeze	`approval_pending` or `release_approved`
`approval_pending`	StudioApprovalReceived	`release_approved`
`approval_pending`	ApprovalRejected	`release_rejected`
`release_approved`	Emits ReleaseApproved	downstream → deployment FSM
`release_delayed`	Freeze Lifted	restart → `validating_release`

✅ Summary¶

This macro process flow captures the release lifecycle as a formal state machine, orchestrated by the Release Manager Agent. It ensures that:

No release escapes governance
Studio and human approvals are honored
All decisions are event-driven and observable

The macro FSM model guarantees scalable, repeatable release control — aligned with ConnectSoft’s factory-grade automation vision.

🔬 Process Flow (Micro)¶

The micro flow describes the internal logic and decision-making process executed by the Release Manager Agent during a single release session. This includes:

Prompt validation
Policy checks
Gate condition evaluation
Approval routing
Final decision and memory writes

It complements the macro FSM by showing exact internal operations per invocation.

⚙️ Micro Execution Flow¶

flowchart TD
    A[📥 Parse ReleaseIntent Payload] --> B[🧪 Validate QA Signals]
    B --> C[🔁 Load Module Trace + Snapshot]
    C --> D[🛡 Check Security/Policy Violations]
    D --> E[📅 Check Change Freeze Window]
    E --> F{Freeze Active?}
    F -- Yes --> G[Emit ReleaseDelayed] --> Z[Write Delay Reason + Exit]
    F -- No --> H{Approval Required?}
    H -- No --> I[✅ Emit ReleaseApproved]
    H -- Yes --> J[📩 Check Approval Record or Trigger Studio Prompt]
    J --> K{Studio Approval Received?}
    K -- Yes --> I
    K -- No --> L[❌ Emit ReleaseRejected]
    I --> M[🧠 Write ReleaseSummary.json + Audit Trail]
    L --> M

Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

🧠 Internal Step Breakdown¶

Step	Action	Description
A	Parse Inputs	Ingests `ReleaseIntent`, `traceId`, `module list`, and current release context
B	QA Validation	Confirms that all modules passed required QA gates
C	Module Verification	Verifies trace and blueprint state: no missing modules, correct versions
D	Security Check	Consults security signals (e.g., image scan results, policy blockers)
E	Change Freeze Check	Uses `ChangeControl.json` or active Studio timeline restrictions
F	Delay Evaluation	Delays release if freeze is active (tag reason)
H	Approval Check	Determines if approval chain applies (e.g., for production)
J	Studio Approval Flow	Prompts Studio user or reads CLI override
K	Decision Point	Waits for approval; fails if denied or timed out
M	Memory Writing	Writes `ReleaseSummary`, `ApprovalRecord`, and Studio status update

📘 Example Execution Input (Partial)¶

releaseId: release-2893
traceId: trace-2025-05-23-0991
modules:
  - billing-service: 1.4.3
environment: staging
tenantId: petcare-labs
requiresApproval: false
changeFreeze: false

🧠 Micro Decision Outcomes¶

Condition	Action
Tests missing	Immediate reject with status `QAValidationFailed`
QA passed, no freeze, no approval needed	Approve immediately
Approval needed and granted	Approve and emit trigger
Approval needed and rejected	Emit `ReleaseRejected`, log approver
Freeze active	Emit `ReleaseDelayed`, store retry trigger

✅ Summary¶

The micro flow defines how the Release Manager Agent processes a release decision in one execution window — using structured validation, Studio prompt integration, and policy checks.

This guarantees that every release decision is deterministic, secure, policy-compliant, and traceable — whether automated or human-reviewed.

⚙️ Skills and Kernel Functions¶

The Release Manager Agent is driven by modular Semantic Kernel (SK) skills, enabling it to:

Evaluate QA, security, and policy inputs
Enforce approvals and change gates
Emit structured release events
Write decision traces and audit records
Collaborate with Studio and orchestrators

Each skill is composable, observable, and aligned with ConnectSoft’s event-driven agent execution model.

🧩 Core Skill Categories¶

📘 1. 🧪 Validation Skills¶

Skill	Purpose
`ValidateQASignals`	Ensures test coverage, pass/fail status, and BDD validations are present and successful.
`VerifyModuleBlueprintState`	Confirms all modules in the release are complete, versioned, and ready.
`CheckSecurityPolicies`	Blocks release if scan failures or critical CVEs are found.
`EvaluateChangeFreezeRules`	Parses `ChangeControl.json` or memory to detect active freeze periods.

⚖️ 2. 🛡 Policy Enforcement Skills¶

Skill	Purpose
`EnforceApprovalGate`	Determines if approval is required based on env/tenant.
`RequestStudioApproval`	Triggers Studio prompt or CLI task to gather manual sign-off.
`EvaluateApprovalRecord`	Confirms approval identity, role, timestamp, and signature validity.

📤 3. 📡 Lifecycle Signal Skills¶

Skill	Purpose
`EmitReleasePlanned`	Declares a new release window is opening.
`EmitReleaseApproved`	Signals deployment agents that release is allowed.
`EmitReleaseDelayed`	Broadcasts that release is postponed due to timing or policy.
`EmitReleaseRejected`	Stops release and logs rationale.
`EmitReleasePublished`	Finalizes the release in Studio once deployment is confirmed.

🧠 4. 📝 Memory & Trace Writing Skills¶

Skill	Purpose
`WriteReleaseSummary`	Outputs `ReleaseSummary.json` with version, modules, approvals, and status.
`RecordApprovalDecision`	Stores decision metadata in `ApprovalRecords.yaml` (who, when, why).
`LogReleaseHistory`	Appends decision to `ReleaseHistory.json` with trace linkage.

🧭 5. 🧠 Reasoning & Flow Management¶

Skill	Purpose
`ResolveEnvironmentRuleset`	Loads config per environment (e.g., approval required for prod).
`BackoffAndReevaluateLater`	Used when freeze is active or approval is missing — delays and waits.
`EscalateToStudioTeam`	Sends Studio alert (via webhook or internal bus) if manual attention is needed.

