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Deployment Strategies

Nife supports multiple deployment strategies to minimise risk and downtime when releasing new versions.

Available Strategies​

Rolling Deployment​

Gradually replaces old instances with new ones. Zero downtime, but both versions run simultaneously during the update.

Blue-Green Deployment​

Maintains two identical environments (blue and green) at once. Redeploys land in whichever color is idle, so you can verify the new version before a single instant switch sends it all live traffic.

Benefits:

  • Instant rollback by switching back to the previous color
  • No downtime during deployment
  • Full testing of new version before going live

For the full walkthrough — how redeploys land in the idle slot, checking each color's health, and switching or rolling back traffic — see Blue-Green Deployment.

Canary Deployment​

Automatically routes a small percentage of live traffic (10% by default) to the new version on every redeploy, while the rest keeps serving from primary. Watch canary's real metrics against primary, then gradually increase its traffic as confidence grows, or roll back to zero with one action if it isn't looking healthy.

Benefits:

  • Reduced blast radius if the new version has issues
  • Real user testing before full rollout, using live production traffic
  • Easy, fast rollback to the known-good primary
  • Built-in validation and a gradual, metrics-checked promotion ramp

For the full walkthrough — how redeploys create a canary automatically, viewing status, adjusting traffic, validating, promoting, and rolling back — see Canary Deployment.

A/B Testing​

Runs two variants — Variant A (Control) and Variant B (Test) — side by side on a configurable traffic split. Real users are tracked on each variant so you can compare views and conversions directly, instead of guessing which version performs better.

Benefits:

  • Evidence-based decisions, backed by real conversion data instead of a guess
  • Both variants keep running as long as you need, with traffic reweighted at any time
  • Built-in statistical significance check before you're allowed to declare a winner

For the full walkthrough — traffic split, conversion tracking, results, and declaring a winner — see A/B Testing.

Configuring Strategies​

  1. Navigate to your application in the Nife dashboard
  2. Go to Deploys → Strategies
  3. Select your preferred strategy
  4. Configure traffic split percentages (for canary)
  5. Deploy