diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-candidate.yml b/.github/workflows/release-candidate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aed67f188a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-candidate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+name: Release candidate evidence
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      candidate_id:
+        description: Non-secret release candidate identifier
+        required: true
+        default: rc-unassigned
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  verify-candidate:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 25
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out candidate
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Use Node.js 22
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 22.13.0
+          cache: npm
+          cache-dependency-path: |
+            backend/package-lock.json
+            frontend/package-lock.json
+            website/package-lock.json
+
+      - name: Install locked dependencies
+        run: npm run install:all
+
+      - name: Run the complete engineering gate
+        run: npm run check
+
+      - name: Confirm governed artifacts are current
+        run: npm run test:release-manifest
+
+      - name: Archive non-secret candidate evidence
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: ross-${{ inputs.candidate_id }}-evidence
+          retention-days: 30
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          path: |
+            reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json
+            reports/legal-source-health-v1.json
+            reports/release-manifest-v1.json
+            config/release-approvals.v1.json
+            config/operations-readiness.v1.json
+            config/launch-readiness.v1.json
+
+# Deliberately no deploy job. Production promotion is a separate, human-approved
+# action after every fail-closed record and external review is complete.
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 0f43c37c68..8a3b522f97 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Contributing
 
-Thanks for helping improve Mike. Please keep contributions small, focused, and easy to review.
+Thanks for helping improve ROSS, a modified fork of Mike. Please keep
+contributions small, focused, and easy to review while preserving the inherited
+Mike functionality recorded in the baseline contract.
 
 ## Guidelines
 
@@ -9,12 +11,18 @@ Thanks for helping improve Mike. Please keep contributions small, focused, and e
 - Update docs or env examples when changing setup, config, or user-facing behavior.
 - Please do not propose local-hosting refactors for the main app, such as local LLMs, local databases, or local filesystem storage. Those ideas are better suited to a future fully local version of the project.
 - Do not commit secrets, API keys, private documents, or local `.env` files.
+- Do not use confidential, privileged, regulated, proprietary, or real client
+  material in fixtures, previews, demonstrations, issues, or pull requests.
+- Do not scrape CanLII. Licensed connectors require an approved agreement,
+  transport, entitlement, and activation record.
 
 ## Before Opening a PR
 
 - Install all dependencies from the repository root with `npm run install:all`.
 - Run the baseline contract tests with `npm test`.
 - Run the full local verification suite with `npm run check`.
+- For a release-candidate change, regenerate and verify the governed manifest
+  with `npm run build:release-manifest` and `npm run test:release-manifest`.
 - If deployed test URLs are available, run `ROSS_E2E_API_URL=... ROSS_E2E_APP_URL=... npm run test:e2e`.
 - Check `git diff` and remove unrelated changes.
 - Write a concise Markdown PR description with:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 558d514891..59a20bbbee 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 
 ROSS (Ranade OSS, fork of Mike OSS) is a legal document assistant with a Next.js frontend, an Express backend, Supabase Auth/Postgres, and Cloudflare R2-compatible object storage.
 
-ROSS public website: planned; placeholder domains are recorded in
-`config/ross-brand.json` until approved.
+The ROSS public website source is in `website/`. Its current hosted checkpoint
+is owner-only and no-index; placeholder production domains and owners remain in
+`config/ross-brand.json` until independently approved.
 
 Upstream project: [Mike source](https://github.com/Open-Legal-Products/mike) and
 [Mike website](https://mikeoss.com). ROSS is independently developed and is not
@@ -20,6 +21,10 @@ materials only. Architecture decisions and their approval status are indexed in
 - `backend/` - Express API, Supabase access, document processing, and database schema
 - `backend/schema.sql` - Supabase schema for fresh databases
 - `backend/migrations/` - dated, incremental schema migrations; on an existing database, apply the files dated after the Mike version you deployed
+- `website/` - separate public website with governed Ontario, trust, coverage,
+  status, and launch-readiness content
+- `config/` and `reports/` - versioned policy, approval, evaluation,
+  source-health, and immutable release-manifest records
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
@@ -116,6 +121,7 @@ Install each app package:
 ```bash
 npm install --prefix backend
 npm install --prefix frontend
+npm install --prefix website
 ```
 
 ## Run Locally
@@ -162,3 +168,23 @@ npm run check
 
 Use `npm run lint:strict` to inspect the inherited frontend lint debt separately
 from the non-regression gate.
+
+## Production and controlled-beta release boundary
+
+Self-hosted local development remains available. An operator-hosted beta is
+limited to synthetic or affirmatively non-confidential material. Production is
+not approved and fails closed while the operator, domains, vendors, effective
+legal notices, independent reviews, live source health, and operational
+exercises are pending.
+
+Start with these records and runbooks:
+
+- `config/release-approvals.v1.json`
+- `config/operations-readiness.v1.json`
+- `config/launch-readiness.v1.json`
+- `docs/operations/release-runbook.md`
+- `docs/operations/launch-checklist.md`
+
+`npm run release:check` is the production promotion gate. Do not replace a
+blocked result with an environment flag or deploy a different artifact from the
+one reviewed in `reports/release-manifest-v1.json`.
diff --git a/SECURITY.md b/SECURITY.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6894cf6e9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SECURITY.md
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# ROSS security policy
+
+ROSS is under active development and is not approved for confidential,
+privileged, regulated, proprietary, or real client material in an
+operator-hosted environment.
+
+## Reporting a vulnerability
+
+Use GitHub private vulnerability reporting for this repository. Do not include
+client information, production credentials, unnecessary personal information,
+or exploit details in a public issue. A public issue may be used for a
+non-sensitive software defect only.
+
+The project does not yet publish a response-time commitment because the legal
+operator and security owner are unassigned. The incident process in
+`docs/security/incident-response.md` is the engineering response model, not an
+operational service-level agreement.
+
+## Supported versions
+
+No production release is supported. The default branch is the only engineering
+line receiving security changes. Fork operators are responsible for their own
+deployment, access control, secrets, dependencies, logs, backups, retention,
+vendors, monitoring, and incident response.
diff --git a/backend/.env.example b/backend/.env.example
index 4fab5d8162..723161251c 100644
--- a/backend/.env.example
+++ b/backend/.env.example
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ ROSS_DATA_BOUNDARY_VERSION=2026-07-16
 HOSTED_MODEL_PROVIDERS=
 # Production remains fail-closed until recorded legal/privacy/security approvals.
 ROSS_PRODUCTION_CONTROLS_APPROVED=false
+# Required in production and must identify the exact approved candidate and the
+# SHA-256 digest of its governed release manifest. These values are evidence
+# references, not substitutes for npm run release:check.
+ROSS_RELEASE_ID=
+ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256=
 # Comma-separated exact browser origins. FRONTEND_URL remains a compatibility fallback.
 CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000
 
