LaunchChecklist6 min

Create a launch checklist for OpenAI-powered apps

A compact pre-launch checklist for AI products that need to be reliable, reviewable, and supportable.

Real example

Example: pre-launch review for an AI proposal assistant

A team is ready to launch an assistant that extracts tender requirements and drafts proposal sections. The demo works, but production risk is higher.

Run a launch checklist covering auth, API key handling, evals, schema validation, tool permissions, review queues, rate limits, cost tracking, support notes, and rollback.

The team launches with known controls instead of discovering basic production gaps from users.

Tutorial path

How to implement it

Step 01

Run representative workflow examples through the production model, tools, and schemas.

Step 02

Verify auth, rate limits, validation, retry behavior, and human approval gates.

Step 03

Create support notes for expected failures and how to recover.

Step 04

Set dashboards for usage, errors, review decisions, and cost.

Step 05

Roll out to a small segment before broad release.

Checklist

Ready when these are true

Representative evals pass

Auth and permissions checked

Fallback behavior documented

Usage and cost tracked

Small rollout planned

Field notes

What matters in practice

Launch readiness is more than a working prompt.

The team needs observability, review paths, fallback behavior, and cost expectations.

Support teams need to know what the AI can and cannot do.

Avoid these mistakes

Common failure modes

Do not launch because one demo path works.

Do not skip support documentation.

Do not forget a rollback path for prompt, model, and tool changes.

Practical tip

A good launch checklist names who owns each failure mode after release.

Apply this to a build