Dead Synthetic Targets Should Be Removed, Not Hidden
Placeholder or obsolete probe targets can stay in configuration after architecture changes and permanently pollute availability dashboards.
CI
Compose Rendering Is a Cheap Test That Catches Expensive Deployment Mistakes
A configuration should render successfully from a clean checkout before it is trusted on a production host.
Migration Tests Catch a Different Class of Failure Than Unit Tests
An application can pass isolated logic tests while its database schema still fails to create, upgrade or enforce the intended constraint.
Entrypoint Assumptions Are Hidden Dependencies
A container command is only reproducible when you know whether the image entrypoint wraps, replaces or transforms it.
CI Should Protect Invariants, Not Just Syntax
The most valuable CI checks encode production truths that previously failed in real systems.
A Container Entrypoint Can Break a Perfectly Valid Validation Command
CI failed because the image entrypoint changed how arguments were interpreted, not because the OpenBao configuration was invalid.
A Clean Checkout Must Contain Every Local Build and Config Reference
Infrastructure source is incomplete if Compose points at files that only exist on the current server.
A Typo in primary_key=True Broke the Model Before Any Business Logic Ran
Schema declarations are executable code; a one-word typo can prevent the application model from initializing correctly.
A One-Line COPY Permission Bug Can Make an Image Non-Reproducible
A configuration file copied with the wrong mode can behave differently depending on the build context and base image defaults.