diff --git a/backend/src/config/runtime.test.ts b/backend/src/config/runtime.test.ts
index 903a343b33..b879def3e0 100644
--- a/backend/src/config/runtime.test.ts
+++ b/backend/src/config/runtime.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ const KEYS = [
     "ROSS_HOSTED_MODE",
     "HOSTED_MODEL_PROVIDERS",
     "ROSS_PRODUCTION_CONTROLS_APPROVED",
+    "ROSS_RELEASE_ID",
+    "ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256",
     "LOG_RAW_LLM_STREAM",
     "RAW_LLM_STREAM_LOG_DIR",
     "CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS",
@@ -101,6 +103,9 @@ test("non-local raw model logging and unapproved production fail closed", () =>
             R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID: "production-access-value",
             R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: "production-storage-secret",
             R2_BUCKET_NAME: "ross-production",
+            ROSS_RELEASE_ID: "ross-2026-07-16-rc1",
+            ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256:
+                "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef",
         },
         () =>
             assert.throws(
@@ -109,3 +114,29 @@ test("non-local raw model logging and unapproved production fail closed", () =>
             ),
     );
 });
+
+test("production requires a valid immutable release manifest identity", () => {
+    withEnvironment(
+        {
+            ROSS_ENV: "production",
+            ROSS_HOSTED_MODE: "production",
+            HOSTED_MODEL_PROVIDERS: "openai",
+            CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS: "https://app.ross.test",
+            SUPABASE_URL: "https://ross.supabase.co",
+            SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY: "production-secret-value",
+            DOWNLOAD_SIGNING_SECRET: "production-signing-value",
+            R2_ENDPOINT_URL: "https://objects.ross.test",
+            R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID: "production-access-value",
+            R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: "production-storage-secret",
+            R2_BUCKET_NAME: "ross-production",
+            ROSS_RELEASE_ID: "ross-2026-07-16-rc1",
+            ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256: "not-a-digest",
+            ROSS_PRODUCTION_CONTROLS_APPROVED: "true",
+        },
+        () =>
+            assert.throws(
+                () => loadRuntimeConfig(),
+                /ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256 must be a lowercase SHA-256/,
+            ),
+    );
+});
diff --git a/backend/src/config/runtime.ts b/backend/src/config/runtime.ts
index c9d33439d4..4d25bf1409 100644
--- a/backend/src/config/runtime.ts
+++ b/backend/src/config/runtime.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ export type RuntimeConfig = {
     hostedMode: RossHostedMode;
     dataBoundaryVersion: string;
     hostedModelProviders: Array<"claude" | "gemini" | "openai">;
+    releaseId: string | null;
+    releaseManifestSha256: string | null;
 };
 
 const PLACEHOLDER =
@@ -129,8 +131,14 @@ export function loadRuntimeConfig(): RuntimeConfig {
             "R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
             "R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY",
             "R2_BUCKET_NAME",
+            "ROSS_RELEASE_ID",
+            "ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256",
         ])
             requiredProductionValue(name);
+        if (!/^[a-f0-9]{64}$/.test(process.env.ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256!))
+            throw new Error(
+                "ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256 must be a lowercase SHA-256 digest.",
+            );
         if (allowedOrigins.some((origin) => PLACEHOLDER.test(origin))) {
             throw new Error(
                 "Production CORS origins cannot use localhost or placeholder domains.",
@@ -167,5 +175,8 @@ export function loadRuntimeConfig(): RuntimeConfig {
         dataBoundaryVersion:
             process.env.ROSS_DATA_BOUNDARY_VERSION?.trim() || "2026-07-16",
         hostedModelProviders: hostedModelProviders(currentHostedMode),
+        releaseId: process.env.ROSS_RELEASE_ID?.trim() || null,
+        releaseManifestSha256:
+            process.env.ROSS_RELEASE_MANIFEST_SHA256?.trim() || null,
     };
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/dataBoundary.test.ts b/backend/src/middleware/dataBoundary.test.ts
index 45118d4208..11e741020f 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/dataBoundary.test.ts
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/dataBoundary.test.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const config: RuntimeConfig = {
     hostedMode: "controlled-beta",
     dataBoundaryVersion: "test-v1",
     hostedModelProviders: ["openai"],
+    releaseId: null,
+    releaseManifestSha256: null,
 };
 
 test("content-bearing write routes are identified without blocking reads or deletion", () => {
diff --git a/config/launch-readiness.v1.json b/config/launch-readiness.v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f039c9b498
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/launch-readiness.v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0-draft",
+  "releaseId": "unassigned",
+  "status": "blocked-awaiting-launch-decisions",
+  "decisions": {
+    "legalOperator": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "accountableOwners": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "productionDomains": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "vendorsAndResidency": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "effectiveLegalNotices": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "supportAndPrivacyChannels": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "betaCohortAndTerms": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "goLiveDecision": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/config/legal-source-operations.v1.json b/config/legal-source-operations.v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..153f4e5c86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/legal-source-operations.v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "policyId": "ross-legal-source-operations-v1",
+  "status": "engineering-policy-approved",
+  "defaultTimeoutMs": 10000,
+  "providers": {
+    "a2aj-canada": {
+      "requiredForProduction": true,
+      "maximumAgeHours": 24,
+      "quarantineAfterFailures": 3,
+      "recoverAfterSuccesses": 2
+    },
+    "ontario-elaws": {
+      "requiredForProduction": true,
+      "maximumAgeHours": 24,
+      "quarantineAfterFailures": 3,
+      "recoverAfterSuccesses": 2
+    },
+    "justice-laws-canada": {
+      "requiredForProduction": true,
+      "maximumAgeHours": 24,
+      "quarantineAfterFailures": 3,
+      "recoverAfterSuccesses": 2
+    },
+    "courtlistener-us": {
+      "requiredForProduction": false,
+      "maximumAgeHours": 72,
+      "quarantineAfterFailures": 3,
+      "recoverAfterSuccesses": 2
+    },
+    "canlii-licensed": {
+      "requiredForProduction": false,
+      "maximumAgeHours": 24,
+      "quarantineAfterFailures": 1,
+      "recoverAfterSuccesses": 2
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/config/operations-readiness.v1.json b/config/operations-readiness.v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..716837c08d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/operations-readiness.v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0-draft",
+  "releaseId": "unassigned",
+  "status": "blocked-awaiting-operational-evidence",
+  "evidence": {
+    "ci": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "stagingJourney": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "migrationDryRun": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "backupRestore": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "rollbackExercise": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "observability": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "sourceHealth": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "dependencyReview": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null },
+    "incidentExercise": { "status": "pending", "approver": null, "date": null, "evidence": null }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/config/release-manifest.v1.json b/config/release-manifest.v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1330a367cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/release-manifest.v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "releaseId": "unassigned",
+  "generatedAt": "2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z",
+  "artifacts": [
+    "backend/schema.sql",
+    "backend/src/config/runtime.ts",
+    "config/legal-source-operations.v1.json",
+    "config/launch-readiness.v1.json",
+    "config/operations-readiness.v1.json",
+    "config/public-source-coverage.json",
+    "config/release-approvals.v1.json",
+    "config/ross-brand.json",
+    "reports/legal-source-health-v1.json",
+    "reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json",
+    "scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs",
+    "website/app/site-config.ts",
+    "workflows/ontario/catalogue.json"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/docs/architecture/ADR-012-release-and-source-governance.md b/docs/architecture/ADR-012-release-and-source-governance.md
index fd7e6f7790..fee331ee24 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/ADR-012-release-and-source-governance.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/ADR-012-release-and-source-governance.md
@@ -34,5 +34,8 @@ Ontario evaluation gates are implemented and assigned owners.
 
