Deployment Validator Skill

Purpose: Systematically validate the application is ready for production deployment, catching common "works locally, fails on Render" issues BEFORE they happen.

When to Use

This skill MUST be invoked when:

• User mentions deploying to Render, production, or staging
• User says "ready to deploy" or "push to production"
• Any git push to main/production branches
• After significant routing or static file changes
• Before creating deployment documentation

Common Issues We've Learned (Hard-Won Lessons)

Issue 1: Static File Path Mismatches

Problem: Files served from wrong directory (projectRoot vs publicDir) Symptom: Works locally, 404 in production Root Cause: Express static middleware serves from different base paths