🧠 Skill Execution Chain Example¶

Trigger: ReleaseIntentDeclared

→ ValidateQASignals  
→ EvaluateChangeFreezeRules  
→ EnforceApprovalGate  
→ If approved: EmitReleaseApproved → WriteReleaseSummary  
→ Else: EmitReleaseRejected or EmitReleaseDelayed

📊 Observability per Skill¶

Each skill emits:

skillId
agentId
traceId
durationMs
outcome (Success, Rejected, Delayed, etc.)
Optional: reason, approverId, releaseId

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent executes a chain of reasoning, policy, and coordination skills, transforming release intent into traceable governance decisions. These skills ensure that releases are:

Policy-compliant
Human-reviewed where needed
Audit-traceable
Secure by design
Observable at every step

⚙️ Cycle 9 – Technology Stack¶

The Release Manager Agent is built on top of ConnectSoft’s core agentic platform, leveraging:

.NET for skill orchestration
Semantic Kernel for modular task execution
Azure-native infrastructure for deployment, secrets, and pipelines
Observability, traceability, and memory-driven decisioning
Deep integration with Studio UI, CI/CD pipelines, and orchestrators

🧱 Stack Breakdown¶

Layer	Technologies & Tools
Runtime	`.NET 8`, `C#`, `Semantic Kernel`
Agent Skills	Custom SK plugins (QA validator, approval gate enforcer, delay logic)
Execution Context	`Azure Functions`, `Kubernetes`, `ConnectSoft Agent Orchestrators`
Memory Layer	`Azure Blob Storage`, `Cosmos DB`, `Vector DB` (for semantic trace lookups)
Configuration	`ReleasePlan.yaml`, `ApprovalRules.json`, `ChangeControl.json`, `ReleaseSnapshot.yaml`
Secrets & Identity	`Azure Key Vault`, `RBAC for Studio and CLI approvals`
Traceability	`OpenTelemetry`, `Serilog`, `Application Insights`, `traceId`, `releaseId`, `agentId`
Event Bus	`Azure Service Bus`, `MassTransit`, `In-memory event grid (dev mode)`
CI/CD Integration	`Azure DevOps YAML Pipelines`, `GitOps release markers`, `Studio CLI actions`
Studio Interfaces	Frontend: Timeline controls, audit view, approval prompt overlay, release overview dashboard

🔁 Orchestration & Trigger Integration¶

Tool	Purpose
`Planner Agent`	Declares release intent and populates trace metadata
`Trace Orchestrator FSM`	Activates Release Manager Agent when trace reaches release-ready state
`Studio UI`	Triggers manual sign-offs, approval requests, displays pending tasks
`Studio CLI`	Allows headless approval flows (`--approve-release`, `--reject`, `--explain`)

📊 Observability Stack¶

Component	Function
`OpenTelemetry`	Captures spans for each validation, decision, delay, and approval
`Prometheus Exporters`	Tracks release metrics like approval time, rejections, delays
`Grafana Dashboards`	Live release governance dashboards (total releases, blocked modules, etc.)
`Studio Trace View`	Displays `ReleaseApproved`, `ReleaseRejected`, `ApprovedBy`, timestamps

🔐 Security Context¶

Enforcement	Tooling
Approval RBAC	Enforced via `ApprovalRecords.yaml` and Studio signer roles
Signature logging	Signed approval metadata stored in `ReleaseSummary.json`
Role-scoped CLI flags	`--approve-release` only allowed for `ReleaseManager` or Studio Admin

🧠 Tech Diagram (Layered)¶

graph TB
  subgraph Agent Platform
    NET8[.NET 8 Runtime]
    SK[Semantic Kernel]
    AzureFunc[Azure Functions]
  end

  subgraph Integration & Control
    StudioUI[Studio Timeline + Approval UI]
    DevOps[Azure DevOps Pipelines]
    EventBus[Azure Service Bus]
    FSM[Trace Orchestrator FSM]
  end

  subgraph Observability & Audit
    OTEL[OpenTelemetry]
    Prometheus
    Grafana
    AuditLog[ApprovalRecords.yaml + ReleaseHistory.json]
  end

  NET8 --> SK --> AzureFunc
  AzureFunc --> EventBus
  EventBus --> FSM --> StudioUI
  AzureFunc --> OTEL
  OTEL --> Prometheus --> Grafana
  AzureFunc --> AuditLog

Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent is powered by a robust, modular, cloud-native stack that enables:

Policy-driven decisioning
Event-based orchestration
Secure approval chains
Full observability and audit traceability
Seamless integration with Studio and CI/CD automation

📜 System Prompt¶

The System Prompt defines the default operational contract and personality of the Release Manager Agent. It ensures that the agent:

Understands its role in the ConnectSoft factory
Acts within its scoped authority
Applies structured reasoning, policy enforcement, and trace emission
Operates as a secure and governance-aligned gatekeeper

“The system prompt ensures the agent doesn’t just act — it acts within purpose, scope, and accountability.”

📄 System Prompt (v1)¶

You are the Release Manager Agent in the ConnectSoft AI Software Factory.

Your purpose is to govern, approve, delay, or reject software releases based on readiness, policy, calendar, and human approvals.

You do not deploy. You do not test.  
You only decide whether a validated software release is allowed to proceed into a target environment.

You must:
- Validate that all QA and test results are complete and passed
- Verify all modules are ready for the specified environment and trace
- Enforce change freeze policies and blackout windows
- Determine if manual approval is required and prompt Studio if needed
- Log all decisions and events with traceable metadata (`traceId`, `releaseId`, `agentId`, `status`)
- Emit structured events: `ReleasePlanned`, `ReleaseApproved`, `ReleaseRejected`, `ReleaseDelayed`, `ReleasePublished`
- Store final release outcomes in `ReleaseSummary.json`, `ApprovalRecords.yaml`, and `ReleaseHistory.json`

You must block releases when:
- Tests are missing or failed
- A change freeze is active
- Required approvals are missing
- Security policies have been violated

You must explain your decision with a clear reason and traceable rationale.

Never skip approval gates.
Never bypass a freeze window.
Never emit `ReleaseApproved` unless all validations pass.

Your decisions power downstream deployment agents and Studio timeline state. Act with caution, compliance, and traceability.

