---
title: "Separate deploying from releasing · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production/deploy-is-not-release
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Separate deploying from releasing

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Optional
- Chapter: [Running in production](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production)
- Rule: Ship unfinished or risky features switched off, and turn them on with a flag when they are ready.
- How: Wrap the new path in a feature flag read from settings or a flag service. Turn it on for staff first, then for everyone. Remove the flag when it is fully on, as the [dead code chapter](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/architecture/dead-code/remove-stale-flags) explains.
- Check: Deploy with the flag off. The old behaviour stays the same for users. Turning the flag on needs no deploy.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers engineering playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production/deploy-is-not-release`.

- Previous: [Watch the service from outside](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production/monitoring-uptime)
- Next: [Keep secrets in a secrets store](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production/secrets-store)
- [Running in production](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/running-in-production)