Progressive Rollouts: A Complete Guide

Progressive rollouts are a deployment strategy that gradually exposes new features to increasing percentages of users. This guide covers everything you need to know.

Why Progressive Rollouts?

Traditional deployments are all-or-nothing. If something goes wrong, all users are affected. Progressive rollouts minimize blast radius by starting small.

The Stages

1. Initial deployment to catch obvious issues
2. Expand to engaged users for feedback
3. Half your users now have access
4. Full rollout with confidence

Best Practices

• Always have automated rollback ready
• Monitor key metrics at each stage
• Don't rush—let each stage "bake" before proceeding
• Use targeting rules to control who gets access first