🧠 Why This Prompt Matters¶

It defines the hard boundaries:

✅ Owns release decision logic
❌ Does not perform deployment
✅ Enforces policy, approval, calendar, QA
✅ Emits only governance signals
✅ Must always log and explain decisions

📘 Activation Context¶

Used on cold agent start
Re-injected on skill chain load
Displayed in Studio agent profile pane (for explainability)
Embedded into trace logs for compliance export

✅ Summary¶

This system prompt ensures the Release Manager Agent operates as a secure, policy-compliant, role-aware approval engine in the ConnectSoft Factory. It defines the mental model, constraints, and behavioral contract for autonomous, explainable release decisions.

📥 Input Prompt Template¶

The Input Prompt Template defines how upstream orchestrators, Studio actions, or planner agents structure requests to the Release Manager Agent. It ensures the agent receives:

Release metadata
QA readiness signals
Approver expectations
Change freeze context
Scoped environment/tenant/module payloads

All inputs are semantically meaningful and traceable via identifiers like traceId, releaseId, and moduleId.

📄 YAML-Based Structured Input Template¶

traceId: trace-2025-05-23-0012
releaseId: release-001731
projectId: vetplan
tenantId: vetclinic-001
environment: production
requiresApproval: true
changeFreeze: false

modules:
  - name: invoice-service
    version: 2.3.1
  - name: claims-api
    version: 1.7.9

qaSignals:
  - TestsPassed
  - CoverageVerified
  - BDDValidated

securityStatus: Passed
approver:
  required: true
  role: ReleaseManager
  user: null
  status: pending

triggeredBy: ReleaseIntentDeclared

🧠 Key Fields Breakdown¶

Field	Description
`traceId`, `releaseId`	Core traceability identifiers for the release
`tenantId`, `projectId`	Scope the release to a specific product + tenant space
`modules`	What is being released, per module + version
`qaSignals`	QA validations required before the release can proceed
`requiresApproval`	Indicates if Studio sign-off is needed for this environment
`changeFreeze`	Whether a blackout or freeze window is active
`securityStatus`	Result from policy validation (e.g., CVE scan)
`approver`	Sign-off metadata, may be `null` until provided
`triggeredBy`	Source of invocation (`Planner`, `Studio`, `CI/CD`, etc.)

🔁 Variants for Different Release Modes¶

🚀 Auto-Release to Dev¶

environment: dev
requiresApproval: false
changeFreeze: false
qaSignals: [TestsPassed]

🔒 Production with Manual Approval¶

environment: production
requiresApproval: true
changeFreeze: false
approver:
  user: j.doe
  status: approved

⏳ Delayed Due to Freeze¶

environment: staging
changeFreeze: true
triggeredBy: ScheduledRelease

🧠 Semantic Kernel Binding¶

This template is parsed into skill input chains such as:

ValidateQASignals(traceId, modules)
EnforceApprovalGate(environment, requiresApproval)
CheckChangeFreeze(environment, timestamp)
EmitReleaseApproved(releaseId, traceId, approverId)

✅ Summary¶

The Input Prompt Template enables upstream agents and orchestrators to reliably activate the Release Manager Agent with structured, scoped, and policy-aware instructions. It ensures that every release decision is based on valid, audit-ready inputs.

📤 Output Expectations¶

The Release Manager Agent produces a combination of:

Event signals to orchestrators and downstream agents
Memory artifacts for traceability and auditing
Status updates for Studio timelines
Approval records and governance summaries

These outputs form the release control layer for ConnectSoft — ensuring that every approved or rejected release is traceable, structured, and explainable.

📡 Lifecycle Event Outputs¶

Event	Description
`ReleasePlanned`	Emitted when a new release is registered, passing initial validation checks.
`ReleaseApproved`	Signals that the release is authorized and deployment agents may begin rollout.
`ReleaseRejected`	Blocked due to test failure, policy violation, or denied approval.
`ReleaseDelayed`	Gated due to freeze window, missing approver, or conditional policy pause.
`ReleasePublished`	Emitted post-deployment, confirming full lifecycle closure.

Each event includes structured tags:

{
  "event": "ReleaseApproved",
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-0012",
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "environment": "production",
  "tenantId": "vetclinic-001",
  "agentId": "release-manager",
  "status": "approved",
  "approvedBy": "j.doe",
  "timestamp": "2025-05-23T11:42:19Z"
}

📄 Structured Artifacts¶

1. 📄 `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

{
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-0012",
  "modules": {
    "invoice-service": "2.3.1",
    "claims-api": "1.7.9"
  },
  "status": "Approved",
  "environment": "production",
  "requiresApproval": true,
  "approvedBy": "j.doe",
  "approvedAt": "2025-05-23T11:42:19Z"
}

2. 📘 `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

- releaseId: release-001731
  approvedBy: j.doe
  role: ReleaseManager
  approvedAt: 2025-05-23T11:42:19Z
  method: Studio UI
  rationale: "QA passed and SLA checks verified"

3. 🧠 `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

Append-only ledger of all past decisions:

{
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "reason": "ChangeFreezeActive",
  "evaluatedAt": "2025-05-22T21:00:00Z"
}

🧭 Studio Integration Expectations¶

All outputs also reflect in:

📘 Timeline state (color-coded phase: planned, approved, delayed, rejected)
🔎 Audit trail view (approver identity, decision timestamp, rationale)
⏳ Delay visualization (e.g., freeze window countdowns)
📡 Event Explorer (trace-linked event stream)

📊 Metrics Emitted¶

Metric	Label Examples
`release_approved_total`	`env="prod" tenant="vetclinic"`
`release_rejected_total`	`reason="qa_failed"`
`approval_duration_seconds`	Time between `ReleaseIntent` and `ReleaseApproved`
`release_delayed_total`	Triggered by `changeFreeze=true` or `missingApproval=true`

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent’s outputs form the control surface for software delivery governance. Every decision becomes:

An event
A memory artifact
A timeline state
An audit record
A downstream trigger

This makes the ConnectSoft release system auditable by default, observable in real-time, and explainable across tenants and environments.

🔁 Short-Term & Long-Term Memory¶

The Release Manager Agent relies on memory to:

Track what’s already been released, delayed, or rejected
Reference past human approvals and rationales
Compare new intents with previous release plans
Maintain a permanent audit trail
Retrieve freeze status and history of security/policy gate results

Memory enables the agent to reason with continuity and compliance, not just automation.

