Hotfix Pattern — Workflow

Pattern: Hotfix
Component: workflow.md
Version: 1.1 | Updated: 2026-07-16

---

End-to-end flow

Step procedure

Step	Actor	Action	Exit criteria
1	On-call	Page / open channel	Channel live
2	IC	Declare SEV, scribe, comms cadence	Roles in topic header
3	Scribe	Timeline starts	Timestamps flowing
4	Containment Advisor	Pick fastest reversible action	Harm reduced or next escalate
5	Ops	Execute contain; preserve evidence	Metrics show improvement
6	Minimal Diff Scout	If needed, smallest patch	Diff limited to failing path
7	Reviewer + IC	Approve emergency change	Named ack
8	Verification Runner	Probes + abort watch	Pass or abort to contain
9	IC	Mitigated; schedule RCA + durable fix	Incident severity can step down

Containment preference order

1. Feature flag / config kill switch
2. Traffic shift away from bad cohort / region
3. Redeploy last-known-good digest
4. Minimal code hotfix
5. Broader shutdown / maintenance mode (last resort)

Abort criteria for the hotfix deploy itself

Abort and return to containment if:

• Error rate or probe does not improve within the SEV-specific window
• New error class appears
• Diff was expanded mid-review beyond agreed paths

Parallelism rule

One change thread under IC. Parallel “helpful” deploys are forbidden unless IC assigns a second thread with explicit non-overlapping scope.