Validated Pattern Deployment Tester Skill
Type: Process-oriented (no upstream repository)
Overview
The VP Deployment Tester skill guides the AI assistant through validating a Validated Pattern deployment end-to-end after pattern.sh make install or VP Operator installation completes. It fills the gap between running the install command and confirming that the GitOps stack has fully converged.
While student-readiness checks whether the environment is ready for students right now, this skill validates whether the deployment pipeline — VP Operator installation, ArgoCD Application convergence, secrets delivery via Vault and ESO, and imperative job completion — produced a correct, fully-working result.
When the AI Uses This Skill
Your AI assistant will activate this skill when you’re:
- Asking “did my pattern install correctly?” or “why are my ArgoCD Applications not syncing?”
- Checking whether ExternalSecrets are delivering secrets to application pods
- Verifying that imperative jobs in the
jobs/directory completed - Preparing to hand an environment to students and want full end-to-end confidence
- Re-verifying after fixing a
vp-refactoraudit finding and re-installing
Four-Phase Process
Phase 1 — Pre-flight
Verify oc login, cluster version, VP Operator installed
Confirm values-global.yaml and values-<cluster>.yaml present
Verify values-secret.yaml is NOT committed to git
Phase 2 — Install
Run pattern.sh make install or confirm VP Operator has picked up GitOps repo
Verify ArgoCD ApplicationSet was created
Stop and escalate to vp-refactor on failure
Phase 3 — ArgoCD Convergence
Poll until all Applications reach Healthy/Synced (up to 10 min)
Classify Degraded/OutOfSync failures by symptom
→ Escalate to vp-refactor for convergence failures
Phase 4 — Secrets and Jobs Verification
Verify ExternalSecrets are Ready (Vault + ESO flow)
Verify CronJobs in jobs/ have at least one completed run
→ Activate student-readiness after all checks pass
→ Optionally activate workshop-tester when complete
Failure Escalation
When the deployment test finds failures, the skill provides a structured escalation path:
| Failure | Escalation |
|---|---|
| Install fails / ApplicationSet not created | Activate vp-refactor to audit values files and metadata |
| ArgoCD Application Degraded/OutOfSync | Activate vp-refactor, Audit Area 3 (Charts) and Area 1 (Values) |
| ExternalSecret errors | Activate vp-refactor, Audit Area 4 (Secrets Management) |
| Imperative jobs failing | Activate vp-refactor, Audit Area 8 (Imperative Jobs) |
| student-readiness fails | Use student-readiness troubleshooting tree; escalate to vp-refactor |
Convergence Failure Classification
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
SyncFailed: ComparedTo error | Helm values rendering error — check values file structure |
OutOfSync: Unknown | ArgoCD cannot reach Git repo — verify repo credentials |
Degraded: Missing resource | CRD or operator not installed — check clusterGroup.subscriptions |
Progressing (stuck) | Resource creation timing — check sync wave ordering in charts |
Related Skills
| Skill | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Patternizer | Operational skill — use patternizer to initialize the pattern before this skill |
| VP Refactor | Escalation target when deployment test finds convergence or config failures |
| Student Readiness | Called at end of Phase 4 for full environment readiness check |
| Workshop Tester | Optional hand-off after all deployment tests pass |
See ADR-015 for the full design rationale.
Install
./install.sh install --skill vp-deploy-test