⚡ Short-Term Memory (Execution Context)¶

Scope	Description
`traceContext`	Current `traceId`, `releaseId`, `tenantId`, and active module list
`evaluationResults`	In-memory results of gate checks (QA, freeze, security, etc.)
`approvalStatus`	Sign-off status during current run, including who approved and when
`executionTimer`	Measures elapsed time from intent receipt to decision
`incomingPrompt`	Parsed payload with candidate modules, QA state, and release plan reference

These are ephemeral and serialized only on release decision completion (approved/delayed/rejected).

💾 Long-Term Memory (Structured and Semantic)¶

📘 1. `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

📗 2. `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

Example:

{
  "releaseId": "release-2891",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "reason": "QA failed for claims-api",
  "attemptedAt": "2025-05-23T10:42:11Z"
}

📒 3. `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

Example:

- releaseId: release-2891
  approvedBy: product.owner
  role: ProductOwner
  method: CLI
  approvedAt: 2025-05-23T09:48:00Z
  comment: "Post-QA SLA validated manually"

📅 4. `ChangeControl.json`¶

🧠 Semantic Memory Use Cases¶

Use Case	Action
Last 3 prod releases of `invoice-service` failed	Escalate to stricter approver
Release already rejected 2 times this sprint	Suggest alternate rollout strategy
Approval for staging was same as last release	Auto-fill Studio approver profile, propose automation

🔒 Access Control¶

Constraint	Behavior
Memory writes are gated	Only after structured decision event (`ReleaseApproved`, etc.)
Read access is scoped	Agent can only view trace-scoped records and authorized tenant contexts
Studio users	Can inspect release memory for their trace, but not override history

✅ Summary¶

Memory enables the Release Manager Agent to operate as a governance-compliant, historically aware decision engine. It ensures that no release is:

Re-approved blindly
Forgotten after rejection
Lost in ambiguous audit state

Instead, it is fully traceable, context-driven, and governed with persistent intelligence.

🧪 Validation Strategy¶

The Release Manager Agent ensures a release is safe, complete, compliant, and approved before emitting any ReleaseApproved event.

Validation encompasses:

QA readiness
Module consistency
Change control policy
Security gate status
Approval chain enforcement

Every validation step must be traceable, explainable, and repeatable.

✅ Validation Layers¶

Layer	Description
🧪 QA Signals Check	Confirms that all modules listed have passed required QA validations (`TestsPassed`, `CoverageCheck`, `BDDValidated`).
📦 Module Trace Consistency	Ensures that every module in the release matches the current `traceId` state and is not stale or partially generated.
🔐 Security Status Verification	Checks results from prior scans (e.g., CVE scan pass, image signature verification, policy agent green light).
📅 Change Freeze Validation	Confirms whether the release violates any active freeze or blackout window from `ChangeControl.json`.
👥 Approval Requirement Enforcement	Verifies whether the target environment mandates human approval and if such approval has been granted.

📘 Example: Validation Matrix¶

Check	Status	Detail
TestsPassed	✅	All modules verified
CoverageCheck	✅	>85% per policy
Freeze Window	❌	Saturday deployment blocked
Approval Required	✅	Approved by `j.doe`
Security Gate	✅	No critical vulnerabilities

→ Final Decision: ReleaseDelayed due to freeze

📦 Module Trace Matching¶

Ensures that:

No modules are listed that are missing from the current trace scope
No unversioned modules are being promoted
All module builds were generated under the current or compatible traceId

🔒 Security Validation Conditions¶

Condition	Result
Unscanned image	❌ Block
Critical CVEs found	❌ Block
Missing SBOM or signature	❌ Block
SecurityAgent emitted `PolicyViolation`	❌ Block

🧠 Approval Gate Conditions¶

Condition	Action
Approval required & not yet provided	Block + prompt
Approval expired (older than config window)	Block + request new sign-off
Approval role mismatch	Block + request re-approval with elevated role

📄 Decision Explanation Emission¶

Each validation failure results in a structured reason emitted in:

{
  "releaseId": "release-2891",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "reasons": [
    "Module 'claims-api' missing TestsPassed",
    "Release window blocked by active freeze",
    "Approval not yet received for production"
  ]
}

These reasons are:

Stored in ReleaseHistory.json
Displayed in Studio trace UI
Used to inform retry attempts and override conditions

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent uses a layered validation strategy to ensure:

No untested, unapproved, or blocked releases are promoted
Every failure is recorded, explained, and auditable
Approvals are policy-bound, not implicit or assumed

This makes release decisions predictable, secure, and governance-aligned across every environment.

🔁 Correction & Rejection Flow¶

The Release Manager Agent must not only approve or delay a release — it must also handle invalid, incomplete, or policy-violating submissions by:

Rejecting invalid releases
Escalating unresolved states
Providing retry guidance or override pathways
Storing rejections as traceable, explainable outcomes

This ensures every release failure is graceful, actionable, and auditable.

❌ Rejection Triggers¶

Condition	Result
Missing QA signals	Emit `ReleaseRejected` with reason `TestsIncomplete`
Unscanned or vulnerable artifacts	Emit `ReleaseRejected` with reason `SecurityGateFailed`
Modules do not match current trace	Emit `ReleaseRejected` with reason `TraceMismatch`
Approver missing or unqualified	Emit `ReleaseRejected` with reason `ApprovalMissingOrInvalid`
Policy agents block promotion	Emit `ReleaseRejected` with reason `ComplianceViolation`

⏳ Correction via Delay¶

Condition	Action
Change freeze window active	Emit `ReleaseDelayed`, store retry schedule or calendar info
Approval pending	Emit `ReleaseDelayed`, notify Studio approver role
Time-based condition unmet (e.g., SLA period incomplete)	Delay release, retry after cooldown

Delays are stored with metadata:

{
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "status": "Delayed",
  "delayReason": "Active freeze window",
  "retryAfter": "2025-05-24T08:00:00Z"
}

📘 Rejection Artifact Emission¶

Each rejection results in:

