Hugo decides which pages to render when a build runs. Front matter supplies publication metadata, configuration and command flags supply inclusion rules, and the build clock supplies the time used for evaluation. The deployed directory then stays unchanged until another artifact replaces it. A date reaching midnight is not itself a deployment event, and a file without draft: true is not automatically a draft. ...
A release tag gives people a readable name for a particular source revision. Unlike a branch, it does not advance when another commit is created. However, Git does not make a tag reference physically impossible to change: a user with sufficient access can replace or delete it. The dependable release contract is therefore a combination of a recorded object ID, an immutable-name policy, and controls over who may update release references. ...
Small batches are the whole trick: a wave stops an old pod only after the replacement is already healthy. Instead of flipping the entire fleet at once — the all-or-nothing gamble of a recreate deployment — the controller keeps most of the old version serving while it proves the new one, pod by pod. A bad image then stalls the rollout with the old version still up, rather than replacing a working fleet with a broken one in seconds. ...
Two full environments for the same service, both able to serve, with a router deciding which one receives traffic. The new version is deployed to the idle colour and runs the entire pipeline — provision, migrate, deploy, smoke test — while the live colour keeps serving. When the tests pass, the release happens as a routing change. ...
Build, publish, and confirm with the same evidence the notes describe, end to end.
Verify the artifact before replacing the live directory, and keep the checks close to the release command.
One aggregate digest is useful, but a sorted per-file manifest tells you exactly what changed or went missing.
Build once, inspect the output, then exercise representative public routes before replacing the live directory.