Customer.io Production Checklist Skill

Customer.io Production Checklist

Overview

Comprehensive go-live checklist for Customer.io integrations: credentials audit, integration quality review, email deliverability setup, monitoring configuration, smoke tests, and staged rollout plan.

Prerequisites

Customer.io integration complete and tested in staging
Production workspace credentials ready
Sending domain configured and verified

Production Checklist

1. Credentials & Configuration

| Item | Check | How to Verify | |------|-------|---------------| | Production Site ID | Correct workspace | Settings > API & Webhook Credentials | | Production Track API Key | Different from dev/staging | Compare with staging .env | | Production App API Key | Set for transactional messages | Test with curl bearer auth | | Region setting | Matches account region (US/EU) | Settings > Workspace Settings | | Secrets storage | In secrets manager, not .env | Check deployment config | | Key rotation schedule | Documented (90-day cycle) | Calendar reminder set |

2. Integration Quality

// scripts/prod-audit.ts
import { TrackClient, RegionUS } from "customerio-node";

async function auditIntegration() {
  const checks: { name: string; pass: boolean; detail: string }[] = [];

  // Check 1: Credentials exist
  const siteId = process.env.CUSTOMERIO_SITE_ID;
  const trackKey = process.env.CUSTOMERIO_TRACK_API_KEY;
  const appKey = process.env.CUSTOMERIO_APP_API_KEY;
  checks.push({
    name: "Track credentials",
    pass: !!(siteId && trackKey),
    detail: siteId ? `Site ID: ${siteId.substring(0, 4)}...` : "MISSING",
  });
  checks.push({
    name: "App API credential",
    pass: !!appKey,
    detail: appKey ? "Set" : "MISSING (needed for transactional)",
  });

  // Check 2: API connectivity
  if (siteId && trackKey) {
    const cio = new TrackClient(siteId, trackKey, { region: RegionUS });
    try {
      await cio.identify("prod-audit-test", {
        email: "prod-audit@example.com",
      });
      await cio.suppress("prod-audit-test");
      checks.push({ name: "Track API", pass: true, detail: "Connected" });
    } catch (err: any) {
      checks.push({
        name: "Track API",
        pass: false,
        detail: `${err.statusCode}: ${err.message}`,
      });
    }
  }

  // Report
  console.log("\n=== Customer.io Production Audit ===\n");
  for (const check of checks) {
    const icon = check.pass ? "PASS" : "FAIL";
    console.log(`[${icon}] ${check.name}: ${check.detail}`);
  }
  const passed = checks.filter((c) => c.pass).length;
  console.log(`\nResult: ${passed}/${checks.length} passed`);
  return checks.every((c) => c.pass);
}

auditIntegration().then((ok) => process.exit(ok ? 0 : 1));

3. Email Deliverability

| Item | Status | Dashboard Location | |------|--------|-------------------| | Sending domain verified | Required | Settings > Sending Domains | | SPF record published | Required | DNS TXT record | | DKIM record published | Required | DNS CNAME record | | DMARC policy set | Recommended | DNS TXT record _dmarc.yourdomain.com | | Return-Path configured | Recommended | Settings > Sending Domains | | Unsubscribe link in all marketing emails | Required (CAN-SPAM) | Template editor | | Physical address in marketing emails | Required (CAN-SPAM) | Template editor |

4. Campaign Readiness

[ ] All campaigns tested with test sends
[ ] Liquid templates render correctly (preview with real data)
[ ] Segment conditions verified with known test users
[ ] Transactional templates have all required message_data fields
[ ] Broadcast triggers tested end-to-end
[ ] Unsubscribe flow tested (click unsubscribe link, verify suppression)

5. Monitoring & Alerting

// Set up these alerts in your monitoring system:
const ALERT_THRESHOLDS = {
  // API health
  api_error_rate: 0.01,       // Alert if > 1% of API calls fail
  api_p99_latency_ms: 5000,   // Alert if p99 > 5 seconds

  // Delivery health
  bounce_rate: 0.05,          // Alert if > 5% bounce rate
  complaint_rate: 0.001,      // Alert if > 0.1% spam complaints
  delivery_rate: 0.95,        // Alert if < 95% delivery rate

  // Operational health
  queue_depth: 10000,         // Alert if event queue > 10K pending
  webhook_error_rate: 0.05,   // Alert if > 5% webhook processing failures
};

6. Smoke Test Script

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

echo "=== Customer.io Production Smoke Test ==="

# Test 1: Track API connectivity
TRACK_STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
  -u "${CUSTOMERIO_SITE_ID}:${CUSTOMERIO_TRACK_API_KEY}" \
  -X PUT "https://track.customer.io/api/v1/customers/smoke-test-$(date +%s)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"smoke@example.com","_smoke_test":true}')

if [ "$TRACK_STATUS" = "200" ]; then
  echo "[PASS] Track API: HTTP 200"
else
  echo "[FAIL] Track API: HTTP ${TRACK_STATUS}"
  exit 1
fi

# Test 2: App API connectivity
APP_STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${CUSTOMERIO_APP_API_KEY}" \
  "https://api.customer.io/v1/campaigns")

if [ "$APP_STATUS" = "200" ]; then
  echo "[PASS] App API: HTTP 200"
else
  echo "[FAIL] App API: HTTP ${APP_STATUS}"
  exit 1
fi

echo ""
echo "All smoke tests passed"

7. Staged Rollout Plan

| Time | Action | Rollback Trigger | |------|--------|-----------------| | T-24h | Final staging test pass | Any test failure | | T-12h | Production smoke tests | Smoke test failure | | T-1h | Enable for internal team (feature flag) | Error reports | | T-0 | Enable for 10% of users | Error rate > 1% | | T+1h | Increase to 50% | Error rate > 1% or bounce rate > 5% | | T+2h | 100% traffic | Same thresholds | | T+24h | Post-launch review | N/A |

// Feature flag integration for staged rollout
function shouldUseCio(userId: string, rolloutPercent: number): boolean {
  // Deterministic — same user always gets same result
  const hash = createHash("md5").update(userId).digest("hex");
  const bucket = parseInt(hash.substring(0, 8), 16) % 100;
  return bucket < rolloutPercent;
}

Rollback Procedure

Set feature flag to 0% (immediate — no deploy needed)
Pause all active campaigns in Customer.io dashboard
Investigate logs and error reports
Fix issue, test in staging
Resume staged rollout from 10%

Error Handling

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | Smoke test fails in production | Verify production credentials (different from staging) | | High bounce rate post-launch | Check sending domain verification, review bounce logs | | Spam complaints spike | Review email content, verify unsubscribe links work | | Feature flag not working | Check feature flag service connectivity |

Resources

Next Steps

After production launch, proceed to customerio-upgrade-migration for SDK maintenance.

Agent Skills: Customer.io Production Checklist

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