ReleaseRejected event
ReleaseSummary.status = "Rejected"
Justification stored in ReleaseHistory.json
Optional SuggestedFix block with retry hint

Example:

{
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "reasons": [
    "Missing QA signal: BDDValidated",
    "Change freeze in effect"
  ],
  "suggestedFix": "Retry after 2025-05-24 or rerun BDD tests"
}

🧠 Retry + Escalation Support¶

Behavior	Detail
Retry enabled	If delay reason is time-bound (freeze, pending approval)
Retry disabled	If rejection reason is critical (security failure, missing module trace)
Studio integration	Allows Studio or CLI user to override rejection by elevating approval or retrying with correction
FSM support	Trace Orchestrator holds execution until status = retryable or Studio approves bypass

🚨 Human Escalation Integration¶

If the rejection is due to ambiguous policy or multi-agent conflict:

Emits StudioAlert with status: release_escalation_required
Marks Studio UI with timeline blocker
Optional trigger to GovernanceAgent or ReleaseOverrideApproverAgent (future extension)

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent handles rejection as a structured process, not a dead-end:

Every failure has a reason
Every delay has a retry path
Every rejection is observable, explainable, and memory-persistent
Every escalation is authorized and role-governed

This guarantees safe, correctable, and traceable delivery behavior across all environments.

🤝 Collaboration Interfaces¶

The Release Manager Agent is positioned at the center of the software delivery governance layer, and as such, must actively collaborate with multiple agents, systems, and human stakeholders.

Its collaboration is event-driven, policy-bound, and fully trace-tracked — ensuring that release decisions are made in coordination with:

QA validation
Security assessments
Studio approvals
Downstream deployment
Observability enforcement

🔗 Key Agent Interfaces¶

1. ✅ QA Cluster Agents¶

Agents	Purpose
`TestOrchestratorAgent`, `CodeCoverageValidatorAgent`, `BDDValidationAgent`	Feed test results and signal readiness gates.
Events received: `TestsPassed`, `CoverageCheckPassed`, `BDDValidated`
Purpose: Block or allow based on QA state.

2. 🔐 SecurityPolicyEnforcerAgent¶

3. 👥 Studio User & Studio CLI¶

| Role | Human approver in environments with requiresApproval = true | | Integration:

Prompts sent to Studio UI
CLI override via --approve-release, --reject-release | Writes to: ApprovalRecords.yaml | Displayed in: Studio timeline and trace dashboard. |

4. ⏳ Change Freeze Policy Engine¶

| Source | Reads from ChangeControl.json, Studio schedules, or GovernanceAgent. | | Purpose: Deny or delay releases during blackout windows. | | Can emit advisory message (not hard fail) in some staging cases. |

5. 🚀 DeploymentOrchestratorAgent¶

| Triggered When | ReleaseApproved is emitted | | Role: Executes actual rollout plan post-approval | | Receives: releaseId, module list, traceId, tenantId, configOverlay, etc. | | Release Manager monitors completion and emits ReleasePublished if successful. |

6. 🔍 ObservabilityAgent / SLAValidatorAgent¶

| Collaboration | Passive post-release consumers | | Triggered via: ReleasePublished | May write back: ObservabilityRegressionDetected → visible in future release trace decisions |

7. 📘 Memory Engine¶

| Interfaces | ReleaseHistory.json, ApprovalRecords.yaml, ReleaseSummary.json, ChangeControl.json | | Used for | Long-term recall, validation, compliance replay, and Studio audit panel integration |

8. 🧠 Trace Orchestrator FSM¶

| Role | Controls whether agent is invoked at the correct state | | FSM Events:

ReleaseIntentDeclared → triggers validation
ReleaseApproved → proceeds to deployment
ReleaseRejected → FSM logs failure and suspends |

🧩 Collaboration Types¶

Type	Mechanism
Event-based	`ReleaseApproved`, `ReleaseRejected`, `ReleaseDelayed`, `ReleasePlanned`
Prompt-based	Human approval via Studio or CLI
File-based memory exchange	Approval records, freeze metadata, security logs
Observability-based	Emits spans and metrics traceable by all downstream agents

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent acts as the approval anchor and policy switchboard in the ConnectSoft factory. It orchestrates collaboration with:

Testing
Security
Studio
Orchestration
Deployment
Observability

…ensuring that every release is controlled, compliant, and coordinated.

🧭 Orchestration Integration¶

The Release Manager Agent operates as a gatekeeper node in the orchestrated trace FSM, managing transition between:

Validated blueprint state → Approved delivery state
QA/test phase → Deployment readiness
Human/studio input → Execution triggers

It is not passive — it is orchestrator-aware and state-constrained, ensuring that no deployment is triggered unless it authorizes the transition.

🔄 FSM-Driven Integration Pattern¶

🧠 Sample FSM States (Trace-Oriented)¶

states:
  blueprint_validated:
    on:
      TestsPassed:
        target: release_ready

  release_ready:
    invoke:
      agent: release-manager
    onDone:
      target: release_approved
    onError:
      target: release_rejected

  release_approved:
    emit: ReleaseApproved
    target: deployment_started

  release_rejected:
    emit: ReleaseRejected
    target: halted

⚙️ FSM Flow Diagram¶

flowchart TD
    A[QA Signals Passed] --> B[Release Ready]
    B --> C{Release Manager Decision}
    C -- Approve --> D[Emit ReleaseApproved → Deployment FSM]
    C -- Reject --> E[Emit ReleaseRejected → Stop Trace]
    C -- Delay --> F[Emit ReleaseDelayed → Wait for Change Window or Approval]

Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

📦 Inputs Received via Orchestrator¶

Data	From
`traceId`, `releaseId`, `modules`	Planner Agent or Trace Orchestrator
`QA results`	QA cluster agents or FSM event subscription
`Change freeze status`	`ChangeControl.json`, governance events
`Approval status`	CLI/studio prompts monitored by FSM state hooks

📤 Outputs to Orchestrator FSM¶

Output	Result
`ReleaseApproved`	Signals transition to `deployment_started`
`ReleaseRejected`	Halts the FSM, blocks deployment
`ReleaseDelayed`	Pauses FSM, sets wait condition or scheduling offset

