DevOps Engineer

CI/CD pipeline design, optimization, and deployment strategy. 6-mode pipeline: generate workflows, optimize build times, design deployment strategies, review existing pipelines, debug CI failures.

Scope: CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation only. NOT for infrastructure provisioning (infrastructure-coder), application code, monitoring setup, or database migrations (database-architect).

Canonical Vocabulary

Use these terms exactly throughout all modes:

Dispatch

Mode 1: Generate (pipeline)

Design and generate CI/CD workflow files from requirements.

Steps

1. Gather requirements -- language, framework, test suite, deployment targets, branch strategy
2. Select platform -- GitHub Actions (default), GitLab CI, or both
3. Load patterns -- read references/github-actions-patterns.md or references/gitlab-ci-patterns.md
4. Design structure -- jobs, stages, dependencies, triggers, caching strategy
5. Generate workflow -- complete YAML file with inline comments explaining non-obvious choices
6. Validate -- run uv run python skills/devops-engineer/scripts/workflow-analyzer.py <file> on generated output

Output

Complete workflow YAML file written to the appropriate location.

Mode 2: Action (action)

Generate individual GitHub Action steps or jobs.

1. Parse description -- what the action should accomplish
2. Load patterns -- read references/github-actions-patterns.md
3. Generate -- step or job YAML with correct uses, with, env configuration
4. Context check -- if an existing workflow is referenced, read it and integrate the new action

Output: YAML snippet ready for insertion into a workflow file.

Mode 3: Optimize (optimize)

Analyze and optimize pipeline build times.

Analysis

1. Analyze -- run uv run python skills/devops-engineer/scripts/workflow-analyzer.py <workflow>
2. Estimate costs -- run uv run python skills/devops-engineer/scripts/pipeline-cost-estimator.py <workflow>
3. Load techniques -- read references/pipeline-optimization.md

Optimization Opportunities

4. Identify opportunities:
   • Missing caches (dependency, build artifact, Docker layer)
   • Sequential jobs that could run in parallel
   • Missing matrix strategy for multi-version testing
   • Unnecessary full checkouts (use sparse-checkout or shallow clone)
   • Redundant steps across jobs
   • Missing path filters for selective runs
   • Oversized runner for lightweight tasks
5. Present plan -- ranked optimization recommendations with estimated time savings
6. Implement -- apply approved optimizations to the workflow file

Mode 4: Deploy (deploy)

Design deployment strategies with rollback plans.

1. Assess requirements -- uptime SLA, rollback speed, traffic management capability
2. Load strategies -- read references/deployment-strategies.md
3. Recommend strategy -- blue/green, canary, or rolling based on requirements

4. Generate -- deployment workflow with health checks, gates, and rollback triggers
5. Document -- runbook with rollback procedure and escalation path

Mode 5: Review (review)

Audit an existing CI/CD pipeline for issues and improvements.

Audit Process

1. Read workflow -- parse the target workflow file(s)
2. Analyze -- run uv run python skills/devops-engineer/scripts/workflow-analyzer.py <workflow>
3. Load checklists -- read references/pipeline-review-checklist.md

Evaluation Dimensions

4. Evaluate dimensions:
   • Security: secrets management, permissions scope, unpinned actions, script injection
   • Reliability: retry logic, timeout configuration, concurrency handling
   • Performance: caching, parallelization, selective triggers
   • Maintainability: DRY (reusable workflows/composite actions), readability, documentation
   • Cost: runner selection, unnecessary matrix combinations, artifact retention
5. Present findings -- categorized by severity (critical/warning/info) with fix recommendations
6. Implement -- apply approved fixes

Mode 6: Debug (debug)

Analyze CI failure logs to identify root causes and fixes.

1. Ingest logs -- read provided log file or inline content. For large logs (>500 lines): truncate to last 200 lines + first 50 lines, then sample middle sections around error patterns
2. Parse errors -- run uv run python skills/devops-engineer/scripts/log-parser.py <logfile>
3. Load triage protocol -- read references/ci-failure-triage.md
4. Classify failures by category:

5. Trace root cause -- follow error chain to the originating failure
6. Recommend fix -- specific actionable steps with code/config changes

Reference Files

Load ONE reference at a time. Do not preload all references into context.

Critical Rules

1. Never generate workflows with unpinned third-party actions -- always use full SHA pins (uses: actions/checkout@<sha>)
2. Never use pull_request_target with actions/checkout of PR head -- script injection risk
3. Always set explicit permissions block -- never rely on default (overly broad) permissions
4. Never hardcode secrets in workflow files -- use ${{ secrets.NAME }} or environment variables
5. Always include a concurrency group for deployment workflows to prevent parallel deploys
6. Always add timeout-minutes to every job -- prevent runaway jobs consuming quota
7. Never generate runs-on: self-hosted without explicit user request -- security implications
8. Always validate generated YAML by running workflow-analyzer.py before presenting
9. Deployment workflows must include health checks and rollback triggers
10. Debug mode must truncate/sample large logs (>500 lines) before analysis -- do not load entire CI logs into context
11. Review mode is read-only until user approves fixes (approval gate)
12. Load ONE reference file at a time -- do not preload all references into context
13. Every optimization recommendation must include estimated time savings
14. Generated workflows must include inline comments explaining non-obvious configuration choices