 ## Follow-up
 
-- [ ] Define release artefacts and approval matrix in ROSS-150 and ROSS-170.
-- [ ] Add source health, freshness, quarantine, and rollback procedures.
+- [x] Define release artifacts and approval matrices in ROSS-150 and ROSS-170.
+- [x] Add source health, freshness, quarantine, and rollback procedures.
+- [ ] Assign owners and complete staging, restore, rollback, source, security,
+  accessibility, legal-content, privacy, and launch evidence for one immutable
+  candidate.
diff --git a/docs/operations/backup-restore.md b/docs/operations/backup-restore.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..44e7103faa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/backup-restore.md
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Backup and restore exercise
+
+Production remains blocked until the selected database, object storage, auth,
+configuration, and audit systems have documented backup scope and a successful
+isolated restore exercise.
+
+## Required evidence
+
+1. Inventory every stateful system, encryption key dependency, backup region,
+   retention period, access role, and deletion limitation.
+2. Create a backup from synthetic staging data containing a known record set and
+   file hashes. Confirm encryption and least-privilege access.
+3. Restore into a new isolated environment—not over staging or production.
+4. Apply migrations in documented order and verify counts, hashes, ownership,
+   sharing boundaries, soft-deletion state, download controls, and audit access.
+5. Exercise authentication recovery without copying production secrets.
+6. Run the complete engineering gate and the staging user journey against the
+   restored environment.
+7. Record recovery point and recovery time observations. The product owner must
+   approve targets before they are described as commitments.
+8. Destroy the exercise environment and confirm its backup/secret cleanup.
+
+A database-only restore is insufficient when object storage, auth identities,
+keys, or source versions are required to make records usable and correctly
+isolated. Backup expiry and deletion propagation remain privacy-review items.
diff --git a/docs/operations/evidence-template.md b/docs/operations/evidence-template.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..77849275d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/evidence-template.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Operational evidence template
+
+- Candidate ID:
+- Commit SHA:
+- Environment and immutable deployment ID:
+- Control exercised:
+- Owner:
+- Independent reviewer, if required:
+- Started/finished in UTC:
+- Synthetic or approved non-confidential data used:
+- Preconditions:
+- Exact procedure/version:
+- Expected result:
+- Observed result:
+- Logs, screenshots, reports, or ticket paths (non-secret):
+- Deviations and residual risk:
+- Cleanup completed:
+- Result: `pass` / `fail` / `blocked`
+- Approval name and ISO date:
+
+Do not place credentials, access tokens, private vulnerability details, client
+facts, privileged material, or raw production content in release evidence.
diff --git a/docs/operations/launch-checklist.md b/docs/operations/launch-checklist.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..61be8f165a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/launch-checklist.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Controlled-beta launch checklist
+
+The current owner-only website checkpoint is not a public launch. Complete every
+item below for the same candidate before changing access, indexing, invitations,
+or the production data boundary.
+
+## Accountable decisions
+
+- [ ] Name the legal operator and product, technical, legal-content, privacy,
+  security, accessibility, release, support, and incident owners.
+- [ ] Approve production domains, Canadian-region vendors, subprocessors,
+  contracts, support access, retention, deletion, backups, and incident terms.
+- [ ] Publish effective privacy, terms, acceptable-use, accessibility, security,
+  support, privacy-contact, and subprocessor information.
+- [ ] Approve the beta cohort, invitation/revocation process, user terms,
+  permitted-data boundary, feedback route, and exit process.
+- [ ] Complete Ontario lawyer, privacy, security/penetration, accessibility, AGPL,
+  and product reviews with dated evidence.
+
+## Technical evidence
+
+- [ ] Complete CI, staging journey, migration, backup/restore, rollback,
+  observability, source-health, dependency, and incident exercises.
+- [ ] Confirm tenant/RLS/IDOR boundaries, upload/conversion isolation, rate
+  limiting, WAF/abuse controls, secret rotation, vulnerability response, and
+  production logging restrictions.
+- [ ] Verify source currency, coverage display, quarantine, independent Ontario
+  benchmark results, and preserved Mike regression coverage.
+- [ ] Verify corresponding-source links, notices, release manifest, and SBOM or
+  equivalent reviewed dependency inventory.
+
+## Go-live controls
+
+- [ ] `npm run release:check` passes for the immutable candidate.
+- [ ] The go/no-go record names the decision maker, time window, monitoring
+  owner, rollback owner, and stop conditions.
+- [ ] Public indexing remains disabled unless the public-content, legal, privacy,
+  accessibility, and product owners explicitly approve it.
+- [ ] Run a limited synthetic/non-confidential cohort first. Expansion to real
+  confidential or privileged material requires a successor data-boundary ADR.
+
+Any unchecked, expired, contradictory, or candidate-mismatched item is a blocker.
diff --git a/docs/operations/legal-source-operations.md b/docs/operations/legal-source-operations.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2e56817f78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/legal-source-operations.md
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Legal-source health, quarantine, and recovery
+
+`config/legal-source-operations.v1.json` defines required providers, maximum
+observation age, failure thresholds, and recovery thresholds. A deployment
+collector writes a sanitized `reports/legal-source-health-v1.json`; the checked
+in report is deliberately marked **not observed** because no production source
+monitor has run.
+
+For each check, record only provider ID, state, time, source/dataset version,
+failure/success counters, latency class, and a sanitized reason code. Do not log
+queries, passages, user identifiers, tokens, or response bodies.
+
+- A required provider that is stale, unavailable, degraded, unobserved, or
+  quarantined blocks production promotion.
+- Three consecutive failures quarantine implemented providers by default.
+- A quarantined provider requires two consecutive successes plus owner review
+  before recovery.
+- CanLII remains disabled unless a separate licence, approved transport, and
+  activation review exist. Health policy never authorizes scraping.
+- Optional CourtListener failure must remain visible but does not block the
+  Ontario production gate.
+
+Run `npm run source:check` against an actual candidate observation. A failure
+keeps the provider disabled or the release blocked. Source health is distinct
+from comprehensive court/date coverage and from legal accuracy review.
diff --git a/docs/operations/observability.md b/docs/operations/observability.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8fe1a8557c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/observability.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Observability and service objectives
+
+No service-level objective or public availability commitment is approved. The
+operations owner must select infrastructure and set measurable objectives before
+launch.
+
+## Minimum signals
+
+- website, application, API, authentication, database, object storage, email,
+  conversion, model-provider, and legal-source availability;
+- request volume, latency, error class, rate-limit activity, queue saturation,
+  storage capacity, migration state, backup age, restore-test age, and source
+  observation age;
+- security events including repeated auth failure, access denial, data-boundary
+  rejection, privilege changes, secret rotation, and audit-pipeline failure;
+- release, workflow, prompt, schema, provider, and source-version identifiers.
+
+Telemetry must be allowlisted and metadata-only. Raw prompts, documents, model
+streams, source passages, credentials, and client identifiers are prohibited.
+Alerts need an owner, severity, tested route, acknowledgement expectation,
+escalation path, suppression rule, and runbook. Exercise one critical alert and
+one dependency failure in staging and retain evidence before approval.
+
+Public status must not disclose private security details. It must distinguish
