day-one-patch

---
name: day-one-patch
description: "Prepare a day-one patch for a game launch. Scopes, prioritises, implements, and QA-gates a focused patch addressing known issues discovered after gold master but before or immediately after public launch. Treats the patch as a mini-sprint with its own QA gate and rollback plan."
argument-hint: "[scope: known-bugs | cert-feedback | all]"
user-invocable: true
allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Write, Edit, Bash, Task, AskUserQuestion
---

# Day-One Patch

Every shipped game has a day-one patch. Planning it before launch day prevents
chaos. This skill scopes the patch to only what is safe and necessary, gates it
through a lightweight QA pass, and ensures a rollback plan exists before anything
ships. It is a mini-sprint — not a hotfix, not a full sprint.

**When to run:**
- After the gold master build is locked (cert approved or launch candidate tagged)
- When known bugs exist that are too risky to address in the gold master
- When cert feedback requires minor fixes post-submission
- When a pre-launch playtest surfaces must-fix issues after the release gate passed

**Day-one patch scope rules:**
- Only P1/P2 bugs that are SAFE to fix quickly
- No new features — this is fix-only
- No refactoring — minimum viable change
- Any fix that requires more than 4 hours of dev time belongs in patch 1.1, not day-one

**Output:** `production/releases/day-one-patch-[version].md`

---

## Phase 1: Load Release Context

Read:
- `production/stage.txt` — confirm project is in Release stage
- The most recent file in `production/gate-checks/` — read the release gate verdict
- `production/qa/bugs/*.md` — load all bugs with Status: Open or Fixed — Pending Verification
- `production/sprints/` most recent — understand what shipped
- `production/security/security-audit-*.md` most recent — check for any open security items

If `production/stage.txt` is not `Release` or `Polish`:
> "Day-one patch prep is for Release-stage projects. Current stage: [stage]. This skill is not appropriate until you are approaching launch."

---

## Phase 2: Scope the Patch

### Step 2a — Classify open bugs for patch inclusion

For each open bug, evaluate:

| Criterion | Include in day-one? |
|-----------|-------------------|
| S1 or S2 severity | Yes — must include if safe to fix |
| P1 priority | Yes |
| Fix estimated < 4 hours | Yes |
| Fix requires architecture change | No — defer to 1.1 |
| Fix introduces new code paths | No — too risky |
| Fix is data/config only (no code change) | Yes — very low risk |
| Cert feedback requirement | Yes — required for platform approval |
| S3/S4 severity | Only if trivial config fix; otherwise defer |

### Step 2b — Present patch scope to user

Use `AskUserQuestion`:
- Prompt: "Based on open bugs and cert feedback, here is the proposed day-one patch scope. Does this look right?"
- Show: table of included bugs (ID, severity, description, estimated effort)
- Show: table of deferred bugs (ID, severity, reason deferred)
- Options: `[A] Approve this scope` / `[B] Adjust — I want to add or remove items` / `[C] No day-one patch needed`

If [C]: output "No day-one patch required. Proceed to `/launch-checklist`." Stop.

### Step 2c — Check total scope

Sum estimated effort. If total exceeds 1 day of work:
> "⚠️ Patch scope is [N hours] — this exceeds a safe day-one window. Consider deferring lower-priority items to patch 1.1. A bloated day-one patch introduces more risk than it removes."

Use `AskUserQuestion` to confirm proceeding or reduce scope.

---

## Phase 3: Rollback Plan

Before any code is written, define the rollback procedure. This is non-negotiable.

Spawn `release-manager` via Task. Ask them to produce a rollback plan covering:
- How to revert to the gold master build on each target platform
- Platform-specific rollback constraints (some platforms cannot roll back cert builds)
- Who is responsible for triggering the rollback
- What player communication is required if a rollback occurs

Present the rollback plan. Ask: "May I write this rollback plan to `production/releases/rollback-plan-[version].md`?"

Do not proceed to Phase 4 until the rollback plan is written.

