Skip to content

ADR-0004: CI publish/promote via Open Cloud

Status

Accepted (partially implemented)

Context

We want automated, repeatable releases for multiple games with clear environment separation (dev/staging/production), and we need a safe approval gate for production.

Manual publishing from Studio does not scale and is error-prone.

Decision

We will use GitHub Actions for CI/CD and Roblox Open Cloud for publishing.

Release model:

  • Build once, promote the same artifact.
  • dev publishes automatically from main.
  • staging promotion requires manual approval.
  • production promotion requires a version tag and approval.

Implementation note:

  • The current GitHub Actions workflows rebuild from a pinned git ref (commit SHA or tag) during promotion. Persisted build artifacts for true "build once, promote" can be added later.

Credentials:

  • Use least-privilege Open Cloud credentials.
  • Separate credentials per environment.
  • Store credentials in GitHub Environments with required reviewers.

Audit:

  • Every publish/promote emits an ops audit event (stored by the dashboard).

Alternatives considered

  • Studio-only manual publishing

  • Rejected: not scalable, hard to audit.

  • Single environment with flags only

  • Rejected: insufficient isolation and safety.

Consequences

  • CI becomes the primary release mechanism.
  • Requires initial Open Cloud setup and key rotation process.
  • Forces discipline: releases are traceable and reproducible.

Rollout plan

  1. Implement CI build and artifact generation.
  2. Implement dev publish.
  3. Add staging environment with approval.
  4. Add production tag-based promotion with rollback procedure.