Waypoint™ Delivery Engine Specification

1. Purpose

The Delivery Engine moves completed, validated work into its intended operational state and proves that the intended outcome was delivered successfully.

Delivery is broader than deployment.

Depending on project type, delivery may mean:

• merge and release software;
• deploy an application;
• provision cloud infrastructure;
• publish documentation;
• promote data pipelines/models;
• execute migration/cutover;
• configure an operational system;
• hand off an approved artifact/process.

The Delivery Engine answers:

How does validated work become the intended operational outcome safely, reversibly where required, and with verifiable acceptance?

2. Inputs

The Delivery Engine consumes a delivery package containing:

• delivery unit identity;
• approved design/plan references;
• completed work;
• artifacts;
• test/validation evidence;
• target environment;
• release/deployment instructions;
• required approvals;
• rollback/recovery requirements;
• unresolved accepted exceptions;
• acceptance criteria;
• delivery policy.

3. Outputs

Delivery produces:

• release/deployment/cutover runs;
• operational target identifiers;
• delivery evidence;
• post-delivery validation;
• rollback/recovery evidence if invoked;
• handoff documentation;
• acceptance record;
• release notes/change record;
• final project/delivery status;
• audit events.

4. Delivery units

A project may have one or many delivery units.

Examples:

• application release;
• infrastructure environment;
• migration wave;
• data-product release;
• documentation publication;
• configuration package.

A delivery unit should identify:

• included work;
• artifact versions;
• target;
• dependencies;
• delivery method;
• gate requirements;
• validation;
• rollback/recovery strategy;
• acceptance owner.

5. Delivery Gate

Before a governed target is changed, Waypoint™ evaluates the Delivery Gate.

The gate may require:

• execution completion;
• test thresholds;
• security approval;
• change approval;
• release approval;
• maintenance window;
• backup/snapshot;
• rollback readiness;
• target availability;
• budget/policy checks.

Production authority must be independently governed from execution authority.

6. Delivery strategies

Waypoint™ should support configurable strategies such as:

• direct publish;
• branch promotion;
• CI/CD pipeline;
• infrastructure apply;
• blue/green;
• canary;
• rolling deployment;
• staged environment promotion;
• migration/cutover;
• manual operational procedure.

The domain model should describe delivery intent without hard-coding a provider.

7. Environment promotion

Where environments exist, Waypoint™ should understand promotion relationships.

Examples:

development → test → preview → production

or:

sandbox → nonproduction → production

Promotion may involve:

• the same artifact;
• rebuilt artifact from immutable source;
• infrastructure plan/apply;
• configuration promotion;
• data migration;
• approval gates.

Waypoint™ must retain the exact artifact/configuration delivered to each environment.

8. Release management

For release-oriented projects, Waypoint™ should support:

• version identifiers;
• included work;
• release notes;
• artifact manifest;
• approvals;
• target environment;
• release status;
• deployment history;
• rollback version;
• evidence.

Release structure should align with the approved plan but permit controlled replanning.

9. Pre-delivery verification

Before mutation, the Delivery Engine should verify:

• target identity;
• target health/readiness;
• artifact integrity;
• required secrets/permissions;
• required approvals;
• maintenance window;
• backups/snapshots where required;
• dependency readiness;
• rollback assets;
• expected configuration.

A delivery should fail safely before mutation when prerequisites are not met.

10. Delivery execution

Delivery actions should use the same durability principles as Execute:

• durable run state;
• idempotency where possible;
• external-state probing;
• evidence capture;
• step-level progress;
• safe resume;
• reconciliation after ambiguity.

High-risk steps may require just-in-time human approval.

11. Post-delivery validation

Successful tool/API completion is not sufficient proof of delivery.

Validation may include:

• health checks;
• smoke tests;
• endpoint verification;
• infrastructure-state verification;
• data reconciliation;
• monitoring checks;
• functional acceptance;
• security checks;
• user validation.

Failure after delivery triggers the configured remediation/rollback policy.

12. Rollback and recovery

Each delivery unit should classify rollback capability:

• fully reversible;
• reversible with data considerations;
• compensating action required;
• forward-fix preferred;
• irreversible.

The Delivery Engine should not claim rollback exists merely because a previous artifact is available.

Rollback plans should define:

• trigger;
• authority;
• steps;
• data implications;
• expected recovery point;
• verification;
• evidence.

13. Acceptance

Delivery and acceptance are separate.

The Delivery Engine should evaluate the acceptance criteria defined during Design and refined in Plan.

Acceptance may be:

• automated;
• human;
• mixed.

The acceptance record should identify:

• delivery unit;
• criteria;
• evidence;
• approver;
• decision;
• conditions/exceptions;
• timestamp;
• artifact/version accepted.

14. Handoff and operational readiness

Some projects require transition to an operating owner/team.

Handoff may require:

• runbooks;
• architecture documentation;
• credentials/access transfer;
• support ownership;
• monitoring/alerts;
• backup/recovery procedures;
• known issues;
• training;
• maintenance responsibilities.

The project should not be considered complete if required operational handoff is incomplete.

15. Delivery failure

Delivery failure categories may include:

• precondition failure;
• authorization failure;
• deployment failure;
• validation failure;
• target degradation;
• rollback failure;
• external dependency failure.

Waypoint™ should expose:

• current target state;
• completed steps;
• failed step;
• evidence;
• recommended action;
• rollback/recovery availability;
• required human decision.

16. Multi-target delivery

A delivery unit may target multiple:

• regions;
• tenants;
• subscriptions;
• accounts;
• environments;
• customer instances.

Waypoint™ should support staged delivery and target-specific evidence rather than treating a multi-target release as one opaque status.

17. Delivery providers/adapters

Provider-specific logic should be implemented through adapters/capabilities.

Potential adapters include:

• GitHub;
• Vercel;
• Azure;
• AWS;
• GCP;
• Kubernetes;
• documentation platforms;
• CI/CD systems;
• database/data platforms.

Core delivery semantics must remain provider-neutral.

18. Delivery reporting

The reporting API should expose:

• delivery readiness;
• releases;
• target/environment state;
• delivery history;
• success/failure rates;
• rollback events;
• lead time to delivery;
• acceptance status;
• unresolved exceptions;
• artifact/version lineage;
• deployment frequency where relevant.

19. Project closure

Project closure should require:

• applicable delivery units accepted;
• required documentation complete;
• required handoff complete;
• open exceptions explicitly accepted/transferred;
• final reporting available;
• final audit/evidence retained.

Closure should produce a final project outcome summary.

20. Initial completion criteria

The Delivery Engine is sufficient for an initial end-to-end release when it can:

1. consume a delivery-ready package;
2. evaluate a Delivery Gate;
3. invoke at least one automated delivery adapter;
4. support manual delivery steps;
5. capture durable delivery state/evidence;
6. perform post-delivery validation;
7. model rollback/recovery;
8. record acceptance;
9. support operational handoff;
10. expose delivery reporting through the Control Plane.