+the website, authenticated application, API, legal-source availability, and
+known coverage limitations.
diff --git a/docs/operations/release-runbook.md b/docs/operations/release-runbook.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6f17058cb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/release-runbook.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Release-candidate runbook
+
+This runbook creates evidence; it does not authorize production. The release
+owner must use a unique candidate identifier and keep code, schema, workflows,
+legal-source policy, evaluation output, and approvals tied to the same commit.
+
+## Candidate sequence
+
+1. Start from a reviewed commit on `main`; confirm the worktree and generated
+   files are clean.
+2. Set a unique release ID in every governed record. Do not reuse an identifier.
+3. Run `npm run install:all`, `npm run check`, and
+   `npm run build:release-manifest` using the locked dependency files.
+4. Run the GitHub **Release candidate evidence** workflow for the same commit.
+   Retain its URL, commit SHA, logs, and downloaded evidence artifact.
+5. Deploy that immutable candidate to isolated staging. Never substitute a
+   different build after review.
+6. Complete the staging journey, migration dry run, backup/restore exercise,
+   rollback exercise, monitoring test, source-health observation, dependency
+   review, and incident exercise. Use `evidence-template.md` for each result.
+7. Obtain the independent Ontario legal-content, privacy, security,
+   accessibility, and product approvals. Approval authors must be independent
+   of the implementation where the applicable review requires independence.
+8. Populate the release, operations, and launch JSON records with names, ISO
+   dates, and non-secret evidence paths. Never commit secrets or client data.
+9. Run `npm run release:check`. A blocked result ends the promotion attempt.
+10. Record a time-bounded go/no-go decision. Promote only the reviewed artifact,
+    monitor the rollout, and be prepared to execute the rollback runbook.
+
+## Required release bundle
+
+- commit SHA and immutable build/deployment identifier;
+- generated SHA-256 release manifest;
+- database migration set and tested rollback/forward-fix decision;
+- Ontario evaluation report and independent review evidence;
+- live source-health report and coverage limitations;
+- approval, operational-readiness, and launch-readiness records;
+- dependency/licence notice and vulnerability-review evidence;
+- backup/restore, rollback, monitoring, incident, and accessibility evidence;
+- release notes separating code, schema, source, workflow, prompt, policy, and
+  public-content changes.
+
+## Stop conditions
+
+Stop when any required check is missing, stale, inconsistent with the candidate,
+or failed; an owner cannot be reached; a source is quarantined; a migration or
+restore is unproven; material coverage changed; or the production data boundary
+is broader than the approved privacy and security evidence.
diff --git a/docs/operations/rollback.md b/docs/operations/rollback.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e7784fbc52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/operations/rollback.md
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Rollback and forward-fix runbook
+
+The release owner decides rollback versus forward fix with the incident lead and
+data owner. Schema compatibility and user-data integrity take priority over
+speed. Never run an unreviewed destructive database rollback.
+
+## Before promotion
+
+- identify the last known-good application, schema, workflow, prompt, source,
+  content, and configuration versions;
+- classify every migration as backward-compatible, forward-fix-only, or
+  restored-from-backup;
+- retain immutable artifacts and tested traffic/configuration reversal steps;
+- state the user-visible degradation and communication path;
+- test the sequence in staging with synthetic data.
+
+## During rollback
+
+1. Freeze further changes and record timestamps and decision owners.
+2. Disable or quarantine the smallest unsafe component. A legal source can be
+   disabled independently of the application.
+3. Preserve metadata-only diagnostic evidence without copying user content.
+4. Repoint traffic only to an artifact compatible with the current schema.
+5. If data restoration is required, follow `backup-restore.md` and reconcile
+   writes accepted after the recovery point.
+6. Re-run health, tenant isolation, authentication, source, evaluation, and
+   critical user-journey checks.
+7. Communicate known impact and uncertainty. Continue monitoring after recovery.
+
+## Source rollback
+
+Quarantine the provider or dataset version, keep its limitation visible, restore
+the last reviewed snapshot only when its currency limitations are explicit, and
+require legal-content review before re-enabling it. Never silently present a
+stale snapshot as current law.
diff --git a/docs/ross-170-verification.md b/docs/ross-170-verification.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d0c503d073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/ross-170-verification.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# ROSS-170 verification
+
+## Implemented
+
+- Versioned legal-source freshness, quarantine, and recovery policy.
+- Sanitized pre-production source-health record that cannot be mistaken for a
+  live check.
+- Deterministic source operations tests for freshness, required/optional
+  providers, quarantine, and recovery.
+- SHA-256 manifest for governed release artifacts with a freshness check.
+- Evidence-bearing operational release gate covering CI, staging, migrations,
+  backup/restore, rollback, observability, sources, dependencies, and incidents.
+- Manual GitHub release-candidate evidence workflow with no deployment job.
+- Executable release, evidence, backup/restore, rollback, source, observability,
+  and security reporting runbooks.
+
+## Boundary
+
+No live infrastructure, backup, restore, penetration test, source observation,
+incident drill, vendor, domain, or operator has been selected or exercised by
+these files. Their records remain pending and production intentionally fails
+closed.
diff --git a/docs/ross-180-verification.md b/docs/ross-180-verification.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a4d7172e1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/ross-180-verification.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# ROSS-180 verification
+
+## Implemented
+
+- Versioned launch decision record for operator, owners, domains, vendors,
+  legal notices, contacts, cohort terms, and final go-live approval.
+- A controlled-beta launch checklist tied to the same immutable release
+  candidate and production gate.
+- Fail-closed website indexing flag and governed public launch-readiness status.
+- Dated release-readiness public update with explicit unresolved blockers.
+- Production release evaluation requires completed launch decisions in addition
+  to legal, privacy, security, accessibility, product, operational, source, and
+  Ontario benchmark evidence.
+
+## Boundary
+
+This is a launch-control implementation, not launch approval. The owner-only
+checkpoint, synthetic/non-confidential restriction, no-index posture, `TBD`
+operator, `.invalid` domains, draft notices, and all independent review blockers
+remain in force.
diff --git a/docs/security/threat-model.md b/docs/security/threat-model.md
index 44a809c9ce..2262c24b18 100644
--- a/docs/security/threat-model.md
+++ b/docs/security/threat-model.md
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Real confidential, privileged, proprietary, regulated, or client material is out
 | Malicious files/conversion | Existing type/size validation and isolated service boundary in the target topology | Malware scanning, conversion sandbox verification, resource limits, and penetration testing remain required |
 | Unsafe sharing/export | Existing server authorization and rate limits; metadata-only audit table foundation | Complete audit hooks and sharing/export IDOR tests remain required |
 | Source poisoning or stale law | Official/allowlisted sources, provider metadata, source hashes/checks, visible verification states | Human stale-source response and comprehensive citator coverage remain incomplete |
-| Availability or abuse | Helmet, exact CORS, bounded payloads, route-specific rate limits | Distributed limiter, WAF configuration, monitoring, backup, and failover belong to Delivery C |
+| Availability or abuse | Helmet, exact CORS, bounded payloads, route-specific rate limits, fail-closed source policy, release/rollback/restore runbooks | Distributed limiter, WAF, monitoring, backups, restore and failover still require selected infrastructure and exercised evidence |
 
