Done means live
Merged isn't deployed, and deployed isn't working.
Oct 31, 2026 · 1 min read
An agent told me a merge would redeploy the app. It only rebuilt one service. The app stayed on the old commit and production kept refusing new runs, while the PR said merged and everything looked finished.
Nothing was wrong with the code, it just wasn’t running anywhere.
The habit
Before you open a PR, say what changed for a user and list only the checks that actually ran. Anything you didn’t run should say so.
After merging, check the live version instead of trusting the merge. The change is done when real users can get it.
Try it
Draft a short PR description for this exact diff. Say what changed for a user. List only checks that actually ran, and name anything not run. After merging, tell me how to confirm the live version has this change.
Install it
ship does this for you.