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The 25-Point Production-Readiness Checklist

Built an app fast — maybe with Lovable, Replit, Bolt, v0, Cursor, or Claude — and now need it to be safe for real users? This is the exact list Sthenos works through to take prototypes to production.

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What is a production-readiness checklist?

A production-readiness checklist is the set of security, compliance, reliability, and operational requirements an application must meet before it serves real users. It is what turns “it works on my machine” into “it is safe to put in front of customers.” Sthenos Technologies — an EDWOSB-certified software firm in Tysons, VA and Bethesda, MD — uses the 25 points below to move AI-built and prototype apps into production.

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25 points · 7 categories

Security 5

  • 1. Every secret (API keys, database credentials, tokens) lives in environment variables or a secrets manager — never committed to the repo or shipped in client-side code.
  • 2. Authentication and authorization are enforced on the server for every endpoint, with real role checks — not just hidden buttons in the UI.
  • 3. All user input is validated and sanitized server-side, and the app has been tested against the OWASP Top 10 (injection, XSS, SSRF, and friends).
  • 4. Dependencies are scanned for known vulnerabilities (npm audit, Snyk, Dependabot) and pinned to specific versions.
  • 5. HTTPS is enforced everywhere, with secure cookies, HSTS, and sensible security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options).

Data & compliance 4

  • 6. Personal data (PII) is encrypted in transit and at rest, and you can clearly answer "what data do we store, where, and why?"
  • 7. A data-retention and deletion policy exists, and the app can honor export/deletion requests (GDPR/CCPA) plus any sector rules that apply (HIPAA, PCI DSS, FedRAMP).
  • 8. Sensitive actions are written to an audit log that records who did what, and when.
  • 9. Backups are automated and encrypted — and a restore has actually been tested, not just assumed to work.

Reliability & scaling 4

  • 10. The app has been load-tested at realistic and peak traffic, so you know where it breaks before your users find out.
  • 11. Rate limiting and abuse protection guard public and expensive endpoints (including AI calls).
  • 12. The system degrades gracefully: timeouts, retries with backoff, and circuit breakers around third-party and AI APIs.
  • 13. No single point of failure can take the whole product down — database, cache, queue, and AI provider all have a defined failure plan.

Observability 3

  • 14. Centralized, structured logging is in place (with correlation IDs) — not stray console output you can never find later.
  • 15. Uptime, latency, and error-rate monitoring is live, and alerts actually reach a human who can respond.
  • 16. Error tracking (e.g. Sentry) captures and groups exceptions with enough context to reproduce them.

AI-specific readiness 3

  • 17. Model and prompt calls have spend limits, token controls, and a defined fallback when the provider is slow, down, or rate-limited.
  • 18. Model inputs and outputs are guard-railed: untrusted user content never reaches tools unchecked, and output is validated before the app acts on it.
  • 19. AI behavior is evaluated against a test set, with a way to monitor quality and drift in production.

Delivery & quality 3

  • 20. Code is in version control with a real review workflow — nobody is editing files live in production.
  • 21. Automated tests (unit plus the critical end-to-end paths) run in CI before anything deploys.
  • 22. Deploys are repeatable and reversible: a separate staging environment, infrastructure-as-code where practical, and a one-step rollback.

Operations & cost 3

  • 23. Environments are separated (dev / staging / prod) with no shared credentials or production data sitting in test systems.
  • 24. Cloud cost is monitored with budget alerts, so a runaway job or an attack cannot silently multiply the bill.
  • 25. A basic runbook exists — how to deploy, roll back, rotate a key, and who to call — so the product survives the original builder moving on.
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Failing a few items? That’s normal — and fixable.

A fast-built prototype almost always misses several of these. Sthenos runs a fixed-fee production-readiness audit that scores your app against every point and hands you a prioritized plan to close the gaps.

Book a readiness audit See AI to Production

Frequently asked questions

What is a production-readiness checklist?

A production-readiness checklist is the set of security, compliance, reliability, and operational requirements an application must meet before it serves real users. It turns "it works on my machine" into "it is safe to put in front of customers." Sthenos uses this 25-point checklist to take AI-built and prototype apps to production.

Is the checklist really free?

Yes. Enter your email and the full 25-point checklist unlocks instantly on this page — no payment, no call required. We will follow up once with a short note in case you want help closing any gaps.

Who is this for?

Founders and teams who built an app quickly — often with Lovable, Replit, Bolt, v0, Cursor, or Claude — and now need to make it secure, compliant, and reliable enough for real users. It is equally useful for any team about to ship a first production release.

What if we fail several items?

That is normal for a fast-built prototype, and fixable. Sthenos offers a fixed-fee production-readiness audit that scores your app against every item and gives you a prioritized plan. You can book one straight from this page.