These events are tagged with:

traceId
releaseId
agentId = release-manager
status
reason or justification

🧠 Embedded Decision Metadata¶

FSM may pass metadata for behavioral control:

{
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-9181",
  "releaseWindow": {
    "startsAt": "2025-05-24T08:00:00Z",
    "freeze": true
  },
  "approvalPolicy": {
    "requiredFor": ["prod", "staging"],
    "roles": ["ProductOwner", "ReleaseManager"]
  }
}

🧠 Conditional Execution Patterns¶

Condition	Action
Triggered in non-release state	Block execution and raise FSM error
Already rejected or expired release	Return no-op response to FSM with status = `stale_intent`
Deployment FSM skipped release FSM	Log trace violation and emit `traceIntegrityError` (future)

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent is orchestrator-bound and trace-driven. It:

Sits at the gated transition point between validation and deployment
Emits FSM-controlled decisions
Responds to planner and QA-driven transitions
Keeps releases safe, traceable, and deterministic

It guarantees that nothing goes live until the release graph explicitly allows it.

📡 Observability Hooks¶

As the central authority for release decisions, the Release Manager Agent must emit fully traceable, structured observability signals so that:

Approvals and rejections are audit-tracked
Studio timelines are updated in real time
Failures and delays can be diagnosed
Metrics can be analyzed across tenants, environments, and teams

Observability is essential for ensuring that the release process is explainable and predictable across 3000+ services.

📊 OpenTelemetry Spans¶

Each major decision emits a trace span with the following structure:

Field	Description
`traceId`	The current trace session ID
`releaseId`	Unique ID for the release being evaluated
`agentId`	`"release-manager"`
`skillId`	The skill that made the decision (`ValidateQASignals`, `EnforceApprovalGate`, etc.)
`status`	`"Approved"`, `"Rejected"`, `"Delayed"`
`durationMs`	Total processing time of the release task
`approver`	If applicable, includes Studio approver and RBAC role
`reasons`	Structured tags explaining rejection or delay
`environment`	Target environment (e.g., staging, prod)
`tenantId`	Target tenant scope

📘 Example OTEL Span¶

{
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-0012",
  "releaseId": "release-001731",
  "agentId": "release-manager",
  "status": "Rejected",
  "durationMs": 3192,
  "skillId": "ValidateQASignals",
  "reasons": ["BDD tests not passed"],
  "environment": "production",
  "tenantId": "vetclinic-001"
}

📝 Structured Logging¶

Logs emitted in JSON format
Stored in long-term audit memory (ReleaseHistory.json)
Accessible from Studio or audit APIs

Example Log Entry¶

{
  "timestamp": "2025-05-23T09:41:18Z",
  "agent": "release-manager",
  "event": "ReleaseRejected",
  "reason": "ChangeFreezeActive",
  "traceId": "trace-2025-05-23-0012",
  "releaseId": "release-001731"
}

📈 Prometheus Metrics Exported¶

Metric Name	Description
`release_approved_total`	Total approved releases by environment, tenant
`release_rejected_total`	Count of rejections with `reason` label
`release_delayed_total`	Delay emissions due to freeze, missing approval, etc.
`approval_duration_seconds`	Time between `ReleaseIntentDeclared` and `ReleaseApproved`
`release_decision_duration_ms`	Total agent processing time per release

🖥 Studio Timeline Integration¶

Every approval, delay, or rejection updates the Studio timeline
Metadata shown inline (e.g., "✅ Approved by J. Doe at 09:44")
Interactive link to view ReleaseSummary.json, rationale, and affected modules

🔎 Example Studio UI States¶

Status	Visual
`Approved`	Green badge on trace timeline + hover approver info
`Delayed`	Yellow pause icon with countdown to next retry window
`Rejected`	Red stop icon with expandable reasons panel

🔐 Audit Chain Compliance¶

All observability outputs are compliant with:

🔏 Signed approval traces (ApprovalRecords.yaml)
🔐 RBAC role metadata in events and logs
📋 Structured storage in ReleaseSummary.json, ReleaseHistory.json

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent emits a complete observability footprint, making every decision:

🧠 Traceable
📊 Measurable
📝 Auditable
👀 Visualized in Studio
🔄 Actionable by orchestrators and downstream agents

This makes release behavior transparent, explainable, and governance-compliant.

👥 Human Escalation Hooks¶

While the ConnectSoft AI Software Factory is designed for autonomous operation, some release decisions require human judgment, especially in:

High-risk environments (e.g., production)
Ambiguous policy violations
Change freeze overrides
Conditional rollouts needing product owner input

The Release Manager Agent must formally integrate human-in-the-loop approval and escalation paths — structured, traceable, and RBAC-governed.

🔁 Escalation Triggers¶

Condition	Escalation
`requiresApproval: true` and no approval yet	Prompt Studio UI or CLI
Approval rejected by required role	Reject release, log reason
Approval expired (stale timestamp)	Request re-approval
Attempt to approve without proper role	Block and log as invalid
Critical CVEs found but security policy allows override	Escalate to `SecurityApprover`
Freeze active but Studio admin override detected	Confirm and log manual bypass

🖥 Studio UI Escalation Flow¶

Visual Status¶

📥 Prompted: Release awaiting approval
✅ Approved: "Approved by J. Doe @ 09:45 (Product Owner)"
❌ Rejected: "Rejected by A. Smith @ 10:02 – reason: Risk too high"
⏳ Delayed: "Awaiting Product Owner decision"

Action	Effect
✅ Approve Release	Agent continues evaluation, emits `ReleaseApproved`
❌ Reject Release	Agent emits `ReleaseRejected` with reason
🕒 Delay	Agent emits `ReleaseDelayed`, sets retry timer
🧾 Add Justification	Included in `ApprovalRecords.yaml` and Studio logs

🧑‍💻 CLI Approval Hooks¶

Command	Description
`studio approve-release --release-id release-001731`	Signs approval from CLI
`studio reject-release --release-id ... --reason "Requires retesting"`	Rejects
`studio show-release-status --trace-id ...`	View pending decisions
`studio explain-release`	Show failure reasons, required signals, and override options

RBAC enforced: only authorized roles can approve per environment.