 ## Abuse cases
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index eba33daedf..1b3b47d74d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,18 +8,22 @@
   },
   "scripts": {
     "install:all": "npm ci --prefix backend && npm ci --prefix frontend && npm ci --prefix website",
-    "test": "npm run test:workflow-sources && npm run test:public-content && npm run test:evaluation && npm run test:baseline && npm run test:legal-sources --prefix backend && npm run test:security --prefix backend",
+    "test": "npm run test:workflow-sources && npm run test:public-content && npm run test:release-manifest && npm run test:operations && npm run test:evaluation && npm run test:baseline && npm run test:legal-sources --prefix backend && npm run test:security --prefix backend",
     "test:evaluation": "node --test tests/evaluation/*.test.mjs && node scripts/evaluate-ontario.mjs --check && node scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs",
     "evaluate:ontario": "node scripts/evaluate-ontario.mjs",
     "release:check": "node scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs --production",
+    "source:check": "node scripts/check-source-operations.mjs --production",
+    "test:operations": "node --test tests/operations/*.test.mjs && node scripts/check-source-operations.mjs",
+    "test:release-manifest": "node scripts/build-release-manifest.mjs --check",
     "test:workflow-sources": "node scripts/build-ross-workflows.mjs --check",
     "test:public-content": "node scripts/build-public-content.mjs --check",
     "test:baseline": "node --test tests/baseline/*.test.mjs",
     "test:e2e": "node --test tests/e2e/*.test.mjs",
     "test:website": "npm run test:routes --prefix website",
-    "build": "npm run build:public-content && npm run build:ross-workflows && npm run build:backend && npm run build:frontend && npm run build:website",
+    "build": "npm run build:public-content && npm run build:ross-workflows && npm run build:release-manifest && npm run build:backend && npm run build:frontend && npm run build:website",
     "build:public-content": "node scripts/build-public-content.mjs",
     "build:ross-workflows": "node scripts/build-ross-workflows.mjs",
+    "build:release-manifest": "node scripts/build-release-manifest.mjs",
     "build:backend": "npm run build --prefix backend",
     "build:frontend": "node scripts/build-frontend.mjs",
     "build:website": "npm run build --prefix website",
diff --git a/reports/legal-source-health-v1.json b/reports/legal-source-health-v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3f38fd43c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reports/legal-source-health-v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "observedAt": "2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z",
+  "liveChecksPerformed": false,
+  "status": "pre-production-not-observed",
+  "providers": {
+    "a2aj-canada": { "state": "not-observed", "checkedAt": null, "lastSuccessfulAt": null, "consecutiveFailures": 0, "consecutiveSuccesses": 0, "sourceVersion": null },
+    "ontario-elaws": { "state": "not-observed", "checkedAt": null, "lastSuccessfulAt": null, "consecutiveFailures": 0, "consecutiveSuccesses": 0, "sourceVersion": null },
+    "justice-laws-canada": { "state": "not-observed", "checkedAt": null, "lastSuccessfulAt": null, "consecutiveFailures": 0, "consecutiveSuccesses": 0, "sourceVersion": null },
+    "courtlistener-us": { "state": "not-observed", "checkedAt": null, "lastSuccessfulAt": null, "consecutiveFailures": 0, "consecutiveSuccesses": 0, "sourceVersion": null },
+    "canlii-licensed": { "state": "disabled", "checkedAt": null, "lastSuccessfulAt": null, "consecutiveFailures": 0, "consecutiveSuccesses": 0, "sourceVersion": null }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/reports/release-manifest-v1.json b/reports/release-manifest-v1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..479946eeca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reports/release-manifest-v1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "releaseId": "unassigned",
+  "generatedAt": "2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z",
+  "algorithm": "sha256",
+  "artifactCount": 13,
+  "artifacts": [
+    {
+      "path": "backend/schema.sql",
+      "sha256": "a802879090542e04152ef55a0faf47b78d2726d15859eb438b5537c1132d8026",
+      "sizeBytes": 27712
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "backend/src/config/runtime.ts",
+      "sha256": "b24c1d7c6848e6c7237c71487b061d3ca4aec843db3a14f65676f2d5fa5208f6",
+      "sizeBytes": 5963
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/legal-source-operations.v1.json",
+      "sha256": "ae74d9bc6cb411cf8aec077d70354605efb3444be24c98d49506da28e5efffb1",
+      "sizeBytes": 1003
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/launch-readiness.v1.json",
+      "sha256": "b1be324e2e5193d05914be0d8193f997ebcab685078025b7cc67e8b6e6b8f98e",
+      "sizeBytes": 938
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/operations-readiness.v1.json",
+      "sha256": "311f92bee6fcb63f88f0d4023406518eb9a71adff2a87cc51fa3319ae357bb68",
+      "sizeBytes": 997
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/public-source-coverage.json",
+      "sha256": "9b59797073dd36364a4ebf71b416dde1715ece7bef98b96678beb6c1fb198919",
+      "sizeBytes": 3632
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/release-approvals.v1.json",
+      "sha256": "3e6df14ffc9ed377befde53f25f00b5a46010527e622de967969199c7926a5f1",
+      "sizeBytes": 739
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "config/ross-brand.json",
+      "sha256": "97fd6fa842758de709dbed7ad08adf72be86e7636d6f939f12031d859e6cbfba",
+      "sizeBytes": 1972
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "reports/legal-source-health-v1.json",
+      "sha256": "b347e4ddb627fcbc4f67392a1e71cd84d01b52c01b97c8d6abeb7d011e63ab80",
+      "sizeBytes": 1025
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json",
+      "sha256": "67dc3e089dfb30a0d7565713cc6c2104f1908a5fc2fd4c634ca37e174e5f6800",
+      "sizeBytes": 5396
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs",
+      "sha256": "6592d96c8d0669800a0fa38c4eb8966e0882b1e18f966334b29524abca6b8b9d",
+      "sizeBytes": 2944
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "website/app/site-config.ts",
+      "sha256": "05ac5b38d330a90e4cc27a55c2e2b43904a104c9f580eeb98ae02f3fffaa2866",
+      "sizeBytes": 2693
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "workflows/ontario/catalogue.json",
+      "sha256": "406218eb0bbe6b8503cd7efc68d485c0be7374c4e1b7992a9d06c983196c87c4",
+      "sizeBytes": 10399
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/scripts/build-release-manifest.mjs b/scripts/build-release-manifest.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4036b7f947
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-release-manifest.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..");
+const config = JSON.parse(
+  readFileSync(resolve(root, "config/release-manifest.v1.json"), "utf8"),
+);
+const hash = (bytes) => createHash("sha256").update(bytes).digest("hex");
+const artifacts = config.artifacts.map((path) => {
+  const bytes = readFileSync(resolve(root, path));
+  return { path, sha256: hash(bytes), sizeBytes: bytes.byteLength };
+});
+const report = {
+  version: config.version,
+  releaseId: config.releaseId,
+  generatedAt: config.generatedAt,
+  algorithm: "sha256",
+  artifactCount: artifacts.length,
+  artifacts,
+};
+const outputPath = resolve(root, "reports/release-manifest-v1.json");
+const output = `${JSON.stringify(report, null, 2)}\n`;
+
+if (process.argv.includes("--check")) {
+  if (!existsSync(outputPath) || readFileSync(outputPath, "utf8") !== output) {
+    console.error("Release manifest is missing or stale. Run npm run build:release-manifest.");
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+  } else {
+    console.log(`PASS: release manifest covers ${artifacts.length} governed artifacts.`);
+  }
+} else {
+  writeFileSync(outputPath, output);
+  console.log(`Wrote reports/release-manifest-v1.json with ${artifacts.length} artifacts.`);
+}
diff --git a/scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs b/scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs
index 463d923680..a103d71135 100644
--- a/scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-release-readiness.mjs
@@ -4,15 +4,25 @@ import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import { evaluateReleaseReadiness } from "./lib/release-readiness.mjs";
+import { evaluateSourceOperations } from "./lib/source-operations.mjs";
 
