Begin by identifying your application's runtime, storage needs and expected traffic. A containerized application is a portable starting point, but persistent data should live in storage that survives a deployment.
Keep configuration separate from application code. Store credentials in a secret manager, give each service only the access it needs, and use separate environments to validate changes before production.
A launch is only the beginning. Add health checks, centralized logs, error monitoring and a rollback process. Test how your application recovers from failure and make sure someone can understand the system when it needs attention.
