diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2ef0eae..1a9239d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -256,6 +256,20 @@ Safe red-team/blue-team checks are grouped under one command:
 Local mode runs deterministic prompt-injection and eval checks. Live scans are
 listed but gated so they can run from the Debian host when intended.
 
+## Canary Promotion
+
+The promotion helper defines release gates before production changes:
+
+```bash
+./jeannie promote plan
+./jeannie promote validate
+./jeannie promote rollback website-production
+```
+
+The current version is intentionally conservative: it validates local gates and
+prints rollback steps while dev namespace automation remains explicit future
+work.
+
 ## Deploying
 
 From the Debian server:
diff --git a/README.md.tmpl b/README.md.tmpl
index 6533208..acc4bc2 100644
--- a/README.md.tmpl
+++ b/README.md.tmpl
@@ -256,6 +256,20 @@ Safe red-team/blue-team checks are grouped under one command:
 Local mode runs deterministic prompt-injection and eval checks. Live scans are
 listed but gated so they can run from the Debian host when intended.
 
+## Canary Promotion
+
+The promotion helper defines release gates before production changes:
+
+```bash
+./{{ main_script }} promote plan
+./{{ main_script }} promote validate
+./{{ main_script }} promote rollback website-production
+```
+
+The current version is intentionally conservative: it validates local gates and
+prints rollback steps while dev namespace automation remains explicit future
+work.
+
 ## Deploying
 
 From the Debian server:
diff --git a/docs/jeannie.1.md b/docs/jeannie.1.md
index 49143b0..7164943 100644
--- a/docs/jeannie.1.md
+++ b/docs/jeannie.1.md
@@ -118,6 +118,10 @@ context is needed.
 or degraded apps, repository secret presence, recent events, and recent
 repo-server/application-controller errors.
 
+`promote {plan|validate|rollback APP}`
+: Print the canary promotion path, run local required promotion gates, or print
+rollback steps for an app.
+
 `grafana-dashboards {list|apply}`
 : List or rebuild repo-provisioned Grafana dashboard ConfigMaps from
 `bootstrap/platform/grafana-dashboards`.
diff --git a/infra/promotion/README.md b/infra/promotion/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65992c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infra/promotion/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Canary Promotion And Rollback
+
+The promotion flow is a guarded release model for app changes:
+
+1. validate repository and generated docs
+2. deploy/check dev namespace
+3. run synthetic, eval, and security checks
+4. promote main/prod only after checks pass
+5. keep rollback instructions visible
+
+Run:
+
+```bash
+./jeannie promote plan
+./jeannie promote validate
+./jeannie promote rollback website-production
+```
+
diff --git a/infra/promotion/checks.tsv b/infra/promotion/checks.tsv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2ef9d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infra/promotion/checks.tsv
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+stage	command	required
+repo	./jeannie validate	true
+evals	./jeannie ai-evals run	true
+prompt-injection	./jeannie prompt-injection-lab run	true
+red-blue-local	./jeannie red-blue run --local	true
+synthetic	./jeannie synthetic-checks	false
+security-web	./jeannie security-web	false
+
diff --git a/jeannie b/jeannie
index 2f7342e..7a8efd5 100755
--- a/jeannie
+++ b/jeannie
@@ -6350,6 +6350,10 @@ red_blue_loop() {
     "${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/red-blue-loop" "${@:2}"
 }
 
+promote() {
+    "${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/promote" "${@:2}"
+}
+
 validate_homelab() {
     "${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/validate-homelab"
 }
@@ -6555,6 +6559,7 @@ Operator View And Reports
 Observability And GitOps
   grafana-dashboards {list|apply}            List or apply repo-managed Grafana dashboards.
   gitops-status                              Print focused Argo CD health and sync status.
+  promote {plan|validate|rollback APP}       Run canary promotion gates and rollback plan.
   cert-check                                 Check public DNS, TLS, and edge URL health.
   backup-status                              Check backup and restore-drill freshness.
   synthetic-checks                           Run end-to-end service probes.
@@ -6671,6 +6676,9 @@ case "${1:-}" in
     gitops-status)
         gitops_status
         ;;
+    promote)
+        promote "$@"
+        ;;
     cert-check)
         cert_check
         ;;
diff --git a/scripts/explain b/scripts/explain
index 01d8ba4..b7e8f7b 100755
--- a/scripts/explain
+++ b/scripts/explain
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ EOF
 