 const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..");
 const readJson = (path) =>
   JSON.parse(readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8"));
 const production = process.argv.includes("--production");
+const sourceOperations = evaluateSourceOperations(
+  readJson("config/legal-source-operations.v1.json"),
+  readJson("reports/legal-source-health-v1.json"),
+);
 const result = evaluateReleaseReadiness(
   readJson("reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json"),
   readJson("config/release-approvals.v1.json"),
   production,
+  {
+    operations: readJson("config/operations-readiness.v1.json"),
+    launch: readJson("config/launch-readiness.v1.json"),
+    sourceOperations,
+  },
 );
 
 console.log(
diff --git a/scripts/check-source-operations.mjs b/scripts/check-source-operations.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ead2f22e23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-source-operations.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { evaluateSourceOperations } from "./lib/source-operations.mjs";
+
+const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..");
+const readJson = (path) => JSON.parse(readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8"));
+const result = evaluateSourceOperations(
+  readJson("config/legal-source-operations.v1.json"),
+  readJson("reports/legal-source-health-v1.json"),
+);
+const production = process.argv.includes("--production");
+
+console.log(
+  production
+    ? `${result.ready ? "PASS" : "BLOCKED"}: legal-source operational gate.`
+    : "PASS: legal-source operations policy validated; live production observations remain separate.",
+);
+for (const blocker of result.blockers) console.error(`- ${blocker}`);
+if (production && !result.ready) process.exitCode = 1;
diff --git a/scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs b/scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs
index 78d1f23b76..7c7d52df1e 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs
+++ b/scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs
@@ -6,6 +6,29 @@ const REQUIRED_APPROVALS = [
   "productOwner",
 ];
 
+const REQUIRED_OPERATIONAL_EVIDENCE = [
+  "ci",
+  "stagingJourney",
+  "migrationDryRun",
+  "backupRestore",
+  "rollbackExercise",
+  "observability",
+  "sourceHealth",
+  "dependencyReview",
+  "incidentExercise",
+];
+
+const REQUIRED_LAUNCH_DECISIONS = [
+  "legalOperator",
+  "accountableOwners",
+  "productionDomains",
+  "vendorsAndResidency",
+  "effectiveLegalNotices",
+  "supportAndPrivacyChannels",
+  "betaCohortAndTerms",
+  "goLiveDecision",
+];
+
 const isDatedApproval = (approval) =>
   approval?.status === "approved" &&
   typeof approval.approver === "string" &&
@@ -15,7 +38,19 @@ const isDatedApproval = (approval) =>
   typeof approval.evidence === "string" &&
   approval.evidence.trim().length > 0;
 
-export function evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvalRecord, production) {
+function requireEvidence(record, names, label, blockers) {
+  for (const name of names) {
+    if (!isDatedApproval(record?.[name]))
+      blockers.push(`${label} ${name} is missing or incomplete.`);
+  }
+}
+
+export function evaluateReleaseReadiness(
+  report,
+  approvalRecord,
+  production,
+  productionEvidence = {},
+) {
   const blockers = [];
   if (report.passed !== true)
     blockers.push("Ontario evaluation thresholds failed.");
@@ -34,6 +69,24 @@ export function evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvalRecord, production) {
         blockers.push(`${name} approval is missing or incomplete.`);
       }
     }
+    if (productionEvidence.operations?.status !== "approved-for-release")
+      blockers.push("Operational readiness record is not approved-for-release.");
+    requireEvidence(
+      productionEvidence.operations?.evidence,
+      REQUIRED_OPERATIONAL_EVIDENCE,
+      "operational evidence",
+      blockers,
+    );
+    if (productionEvidence.launch?.status !== "approved-for-launch")
+      blockers.push("Launch readiness record is not approved-for-launch.");
+    requireEvidence(
+      productionEvidence.launch?.decisions,
+      REQUIRED_LAUNCH_DECISIONS,
+      "launch decision",
+      blockers,
+    );
+    if (productionEvidence.sourceOperations?.ready !== true)
+      blockers.push("Required legal-source health is not production-ready.");
   }
 