---

## Phase 4: Implement Fixes

For each bug in the approved scope, spawn a focused implementation loop:

1. Spawn `lead-programmer` via Task with:
   - The bug report (exact reproduction steps and root cause if known)
   - The constraint: minimum viable fix only, no cleanup
   - The affected files (from bug report Technical Context section)

2. The lead-programmer implements and runs targeted tests.

3. Spawn `qa-tester` via Task to verify: does the bug reproduce after the fix?

For config/data-only fixes: make the change directly (no programmer agent needed). Confirm the value changed and re-run any relevant smoke test.

---

## Phase 5: Patch QA Gate

This is a lightweight QA pass — not a full `/team-qa`. The patch is already QA-approved from the release gate; we are only re-verifying the changed areas.

Spawn `qa-lead` via Task with:
- List of all changed files
- List of bugs fixed (with verification status from Phase 4)
- The smoke check scope for the affected systems

Ask qa-lead to determine: **Is a targeted smoke check sufficient, or do any fixes touch systems that require a broader regression?**

Run the required QA scope:
- **Targeted smoke check** — run `/smoke-check [affected-systems]`
- **Broader regression** — run targeted tests in `tests/unit/` and `tests/integration/` for affected systems

QA verdict must be PASS or PASS WITH WARNINGS before proceeding. If FAIL: scope the failing fix out of the day-one patch and defer to 1.1.

---

## Phase 6: Generate Patch Record

```markdown
# Day-One Patch: [Game Name] v[version]

**Date prepared**: [date]
**Target release**: [launch date or "day of launch"]
**Base build**: [gold master tag or commit]
**Patch build**: [patch tag or commit]

---

## Patch Notes (Internal)

### Bugs Fixed
| BUG-ID | Severity | Description | Fix summary |
|--------|----------|-------------|-------------|
| BUG-NNN | S[1-4] | [description] | [one-line fix] |

### Deferred to 1.1
| BUG-ID | Severity | Description | Reason deferred |
|--------|----------|-------------|-----------------|
| BUG-NNN | S[1-4] | [description] | [reason] |

---

## QA Sign-Off

**QA scope**: [Targeted smoke / Broader regression]
**Verdict**: [PASS / PASS WITH WARNINGS]
**QA lead**: qa-lead agent
**Date**: [date]
**Warnings (if any)**: [list or "None"]

---

## Rollback Plan

See: `production/releases/rollback-plan-[version].md`

**Trigger condition**: If [N] or more S1 bugs are reported within [X] hours of launch, execute rollback.
**Rollback owner**: [user / producer]

---

## Approvals Required Before Deploy

- [ ] lead-programmer: all fixes reviewed
- [ ] qa-lead: QA gate PASS confirmed
- [ ] producer: deployment timing approved
- [ ] release-manager: platform submission confirmed

---

## Player-Facing Patch Notes

[Draft for community-manager to review before publishing]

[list player-facing changes in plain language]
```

Ask: "May I write this patch record to `production/releases/day-one-patch-[version].md`?"

---

## Phase 7: Next Steps

After the patch record is written:

1. Run `/patch-notes` to generate the player-facing version of the patch notes
2. Run `/bug-report verify [BUG-ID]` for each fixed bug after the patch is live
3. Run `/bug-report close [BUG-ID]` for each verified fix
4. Schedule a post-launch review 48–72 hours after launch using `/retrospective launch`

**If any S1 bugs remain open after the patch:**
> "⚠️ S1 bugs remain open and were not patched. These are accepted risks. Document them in the rollback plan trigger conditions — if they occur at scale, rollback may be preferable to a follow-up patch."

---

## Collaborative Protocol

- **Scope discipline is everything** — resist scope creep; every addition increases risk
- **Rollback plan first, always** — a patch without a rollback plan is irresponsible
- **Deferred is not forgotten** — every deferred bug gets a 1.1 ticket automatically
- **Player communication is part of the patch** — `/patch-notes` is a required output, not optional