📄 Approval Memory Artifacts¶

1. `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

- releaseId: release-001731
  user: j.doe
  role: ProductOwner
  method: Studio UI
  approvedAt: 2025-05-23T09:45:00Z
  comment: "Confirmed BDD tests post-sprint"

2. `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

Includes:

approvedBy, approvedAt, approvalMethod
Optional overrideJustification
Status = Approved or Rejected

🔐 Security and Governance¶

Constraint	Rule
Approver role check	Enforced via `ReleasePolicy.json`
Audit trace	Required for every manual sign-off
Expired approvals	Require re-validation if not fresh
CLI approvals	Must match Studio trace session identity

🔔 Notifications (Optional Future Extension)¶

Channel	Trigger
Email / Slack / Teams	When release is blocked waiting for approval
Escalation bot	Notifies incident channels on rejected releases in prod
Webhook	Triggers external dashboards or approval workflows (e.g., ServiceNow)

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent integrates human intervention as a structured, secure, and traceable process. It ensures that critical releases:

Can be reviewed
Require accountable decisions
Respect RBAC roles and Studio timelines
Leave a permanent audit trail

This keeps ConnectSoft releases safe, governed, and explainable — even under human override.

🔐 Security and Compliance Hooks¶

The Release Manager Agent operates at the most sensitive control point in the ConnectSoft factory: the boundary between validated software and live environments. It must therefore enforce:

Security posture compliance
Tenant-aware access boundaries
Signed approval artifacts
Audit trace generation
Policy-based overrides

Its design guarantees that no module is released in violation of ConnectSoft’s security-first and compliance-first principles.

📜 Core Security Enforcement Areas¶

1. ✅ Environment-Specific Approval Requirements¶

Policy	Behavior
`prod` requires `ReleaseManager` + `ProductOwner` approval	Agent blocks otherwise
`staging` allows automated approval unless configured for freeze
Enforcement via: `ReleasePolicy.json`, `approvalRules.yaml`, and Studio RBAC

2. 🔐 Image Security & Artifact Posture¶

Source	Input
`SecurityPolicyEnforcerAgent`	Emits status (`Passed` or `Failed`) and CVE scan details
`SBOMCheckerAgent` (future)	Verifies Software Bill of Materials attached to artifacts
Required fields:

imageSigned: true
cveSeverity: "Low" or "None"
licensePolicy: compliant

Blocked if:

Unscanned artifact
CVEs > Medium
License violations

3. 📅 Change Freeze and Blackout Enforcement¶

Global blackout (e.g., “last week of fiscal Q4”)
Per-tenant freeze (e.g., “Clinic A under audit”)

4. 🧾 Approval Signature & Justification Logging¶

Required roles present
Approval within valid time window
Justification logged for overrides

5. 🧠 Memory-Aware Policy Checkpoints¶

“3 failed releases of this module in prod”
“Same version rejected earlier this week” | Action | Escalate or require additional approver

6. 🔏 Tenant Isolation¶

| Behavior | Tenant ID + Environment is the minimum scope for every decision | | Guardrails:

Approver must be authorized for the tenant
Memory access scoped to tenant
Trace visibility filtered in Studio

📘 Example `ReleasePolicy.json`¶

{
  "environments": {
    "production": {
      "requiresApproval": true,
      "roles": ["ReleaseManager", "ProductOwner"],
      "requireSignedImages": true,
      "minTestCoverage": 85,
      "maxCVESeverity": "Medium"
    },
    "staging": {
      "requiresApproval": false,
      "freezeSensitive": true
    }
  }
}

✅ Summary¶

The Release Manager Agent is the final security and compliance gate. It ensures:

Only verified, approved, low-risk software is released
Every action is justified and auditable
RBAC and policy enforcement is environment- and tenant-aware
ConnectSoft’s delivery model remains trustworthy, secure, and regulation-ready

🧭 Diagram: Execution Flow¶

This Mermaid diagram models the full decision flow of the Release Manager Agent — from receiving release intent to emitting structured release events and triggering downstream agents. It includes:

Gate validations
Approval paths
Freeze checks
Event emissions
Memory updates

🔄 Mermaid Diagram – End-to-End Execution¶

flowchart TD
    A[📥 ReleaseIntentReceived] --> B[🔍 Validate QA Signals]
    B --> C[📦 Verify Module Trace + Blueprint State]
    C --> D[🛡️ Check Security & Compliance Signals]
    D --> E[📅 Evaluate Change Freeze Window]

    E --> F{🧭 Freeze Active?}
    F -- Yes --> G[⏳ Emit ReleaseDelayed]
    G --> H[🧠 Store Delay in Memory]
    F -- No --> I{👥 Approval Required?}

    I -- No --> J[✅ Emit ReleaseApproved]
    J --> K[🧠 Write ReleaseSummary + Audit Logs]

    I -- Yes --> L[📩 Check Approval Record]
    L --> M{Approval Valid?}
    M -- Yes --> J
    M -- No --> N[❌ Emit ReleaseRejected]
    N --> K

Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

🧠 Decision Flow Summary¶

Step	Action
A → B	Parses input, checks `TestsPassed`, `CoverageCheck`, etc.
B → C	Ensures all modules are valid and scoped correctly
C → D	SecurityAgent and policy enforcement logic
D → E	ChangeControl evaluation (e.g., freeze window detection)
F	Branches based on time/freeze rules
I	Determines if the release needs human approval
L → M	Reads from `ApprovalRecords.yaml` or waits for Studio input
J/N	Emits final decision (`ReleaseApproved`, `ReleaseRejected`, or `ReleaseDelayed`)
K	Logs all outputs into memory and observability streams

📘 Event Emissions Mapped¶

Event	Triggered At
`ReleasePlanned`	Before B (optional pre-validation signal)
`ReleaseApproved`	After J
`ReleaseRejected`	After N
`ReleaseDelayed`	After G
`ReleasePublished`	Triggered by downstream deployment success

🔎 Integration Points in Diagram¶

Studio Approval: via node L (Check Approval Record)
CLI Override: feeds into node M
Orchestrator FSM: receives final event at J, N, or G
Memory Writes: node K (Write ReleaseSummary)
Observability: all decision nodes emit trace spans with agentId = release-manager

✅ Summary¶

This Mermaid diagram visualizes the complete, controlled, and policy-bound release decision lifecycle, showing:

🧠 Autonomous logic
👥 Human escalation
🔐 Security enforcement
📡 Orchestrator signaling
📘 Studio + memory traceability

It reflects the Release Manager Agent’s role as the central governor of production safety and delivery control.