   return {
@@ -41,5 +94,7 @@ export function evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvalRecord, production) {
     ready: blockers.length === 0,
     blockers,
     requiredApprovals: REQUIRED_APPROVALS,
+    requiredOperationalEvidence: REQUIRED_OPERATIONAL_EVIDENCE,
+    requiredLaunchDecisions: REQUIRED_LAUNCH_DECISIONS,
   };
 }
diff --git a/scripts/lib/source-operations.mjs b/scripts/lib/source-operations.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1220b7edb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/lib/source-operations.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+const VALID_STATES = new Set([
+  "healthy",
+  "degraded",
+  "unavailable",
+  "quarantined",
+  "disabled",
+  "not-observed",
+]);
+
+const hoursSince = (timestamp, now) =>
+  (now.getTime() - new Date(timestamp).getTime()) / 3_600_000;
+
+export function evaluateSourceOperations(policy, report, now = new Date()) {
+  const blockers = [];
+  const providers = {};
+  for (const [providerId, rule] of Object.entries(policy.providers ?? {})) {
+    const observation = report.providers?.[providerId];
+    const reasons = [];
+    if (!observation) {
+      reasons.push("health observation is missing");
+    } else if (!VALID_STATES.has(observation.state)) {
+      reasons.push(`health state ${observation.state} is invalid`);
+    } else if (observation.state !== "disabled") {
+      if (!observation.checkedAt) {
+        reasons.push("health check time is missing");
+      } else {
+        const age = hoursSince(observation.checkedAt, now);
+        if (!Number.isFinite(age) || age < 0)
+          reasons.push("health check time is invalid");
+        else if (age > rule.maximumAgeHours)
+          reasons.push(`health observation is older than ${rule.maximumAgeHours} hours`);
+      }
+      if (observation.consecutiveFailures >= rule.quarantineAfterFailures)
+        reasons.push("failure threshold requires quarantine");
+      if (observation.state !== "healthy")
+        reasons.push(`provider state is ${observation.state}`);
+    }
+
+    const ready = reasons.length === 0;
+    providers[providerId] = { ready, required: rule.requiredForProduction, reasons };
+    if (rule.requiredForProduction && !ready)
+      blockers.push(`${providerId}: ${reasons.join("; ")}`);
+  }
+
+  if (report.liveChecksPerformed !== true)
+    blockers.push("Live legal-source checks have not been performed.");
+
+  return {
+    ready: blockers.length === 0,
+    blockers,
+    providers,
+  };
+}
+
+export function nextProviderState(rule, previous, checkSucceeded) {
+  const failures = checkSucceeded ? 0 : (previous.consecutiveFailures ?? 0) + 1;
+  const successes = checkSucceeded ? (previous.consecutiveSuccesses ?? 0) + 1 : 0;
+  if (!checkSucceeded && failures >= rule.quarantineAfterFailures)
+    return { state: "quarantined", consecutiveFailures: failures, consecutiveSuccesses: 0 };
+  if (previous.state === "quarantined" && successes < rule.recoverAfterSuccesses)
+    return { state: "quarantined", consecutiveFailures: 0, consecutiveSuccesses: successes };
+  return {
+    state: checkSucceeded ? "healthy" : "degraded",
+    consecutiveFailures: failures,
+    consecutiveSuccesses: successes,
+  };
+}
diff --git a/tests/baseline/ross-production-readiness.test.mjs b/tests/baseline/ross-production-readiness.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..24c30f668c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/baseline/ross-production-readiness.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import test from "node:test";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "../..");
+const read = (path) => readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8");
+const json = (path) => JSON.parse(read(path));
+
+test("production records remain explicitly blocked until evidence is supplied", () => {
+  const approvals = json("config/release-approvals.v1.json");
+  const operations = json("config/operations-readiness.v1.json");
+  const launch = json("config/launch-readiness.v1.json");
+  assert.match(approvals.status, /^blocked-/);
+  assert.match(operations.status, /^blocked-/);
+  assert.match(launch.status, /^blocked-/);
+  for (const item of [
+    ...Object.values(approvals.approvals),
+    ...Object.values(operations.evidence),
+    ...Object.values(launch.decisions),
+  ]) {
+    assert.equal(item.status, "pending");
+    assert.equal(item.approver, null);
+    assert.equal(item.evidence, null);
+  }
+});
+
+test("release manifest governs code, schema, evaluation, sources, workflows, and approvals", () => {
+  const manifest = json("reports/release-manifest-v1.json");
+  const paths = new Set(manifest.artifacts.map((item) => item.path));
+  for (const path of [
+    "backend/schema.sql",
+    "config/legal-source-operations.v1.json",
+    "config/launch-readiness.v1.json",
+    "config/operations-readiness.v1.json",
+    "config/release-approvals.v1.json",
+    "reports/legal-source-health-v1.json",
+    "reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json",
+    "workflows/ontario/catalogue.json",
+  ])
+    assert.equal(paths.has(path), true, path);
+  assert.equal(manifest.algorithm, "sha256");
+  assert.equal(manifest.artifactCount, manifest.artifacts.length);
+});
+
+test("release candidate workflow creates evidence but never deploys", () => {
+  const workflow = read(".github/workflows/release-candidate.yml");
+  assert.match(workflow, /workflow_dispatch/);
+  assert.match(workflow, /npm run check/);
+  assert.match(workflow, /upload-artifact@v4/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /\bdeploy(?:ment)?\s*:/i);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /wrangler deploy|kubectl|helm upgrade/i);
+});
+
+test("production operations are documented without expanding the beta data boundary", () => {
+  for (const path of [
+    "docs/operations/release-runbook.md",
+    "docs/operations/backup-restore.md",
+    "docs/operations/rollback.md",
+    "docs/operations/legal-source-operations.md",
+    "docs/operations/observability.md",
+    "docs/operations/launch-checklist.md",
+    "SECURITY.md",
+  ])
+    assert.ok(read(path).length > 300, path);
+  assert.match(read("docs/operations/launch-checklist.md"), /synthetic\/non-confidential/);
+  assert.match(read("docs/operations/legal-source-operations.md"), /never authorizes scraping/i);
+});
diff --git a/tests/baseline/ross-website-contract.test.mjs b/tests/baseline/ross-website-contract.test.mjs
index 4759c14875..e341dc7b4b 100644
--- a/tests/baseline/ross-website-contract.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/baseline/ross-website-contract.test.mjs
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ test("the website scaffold exposes every governed public route", () => {
     "subprocessors",
     "responsible-ai",
     "demo",
+    "readiness",
   ];
   for (const key of requiredKeys) {
     assert.match(content, new RegExp(`[\"']?${key}[\"']?\\s*:`), key);
@@ -107,7 +108,11 @@ test("the public site communicates beta limits and does not use application data
 
   const robots = read("website/app/robots.ts");
   const layout = read("website/app/layout.tsx");
+  assert.match(robots, /publicLaunchApproved/);
   assert.match(robots, /disallow: "\/"/);
-  assert.match(layout, /index: false/);
-  assert.match(layout, /follow: false/);
+  assert.match(layout, /index: siteConfig\.publicLaunchApproved/);
+  assert.match(layout, /follow: siteConfig\.publicLaunchApproved/);
+  assert.match(read("website/app/site-config.ts"), /legalOperator !== "TBD"/);
+  assert.match(read("website/app/site-config.ts"), /production-reviewed/);
+  assert.match(read("website/app/site-config.ts"), /\.invalid/);
 });
diff --git a/tests/evaluation/release-readiness.test.mjs b/tests/evaluation/release-readiness.test.mjs
index 35ef30c520..3bfdb05c34 100644
--- a/tests/evaluation/release-readiness.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/evaluation/release-readiness.test.mjs
@@ -4,12 +4,17 @@ import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
 import test from "node:test";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import { evaluateReleaseReadiness } from "../../scripts/lib/release-readiness.mjs";
+import { evaluateSourceOperations } from "../../scripts/lib/source-operations.mjs";
 
 const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "../..");
 const readJson = (path) =>
   JSON.parse(readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8"));
 const report = readJson("reports/ontario-evaluation-v1.json");
 const approvals = readJson("config/release-approvals.v1.json");
+const operations = readJson("config/operations-readiness.v1.json");
+const launch = readJson("config/launch-readiness.v1.json");
+const sourcePolicy = readJson("config/legal-source-operations.v1.json");
+const sourceReport = readJson("reports/legal-source-health-v1.json");
 
 test("passing automated gates permit development while external review stays pending", () => {
   const result = evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvals, false);
@@ -18,7 +23,15 @@ test("passing automated gates permit development while external review stays pen
 });
 
 test("production release fails closed while independent approvals are pending", () => {
-  const result = evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvals, true);
+  const result = evaluateReleaseReadiness(report, approvals, true, {
+    operations,
+    launch,
+    sourceOperations: evaluateSourceOperations(
+      sourcePolicy,
+      sourceReport,
+      new Date("2026-07-16T01:00:00Z"),
+    ),
+  });
   assert.equal(result.ready, false);
   for (const name of result.requiredApprovals) {
     assert.ok(
@@ -27,6 +40,9 @@ test("production release fails closed while independent approvals are pending",
     );
   }
   assert.ok(result.blockers.some((blocker) => /Ontario lawyer/.test(blocker)));
+  assert.ok(result.blockers.some((blocker) => /Operational readiness/.test(blocker)));
+  assert.ok(result.blockers.some((blocker) => /Launch readiness/.test(blocker)));
+  assert.ok(result.blockers.some((blocker) => /legal-source health/.test(blocker)));
 });
 
