Site Launch Plan — 2026-04-05

Meeting between Mark Hope and Sebastian Gant to finalize and hand off the Cordwainer website launch. The new site is built and sitting in the WP Engine staging environment; this call confirmed access, clarified the execution sequence, and set a two-hour completion window.

Overview

The goal is to replace the current live Cordwainer site with the new site from the WP Engine staging environment. The launch uses WP Engine's native push-to-production feature rather than a manual migration, followed by a DNS cutover in Cloudflare.

Attendees: Mark Hope, Sebastian Gant
Source call: Fathom recording

Access Confirmed

Execution Plan

1. Push staging to production — Use WP Engine's built-in "push to production" tool to promote the staging environment, replacing the current live site.
2. Update DNS in Cloudflare — Point the cordwainer.com DNS record to the new production IP once the push is confirmed stable.

Rationale: Completing the WP Engine push before the DNS cutover ensures the new site is fully live and stable before traffic is directed to it, minimizing downtime and risk.

Target window: Both steps to be completed within two hours of the call.

Key Decisions

• The staging environment contains the new site; the current live site will be discarded, not preserved.
• Launch method is WP Engine push-to-production, not a separate file/database migration.
• Mark owns execution end-to-end; Sebastian is on standby for support.

Action Items

• [ ] Mark Hope — Push Cordwainer staging to production in WP Engine
• [ ] Mark Hope — Update cordwainer.com DNS in Cloudflare to point to new production IP
• [ ] Mark Hope — Complete both steps within two hours of the call
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Remain available for support during the launch window

Related

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