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Step 07 of 8 Maintenance window (minutes to hours)· advanced

Step 7: Cutover with Feature Flag

Switch apps from source to target. Feature-flag the connection per workload for zero-downtime ramp; or use a brief maintenance window.

What you're doing in this step

Apps switch their connection string from source to target. For zero-downtime: feature-flag the connection per workload, ramp gradually. For minutes-of-downtime: brief maintenance window, swap connection strings, restart apps. Source becomes read-only after cutover.

Recommended prompts

Use one of these to do the work in your IDE

Open the template to read it in full. Click Copy prompt to grab it (with your stack values pre-filled where they apply) — then paste into Claude Code, Cursor, or wherever you build.

Primary recommendation 1 day to write

Migration Cutover Runbook

Detailed step-by-step runbook for the actual cutover from legacy to new system, including verification, communication, and rollback.

View template
Template· Template 0.5 day

Feature Flag Rollout Strategy for Migrations

Use feature flags to safely route traffic between legacy and new systems during migration with controlled rollout and instant rollback.

Use this when: Doing the per-workload ramp via feature flags rather than a single maintenance window

View template
Template· Template 0.5-1 day

Migration Rollback Plan

Plan recovery procedures for when migrations fail at any stage — from pre-cutover bugs to post-cutover production incidents.

Use this when: Pre-flight check — make sure the rollback path is documented and rehearsed before flipping the switch

View template
Recommended skills

Drop these into Claude Code for this phase

Skills auto-trigger on the right kind of request. Install once; they apply to every prompt that fits.

Skill· Skill 5 min setup

Migration Planner Skill

Flagship migration skill that walks Claude Code through audit → strategy → slicing → cutover for any legacy system migration.

claude-code
View skill
Skill· Skill 5 min setup

Database Migration Skill

Claude Code skill that generates safe forward and reverse migrations with transaction-wrapping, idempotency, and zero-downtime patterns.

claude-code
View skill
Recommended MCP configs

Wire these tools into Claude Code first

MCP servers give Claude Code direct access to external systems (Jira, browsers, databases). Configure once.

MCP config· MCP config 10 min setup

Azure DevOps MCP for Evoke

Pre-configured Azure DevOps MCP server for Claude Code — work items, repos, PRs, and pipelines from chat.

claude-codemcp
View config
MCP config· MCP config 10 min setup

Postgres MCP for Evoke

Pre-configured Postgres MCP server for Claude Code — schema inspection and read-only queries to make database work safer and faster.

claude-codemcppostgres
View config
When you're done

Verify these in your own work before moving on

This is a checklist for you to mentally tick off in your repo and IDE — the site doesn't track it, you do.

  • Cutover runbook executed step by step
  • All apps now reading from target
  • Sync stopped (no more dual-write or CDC)
  • Source DB now read-only (preserved for rollback)
  • Smoke tests passed on apps using target
  • Performance acceptable
  • Error rates stable
  • Stakeholder sign-off
Common pitfalls

What goes wrong at this step

  • Cutting over apps in different orders — they may inter-operate via DB; data may briefly drift
  • Forgetting reporting tools — Tableau / Power BI / SSRS reports point at source; update them too
  • Forgetting scheduled jobs — SQL Agent jobs (if any) may still run against source
  • Stopping sync too early — if cutover fails, no easy way back to source-as-primary
  • Forgetting one final pre-cutover validation — catches drift accumulated since the last run
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