 is_read_only_command() {
     case "$1" in
-        status|capacity|capacity-advisor|capacity-limits|recover-plan|incident|safety-case|agent-sandbox|scorecard|gitops-status|cert-check|backup-status|synthetic-checks|resource-budget|route-inventory|golden-ledger|workers|change-journal|map|validate|access-audit|doctor-versions|doctor-edge|doctor-gitea|doctor-rpi|doctor-cluster|preflight|doctor-preapply|inventory-check|secrets-check|tailnet-policy-check|ai-check|ask|ai-evals|ai-scheduler|ai-memory|impact|review-last-change|security-scan|security-host|security-trivy|security-secrets|security-nuclei|security-web|security-logs|security-attack-path|prompt-injection-lab|red-blue|control-plane)
+        status|capacity|capacity-advisor|capacity-limits|recover-plan|incident|safety-case|agent-sandbox|scorecard|gitops-status|promote|cert-check|backup-status|synthetic-checks|resource-budget|route-inventory|golden-ledger|workers|change-journal|map|validate|access-audit|doctor-versions|doctor-edge|doctor-gitea|doctor-rpi|doctor-cluster|preflight|doctor-preapply|inventory-check|secrets-check|tailnet-policy-check|ai-check|ask|ai-evals|ai-scheduler|ai-memory|impact|review-last-change|security-scan|security-host|security-trivy|security-secrets|security-nuclei|security-web|security-logs|security-attack-path|prompt-injection-lab|red-blue|control-plane)
             return 0
             ;;
         *)
diff --git a/scripts/promote b/scripts/promote
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6a8458f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/promote
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Plan and validate canary promotion gates."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import csv
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+CHECKS_FILE = REPO_ROOT / "infra" / "promotion" / "checks.tsv"
+
+
+def checks() -> list[dict[str, str]]:
+    with CHECKS_FILE.open(encoding="utf-8", newline="") as handle:
+        return list(csv.DictReader(handle, delimiter="\t"))
+
+
+def plan() -> int:
+    print("Promotion Plan")
+    print("==============")
+    print("dev branch -> validation -> main -> Argo CD sync")
+    print()
+    for row in checks():
+        marker = "required" if row["required"] == "true" else "optional-live"
+        print(f"{marker:13} {row['stage']:18} {row['command']}")
+    print()
+    print("Prod promotion remains manual until dev namespace/app wiring is added.")
+    return 0
+
+
+def validate(local_only: bool) -> int:
+    failures = 0
+    print("Promotion Validation")
+    print("====================")
+    for row in checks():
+        is_required = row["required"] == "true"
+        if local_only and not is_required:
+            print(f"skip  {row['stage']} - live check gated")
+            continue
+        print(f"run   {row['stage']} - {row['command']}")
+        process = subprocess.run(
+            row["command"].split(),
+            cwd=REPO_ROOT,
+            text=True,
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+            check=False,
+        )
+        if process.returncode == 0:
+            print("ok")
+        else:
+            failures += 1
+            print(process.stdout.rstrip())
+    print(f"failures={failures}")
+    return 1 if failures else 0
+
+
+def rollback(app: str) -> int:
+    print("Rollback Plan")
+    print("=============")
+    print(f"app: {app}")
+    print("1. identify last known good Git commit or image digest")
+    print("2. git revert <bad-commit>")
+    print("3. ./jeannie safety-case --since HEAD~1")
+    print("4. ./jeannie validate")
+    print("5. push to main and let Argo CD reconcile")
+    print("6. ./jeannie synthetic-checks")
+    return 0
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", required=True)
+    subparsers.add_parser("plan")
+    validate_parser = subparsers.add_parser("validate")
+    validate_parser.add_argument("--all", action="store_true", help="Include optional live checks.")
+    rollback_parser = subparsers.add_parser("rollback")
+    rollback_parser.add_argument("app")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    if args.command == "plan":
+        return plan()
+    if args.command == "validate":
+        return validate(local_only=not args.all)
+    if args.command == "rollback":
+        return rollback(args.app)
+    return 2
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())