Rollbacks

Quickly revert a service to its previous version when something goes wrong.

Rollback a Service

"Rollback my-app in production to image tag 1.2.3"

The mctl_rollback_service tool:

1. Uses the explicit target_tag you supply; it does not discover the previous tag
2. Commits the rollback to mctl-gitops
3. ArgoCD syncs the change
4. Returns a workflow name for tracking

How Rollbacks Work

A rollback updates image.tag in the service values and creates a new Git commit. Choose a known-good image tag from your release history. This does not restore previous environment variables, secrets, other configuration, or database state; configuration and schema recovery need separate changes. This provides:

• Full audit trail of what changed and when
• The rollback itself is a new commit (not a force-push)
• ArgoCD handles the actual Kubernetes rollout
• Most services roll back via a standard rolling update; blue-green is an opt-in strategy for services that need it, not the default

Check Rollback Status

"What is the status of workflow rollback-service-abc12?"

When to Rollback

Common scenarios:

• Application crashes after a new deployment
• Performance degradation detected
• A faulty image release (configuration-only failures require a configuration fix)
• Use the configured incident workflow and approval policy for agent-proposed remediation; do not assume every alert automatically rolls back a service