VP Deploy Validator Skill
Type: Process-oriented (no upstream repository)
Overview
The VP Deploy Validator skill teaches the AI assistant to health-check an already-running Validated Pattern deployment without reinstalling. It verifies ArgoCD Application convergence, secrets delivery via External Secrets Operator, and imperative job completion — giving an operator confidence the pattern is healthy before running exercises or going live.
Use this skill instead of vp-deploy-test when the pattern was deployed by CI/CD, another team member, or automation and you just want a quick confidence check.
When the AI Uses This Skill
Your AI assistant will activate this skill when you’re:
- Checking whether a live Validated Pattern deployment is healthy
- Running a pre-demo confidence check without triggering a reinstall
- Spot-checking convergence after a values file update, chart version bump, or cluster upgrade
- Confirming a
vp-refactorfix took effect without a full reinstall - Monitoring a running demo or workshop pattern
Three-Phase Health Check
The skill runs three read-only phases — nothing is installed or modified.
Phase 1 — Pre-flight
Verify OCP access and that the VP stack (VP Operator, OpenShift GitOps) is present on the cluster.
Phase 2 — ArgoCD Application Health Scan
Check all ArgoCD Applications for Healthy/Synced status. Classify any failures:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
SyncFailed: ComparedTo error | Helm values rendering error | Escalate to vp-refactor, Audit Area 3 |
OutOfSync: Unknown | ArgoCD can’t reach Git repo | Verify repo credentials and URL |
Degraded: Missing resource | Operator subscription not resolving | Escalate to vp-refactor, Audit Area 1 |
Progressing (stuck) | Timing issue or resource creation | Wait and re-check; escalate if stuck |
Phase 3 — Secrets and Jobs Health Scan
- ExternalSecrets: Verify all ExternalSecret resources show
Ready=True/SecretSynced - Imperative jobs: Verify CronJobs have at least one completed Job
- Confidence hand-off: If all pass, recommend activating
student-readinessthenworkshop-tester
Confidence Statement
When all phases pass, the skill produces:
“All VP health checks passed. An operator can run this pattern with high confidence. Recommended next steps: student-readiness, then workshop-tester.”
Confidence Chain
vp-deploy-test → vp-deploy-validator → student-readiness → workshop-tester
(pipeline worked) (still healthy) (student POV) (exercises work)
Related Skills
| Skill | Relationship |
|---|---|
| VP Deploy Test | Full end-to-end deploy and validate — use when installing from scratch |
| VP Refactor | Escalation target for ArgoCD convergence and secrets failures |
| Student Readiness | Next step after health checks pass — verify the student experience |
| Workshop Tester | Final confidence gate — execute module exercises against the live environment |
See ADR-015 for the deployment pipeline testing design and ADR-011 for the full validation lifecycle.
Install
./install.sh install --skill vp-deploy-validator