Pre-Launch Checklist (The Ritual)

Before triggering the final Cloudflare deployment, complete this checklist to ensure your brand projects absolute authority from minute one.

0. GitHub Initial Setup (First Time Only)

• Rename Directory: Is the github/ folder renamed to .github/?
• Action Permissions: Is Settings > Actions > General > Workflow permissions set to "Read and write permissions"?
• Clean Sync Check: Ensure no files or folders starting with . or _ exist in the source directory (except the newly renamed .github/).

1. Technical SEO & Indexing

• Sitemap Check: Run npm run build and verify dist/sitemap.xml contains all active routes.
• Robots.txt: Ensure robots.txt points to the correct sitemap URL.
• Canonical Tags: Verify that <link rel="canonical"> matches your production domain in site.config.ts.
• Metadata Audit: Run node scripts/ai-seo-optimizer.mjs to ensure TDK descriptions are high-density and GEO-optimized.

2. Infrastructure & Edge (MD-Clean Protocol)

• redirects.md: Confirm public/redirects.md exists (will be converted to _redirects by CI).
• headers.md: Confirm public/headers.md exists (will be converted to _headers by CI).
• SSL/TLS: Ensure Cloudflare "Always Use HTTPS" is enabled.

3. Analytics & Compliance

• GA4 Measurement ID: Update site.config.ts with your Google Analytics ID.
• Microsoft Clarity: Update site.config.ts with your Project ID.
• Privacy Policy: Ensure the /privacy route is populated and legal links in the footer are active.

4. Quality & i18n

• i18n Integrity: Run npm run check-i18n to ensure no empty translation keys or missing translations.
• Language Toggle: Verify the language switcher persists after refresh (localStorage check).
• Broken Link Scan: Run npm run audit to check for 404s and missing alt tags in the production build.
• PWA Manifest: Test the PWA install prompt in Chrome DevTools to ensure the manifest and service worker are linked.

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Success Metric: 100/100 Lighthouse + Successful Google Search Console validation.