✅ Summary & Future Extensions¶

The Release Manager Agent is the release governance anchor of the ConnectSoft AI Software Factory.

It owns the responsibility of:

✅ Approving or rejecting production releases
✅ Validating QA, trace, and policy compliance
✅ Enforcing change freeze, tenant scope, and RBAC rules
✅ Coordinating Studio users for approvals and rejections
✅ Triggering downstream deployment orchestrators
✅ Emitting audit-traceable release artifacts and metrics
✅ Operating securely across thousands of tenants and services

📘 Core Functions Recap¶

Capability	Outcome
QA validation enforcement	No untested module is released
Change freeze control	Enforces blackout calendars and tenant policies
RBAC-bound approvals	Ensures only authorized roles can release to sensitive environments
Memory-bound rejection handling	Avoids duplicate failure states or bypass loops
Studio collaboration	Embeds approval flow, rationale capture, and trace visibility
Observability & traceability	All decisions are logged, monitored, and explainable

🚀 Future Extensions¶

1. 🔐 Digital Approval Signing¶

Use verifiable cryptographic signatures in ApprovalRecords.yaml
Chain-of-trust validation for regulated environments (e.g., FDA, ISO)

2. 🔄 Multi-Level Approvals¶

Support dynamic routing of approvals across:
- Product Owner
- Security Reviewer
- Legal/Compliance
- Engineering Leadership
FSM-driven approval chains based on module risk scores

3. 🔍 Predictive Release Risk Scoring¶

Score releases based on historical rejection rates, QA signals, test coverage, past incidents
Auto-escalate high-risk releases or require double approval

4. 🌍 Tenant-Level Governance Overlays¶

Fine-grained release policies based on:
- Tenant classification (enterprise, beta, regulated)
- Data residency rules
- SLAs and compliance overlays

5. ⏳ Scheduled & Progressive Release Orchestration¶

Delay ReleaseApproved until window opens
Enable progressive approval for multi-region or multi-tenant rollouts

6. 🧪 AI-Assisted Release Justification¶

Summarize why a release was blocked or approved
Suggest next steps automatically
Integrate natural language feedback in Studio (“Why was this rejected?”)

🧠 Final Statement¶

The Release Manager Agent is the custodian of controlled delivery. It is not a deployer — it is a policy-aware, memory-driven decision-maker that ensures every release into ConnectSoft’s runtime landscape is intentional, safe, and justified.

🧠 Release Manager Agent Specification¶

🎯 Purpose¶

🧭 Role in the Platform¶

🧱 Strategic Position in the Factory¶

🧠 What It Guards¶

📘 Example Mission Statement¶

📌 Outcomes the Agent Must Guarantee¶

🎯 Alignment with Platform Principles¶

✅ Summary¶

📋 Responsibilities¶

✅ Key Responsibilities Breakdown¶

📘 Example: Responsibilities in Action¶

Scenario: Deploy to production¶

📜 Responsibilities vs. Capabilities¶

🧠 Critical Flow Dependencies¶

✅ Summary¶

📥 Inputs¶

🗃️ Core Input Types¶

🧠 Example Input Payload¶

🧠 Memory-Based Input Retrievals¶

🚦 Triggering Inputs¶

✅ Summary¶

📤 Outputs¶

📡 Core Output Events¶

📄 Structured Artifacts and Memory Entries¶

1. 📄 ReleaseSummary.json¶

2. 🧠 ReleaseHistory.json¶

3. 📄 ApprovalRecords.yaml¶

📘 Studio Trace Integration¶

🔁 Downstream Agent Triggers¶

📊 Observability Signals Emitted¶

✅ Summary¶

📚 Knowledge Base¶

🧠 Embedded Knowledge Modules¶

💾 Retrieved Memory Sources¶

🔎 Example Memory Fragment¶

🧠 Semantic Memory Capabilities¶

🧭 Example Rule Evaluation from Memory¶

🔐 Memory Security¶

✅ Summary¶

🔄 Process Flow (Macro)¶

🧠 High-Level Flow Diagram¶

📋 Phases Explained¶

📘 Sample Event Sequence¶

🔁 FSM Summary Table¶

✅ Summary¶

🔬 Process Flow (Micro)¶

⚙️ Micro Execution Flow¶

🧠 Internal Step Breakdown¶

📘 Example Execution Input (Partial)¶

🧠 Micro Decision Outcomes¶

✅ Summary¶

⚙️ Skills and Kernel Functions¶

🧩 Core Skill Categories¶

📘 1. 🧪 Validation Skills¶

⚖️ 2. 🛡 Policy Enforcement Skills¶

📤 3. 📡 Lifecycle Signal Skills¶

🧠 4. 📝 Memory & Trace Writing Skills¶

🧭 5. 🧠 Reasoning & Flow Management¶

🧠 Skill Execution Chain Example¶

📊 Observability per Skill¶

✅ Summary¶

⚙️ Cycle 9 – Technology Stack¶

🧱 Stack Breakdown¶

🔁 Orchestration & Trigger Integration¶

📊 Observability Stack¶

🔐 Security Context¶

🧠 Tech Diagram (Layered)¶

✅ Summary¶

📜 System Prompt¶

📄 System Prompt (v1)¶

🧠 Why This Prompt Matters¶

📘 Activation Context¶

✅ Summary¶

📥 Input Prompt Template¶

📄 YAML-Based Structured Input Template¶

🧠 Key Fields Breakdown¶

🔁 Variants for Different Release Modes¶

🚀 Auto-Release to Dev¶

🔒 Production with Manual Approval¶

1. 📄 `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

2. 🧠 `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

3. 📄 `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

1. 📄 `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

2. 📘 `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

3. 🧠 `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

📘 1. `ReleaseSummary.json`¶

📗 2. `ReleaseHistory.json`¶

📒 3. `ApprovalRecords.yaml`¶

📅 4. `ChangeControl.json`¶