Python Runtime Operations

Overview

Every service, worker, and CLI entrypoint must validate its environment before doing real work, shut down cleanly under all exit paths, and emit structured signals that make runtime behavior observable. Treat these as preferred defaults — deviate when project constraints demand it, but call out tradeoffs and compensating controls.

When to Use

• Startup fails late because config is validated after work begins.
• Shutdown leaves open connections, orphaned subprocesses, or incomplete transactions.
• Job retries run forever with no dead-letter or terminal-state handling.
• Logs are unstructured, missing correlation IDs, or inconsistent across services.
• Health and readiness probes are missing or misleading.
• Signal handling (SIGTERM, SIGINT) is absent or racy.

When NOT to Use

• Pure library or data-model code with no process lifecycle concerns.