Model cycle de vie

Start with a purpose, responsible owner, and decision about whether a model is needed at all. Define the operating conditions and what would make the project unsuitable. This prevents a technically interesting experiment from becoming a service without a clear use case. Version the data, preprocessing, model, prompts, and evaluation materials. These components interact: changing a feature calculation or retrieval index can alter behavior without changing the model weights. A release record should identify the complete configuration. Deploy gradually where practical, compare with the previous version, and retain a rollback route. Test startup, cancellation, timeouts, dependency failure, and compatibility with existing clients. Operational readiness includes the surrounding service and the people responding to incidents. After deployment, monitor both system health and task outcomes. Define who reviews alerts, when retraining or replacement is justified, and how old versions are retired. Deleting a model file does not automatically remove retained input data, cached outputs, or a dependent service. Track those assets explicitly.