more detailed SDLC plan

_docs/00_templates/environment_strategy.md

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+# Environment Strategy Template
+
+## Overview
+Define the environment strategy for the project, including configuration, access, and deployment procedures for each environment.
+
+---
+
+## Environments
+
+### Development (dev)
+**Purpose**: Local development and feature testing
+
+| Aspect | Configuration |
+|--------|---------------|
+| Branch | `dev`, feature branches |
+| Database | Local or shared dev instance |
+| External Services | Mock/sandbox endpoints |
+| Logging Level | DEBUG |
+| Access | All developers |
+
+**Configuration**:
+```
+# .env.development
+ENV=development
+DATABASE_URL=<dev_database_url>
+API_TIMEOUT=30
+LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
+```
+
+### Staging (stage)
+**Purpose**: Pre-production testing, QA, UAT
+
+| Aspect | Configuration |
+|--------|---------------|
+| Branch | `stage` |
+| Database | Staging instance (production-like) |
+| External Services | Sandbox/test endpoints |
+| Logging Level | INFO |
+| Access | Development team, QA |
+
+**Configuration**:
+```
+# .env.staging
+ENV=staging
+DATABASE_URL=<staging_database_url>
+API_TIMEOUT=15
+LOG_LEVEL=INFO
+```
+
+**Deployment Trigger**: Merge to `stage` branch
+
+### Production (prod)
+**Purpose**: Live system serving end users
+
+| Aspect | Configuration |
+|--------|---------------|
+| Branch | `main` |
+| Database | Production instance |
+| External Services | Production endpoints |
+| Logging Level | WARN |
+| Access | Restricted (ops team) |
+
+**Configuration**:
+```
+# .env.production
+ENV=production
+DATABASE_URL=<production_database_url>
+API_TIMEOUT=10
+LOG_LEVEL=WARN
+```
+
+**Deployment Trigger**: Manual approval after staging validation
+
+---
+
+## Secrets Management
+
+### Secret Categories
+- Database credentials
+- API keys (internal and external)
+- Encryption keys
+- Service account credentials
+
+### Storage
+| Environment | Secret Storage |
+|-------------|----------------|
+| Development | .env.local (gitignored) |
+| Staging | CI/CD secrets / Vault |
+| Production | CI/CD secrets / Vault |
+
+### Rotation Policy
+- Database passwords: Every 90 days
+- API keys: Every 180 days or on compromise
+- Encryption keys: Annually
+
+---
+
+## Environment Parity
+
+### Required Parity
+- Same database engine and version
+- Same runtime version
+- Same dependency versions
+- Same configuration structure
+
+### Allowed Differences
+- Resource scaling (CPU, memory)
+- External service endpoints (sandbox vs production)
+- Logging verbosity
+- Feature flags
+
+---
+
+## Access Control
+
+| Role | Dev | Staging | Production |
+|------|-----|---------|------------|
+| Developer | Full | Read + Deploy | Read logs only |
+| QA | Read | Full | Read logs only |
+| DevOps | Full | Full | Full |
+| Stakeholder | None | Read | Read dashboards |
+
+---
+
+## Backup & Recovery
+
+| Environment | Backup Frequency | Retention | RTO | RPO |
+|-------------|------------------|-----------|-----|-----|
+| Development | None | N/A | N/A | N/A |
+| Staging | Daily | 7 days | 4 hours | 24 hours |
+| Production | Hourly | 30 days | 1 hour | 1 hour |
+
+---
+
+## Notes
+- Never copy production data to lower environments without anonymization
+- All environment-specific values must be externalized (no hardcoding)
+- Document any environment-specific behaviors in code comments
+