Getting Started
Learn what Release Orchestration is, why it matters, and how to model your first release process.
Release Orchestration provides a unified framework for modeling, scheduling, automating, and tracking releases. It supports every step from planning with Harness AI to production deployment, feature flag enablement, and monitoring.
How the entities fit together
The following diagram shows how the core entities in Release Orchestration relate to each other:
A Process is a reusable release blueprint made up of Phases and Activities.
Activities come from the Activity Store and can be automated, manual, or subprocess-based.
A Release Group defines a cadence and contains individual Releases, each of which executes a Process.
The Release Calendar visualizes all scheduled and in-flight releases.
The Input Store provides named input sets so the same Process can run with different configurations.
Why Release Orchestration
Without orchestration, releases that span multiple services, teams, and tools become fragmented. Status lives in spreadsheets, coordination happens over email, and there is no single source of truth for what was deployed, when, or by whom.
Release Orchestration provides the following:
Structured process modeling: Define reusable release blueprints (Processes) composed of Phases and Activities instead of ad-hoc checklists.
Automated and manual execution: Automate pipeline-backed steps while retaining manual sign-offs and approvals where governance requires them.
End-to-end visibility: Track activity-level status, phase-level progress, and overall release health in real time.
Proactive notifications: Configure notifications for key release events like starts, completions, failures, and input requirements, ensuring teams stay informed through Slack.
Built-in governance and auditability: Enforce approvals, capture sign-offs, and maintain a full audit trail linking code to deployment.
Scheduled releases: Use Release Groups and the Release Calendar to run releases on a cadence (daily, weekly, monthly, or custom).
Before you begin
Prepare the following:
Feature flags enabled: The following feature flags must be enabled for your Harness account. Contact Harness Support to enable them.
RMG_RELEASE_MANAGEMENT_ENABLED— Enables the Release Management module.RMG_PROCESS_ENABLED— Enables Process functionality for creating release blueprints.
Module access: Confirm you have access to the Release Orchestration module in Harness.
Permissions: Confirm that your role can create processes, releases, and activities. Navigate to Account Settings > Access Control to verify permissions.
Access Control settings Pipelines (for automated activities): If you plan to use Automated Activities, have at least one Harness pipeline configured. Automated activities encapsulate pipelines, so the pipeline must exist before you can reference it.
Phase owners identified: Identify the owners responsible for each phase of your release (for example, Development, QA, DevOps). Owners are assigned per phase and can receive notifications when their input is needed.
Slack notification channels (optional): Configure Slack notification channels in your account settings if you want to receive real-time alerts for release events. Go to Notifications to configure channels and events.
Key concepts
Before walking through the steps, familiarize yourself with the core entities. Each term links to its detailed reference page.
A reusable release blueprint containing phases, activities, dependencies, and variables.
A logical group of work within a process (e.g., Build, Testing, Deployment). Phases can depend on other phases.
A single unit of work within a phase. Can be Automated (pipeline-backed), Manual (sign-offs/approvals), or a Subprocess (nested process).
A library of reusable activities with pre-configured inputs and outputs. Activities from the store can be added to any process.
A collection of named input sets for a process. Each input set provides concrete values for process-level, phase-level, and activity-level inputs, allowing you to run the same process with different configurations.
A collection of releases executed on a defined cadence. Linked to a process so each release follows the same blueprint.
A visual calendar of all planned and scheduled releases, helping teams coordinate timing and avoid conflicts.
Go to Key concepts to view the full glossary.
Step 1: Create a process
A Process is the blueprint for your release. You can create one from scratch or use Harness AI to generate a starting point.
In the Release Orchestration module, open Processes.
Select + New Process and choose Create with Harness AI.
Enter a prompt that describes your release flow:
Review the generated process. Harness AI creates Phases (logical groups of work) with Activities and assigns owners based on your prompt.
Save the process.
Go to Process modeling to create a process manually.
Step 2: Add activities from the Activity Store
The Activity Store is a library of reusable, pre-configured activities. It contains three types of activities:
Automated activities: Encapsulate a Harness pipeline that runs during execution.
Manual activities: Require input during execution, including approvals, sign-offs, verification, or documentation.
Subprocess activities: Reference another process to enable composition and reuse.
To add activities:
Open the process you created.
Select a phase and choose Add Activity.
Browse the Activity Store and select the activity you need.
For automated activities, select the pipeline to encapsulate and configure its inputs.
Step 3: Model dependencies
Define the execution order across your process using dependencies:
Phase dependencies: Control which phases must complete before others start. For example, Testing can depend on Build.
Activity dependencies: Control ordering within or across phases. For example, a manual approval can finish before a deployment pipeline runs.
Dependencies can model both sequential and parallel execution. For details, see Parallel vs Sequential Execution.
Step 4: Connect the process to releases
Open the Release Calendar.
Create or open a Release Group with your desired cadence (e.g., recurring every Thursday, running for two days).
Link the release group to the process you created, so each release executes using that blueprint.
Step 5: Provide inputs and execute
From the Release Calendar, open a specific release.
Review the linked process and select Pre-execute (or let it run at the scheduled time).
Select an input set from the Input Store. An input set is a named collection of values for all the inputs your process requires (process-level, phase-level, and activity-level). You can create multiple input sets for the same process to run it with different configurations — for example, one input set for staging and another for production.
For more on variables and input configuration, see Inputs and Variables.
Step 6: Configure notifications (optional)
Configure notifications to receive real-time Slack alerts:
Navigate to Account Settings or Project Settings, then select Notifications.
Click New Notification Setup.
Select Release Orchestration as the resource type.
Configure conditions based on events you want to monitor:
Release Start/End/Burned: Track release lifecycle
Release Input Waiting: Get notified when manual input is needed
Phase Start/End: Monitor phase-level progress
Activity On Hold/Task Output Waiting: Track blocked activities
Select Slack channels to receive notifications.
Notifications help teams stay informed without constantly checking the Release Calendar, and enable quick response to failures or approval requests.
Step 7: Monitor and remediate
During execution, track progress at every level:
Activity-level: Running, succeeded, failed, or on hold.
Phase-level: Overall progress of each phase.
Process-level: End-to-end release status.
If an automated activity fails, you can remediate by choosing Retry or Ignore to continue execution. For details, see Error Handling.
If execution is waiting for a sign-off, complete the Manual Activity by providing the required inputs and approval.
Next steps
Use these resources next:
Key concepts: View Release Orchestration entities and terminology.
Process modeling: Build processes manually.
Notifications: Configure Slack alerts for release events.
Executing a release: Run and monitor releases.
Multi-service release example: Follow a complete release walkthrough.
Applications: Review release patterns.
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