 test("production release requires evidence-bearing approvals and lawyer-reviewed benchmark", () => {
@@ -40,13 +56,35 @@ test("production release requires evidence-bearing approvals and lawyer-reviewed
     item.date = "2026-07-16";
     item.evidence = "reviews/example.md";
   }
+  const approvedOperations = structuredClone(operations);
+  approvedOperations.status = "approved-for-release";
+  for (const item of Object.values(approvedOperations.evidence)) {
+    item.status = "approved";
+    item.approver = "Operations reviewer";
+    item.date = "2026-07-16";
+    item.evidence = "reviews/operations-example.md";
+  }
+  const approvedLaunch = structuredClone(launch);
+  approvedLaunch.status = "approved-for-launch";
+  for (const item of Object.values(approvedLaunch.decisions)) {
+    item.status = "approved";
+    item.approver = "Launch reviewer";
+    item.date = "2026-07-16";
+    item.evidence = "reviews/launch-example.md";
+  }
+  const sourceOperations = { ready: true, blockers: [], providers: {} };
+  const evidence = {
+    operations: approvedOperations,
+    launch: approvedLaunch,
+    sourceOperations,
+  };
   assert.equal(
-    evaluateReleaseReadiness(reviewedReport, approved, true).ready,
+    evaluateReleaseReadiness(reviewedReport, approved, true, evidence).ready,
     true,
   );
   approved.approvals.security.evidence = null;
   assert.equal(
-    evaluateReleaseReadiness(reviewedReport, approved, true).ready,
+    evaluateReleaseReadiness(reviewedReport, approved, true, evidence).ready,
     false,
   );
 });
diff --git a/tests/operations/source-operations.test.mjs b/tests/operations/source-operations.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f7cc15462
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/operations/source-operations.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import test from "node:test";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { evaluateSourceOperations, nextProviderState } from "../../scripts/lib/source-operations.mjs";
+
+const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "../..");
+const readJson = (path) => JSON.parse(readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8"));
+const policy = readJson("config/legal-source-operations.v1.json");
+const report = readJson("reports/legal-source-health-v1.json");
+
+test("pre-production source report is explicit and fails the production gate", () => {
+  const result = evaluateSourceOperations(policy, report, new Date("2026-07-16T01:00:00Z"));
+  assert.equal(result.ready, false);
+  assert.match(result.blockers.join("\n"), /Live legal-source checks/);
+  assert.match(result.blockers.join("\n"), /a2aj-canada/);
+});
+
+test("fresh healthy observations satisfy required-provider policy", () => {
+  const healthy = structuredClone(report);
+  healthy.liveChecksPerformed = true;
+  for (const [id, item] of Object.entries(healthy.providers)) {
+    if (id === "canlii-licensed") continue;
+    item.state = "healthy";
+    item.checkedAt = "2026-07-16T12:00:00Z";
+    item.lastSuccessfulAt = item.checkedAt;
+    item.sourceVersion = "synthetic-test-version";
+    item.consecutiveSuccesses = 2;
+  }
+  assert.equal(
+    evaluateSourceOperations(policy, healthy, new Date("2026-07-16T13:00:00Z")).ready,
+    true,
+  );
+});
+
+test("stale required sources fail closed while optional source failure is visible but non-blocking", () => {
+  const candidate = structuredClone(report);
+  candidate.liveChecksPerformed = true;
+  for (const item of Object.values(candidate.providers)) {
+    if (item.state === "disabled") continue;
+    item.state = "healthy";
+    item.checkedAt = "2026-07-16T12:00:00Z";
+  }
+  candidate.providers["ontario-elaws"].checkedAt = "2026-07-14T12:00:00Z";
+  candidate.providers["courtlistener-us"].state = "unavailable";
+  const result = evaluateSourceOperations(policy, candidate, new Date("2026-07-16T13:00:00Z"));
+  assert.equal(result.ready, false);
+  assert.match(result.blockers.join("\n"), /ontario-elaws/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.blockers.join("\n"), /courtlistener-us/);
+  assert.equal(result.providers["courtlistener-us"].ready, false);
+});
+
+test("provider quarantine and recovery are deterministic", () => {
+  const rule = policy.providers["a2aj-canada"];
+  let state = { state: "healthy", consecutiveFailures: 0, consecutiveSuccesses: 2 };
+  state = nextProviderState(rule, state, false);
+  state = nextProviderState(rule, state, false);
+  state = nextProviderState(rule, state, false);
+  assert.equal(state.state, "quarantined");
+  state = nextProviderState(rule, state, true);
+  assert.equal(state.state, "quarantined");
+  state = nextProviderState(rule, state, true);
+  assert.equal(state.state, "healthy");
+});
diff --git a/website/.env.example b/website/.env.example
index 19e659d25c..6ec897ff9a 100644
--- a/website/.env.example
+++ b/website/.env.example
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 NEXT_PUBLIC_ROSS_WEBSITE_URL=http://localhost:4173
 NEXT_PUBLIC_ROSS_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
+# Keep false until the operator, reviewed production domain, production-reviewed
+# coverage, effective content, accessibility, privacy, legal, and product owners
+# have all approved public indexing.
+NEXT_PUBLIC_ROSS_PUBLIC_LAUNCH_APPROVED=false
diff --git a/website/app/layout.tsx b/website/app/layout.tsx
index f92207aa5d..436d362773 100644
--- a/website/app/layout.tsx
+++ b/website/app/layout.tsx
@@ -16,8 +16,15 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
     title: "ROSS — Ontario-first legal work, built in the open",
     description: "An open-source legal workspace in development for Ontario lawyers and paralegals.",
   },
-  robots: { index: false, follow: false },
-  other: { "codex-preview": "development" },
+  robots: {
+    index: siteConfig.publicLaunchApproved,
+    follow: siteConfig.publicLaunchApproved,
+  },
+  other: {
+    "codex-preview": siteConfig.publicLaunchApproved
+      ? "production-reviewed"
+      : "development",
+  },
   icons: { icon: "/favicon.svg", shortcut: "/favicon.svg" },
 };
 
diff --git a/website/app/page-content.ts b/website/app/page-content.ts
index f30b401e37..d01beface2 100644
--- a/website/app/page-content.ts
+++ b/website/app/page-content.ts
@@ -322,7 +322,8 @@ export const publicPages: Record<string, PublicPage> = {
     eyebrow: "Versioned project records",
     summary:
       "Architecture decisions, product boundaries, verification reports, and contributor guidance live with the source code.",
-    status: "Deployment and user documentation are still being developed.",
+    status:
+      "Release, restore, rollback, source-health, monitoring, and launch procedures are documented; live operational evidence remains pending.",
     governance: engineeringReviewed("ROSS technical maintainers"),
     sections: [
       {
@@ -359,6 +360,39 @@ export const publicPages: Record<string, PublicPage> = {
         title: "Future status reporting",
         body: "Production status will be independently hosted and cover website, application, API, legal-source ingestion, and material incidents.",
       },
+      {
+        title: "Release control",
+        body: "Production promotion fails closed unless legal, privacy, security, accessibility, product, Ontario benchmark, source-health, operational, and launch evidence all belong to the same immutable candidate.",
+      },
+    ],
+  },
+  readiness: {
+    title: "Launch readiness",
+    eyebrow: "Fail-closed release status",
+    summary:
+      "ROSS now has executable engineering gates and operational runbooks, but every production approval and live-environment exercise remains pending.",
+    status:
+      "Blocked: owner, domains, vendors, effective notices, independent reviews, live source health, staging, restore, rollback, monitoring, and go-live evidence are not approved.",
+    governance: independentReviewRequired(
+      "Release and product owners — unassigned",
+    ),
+    sections: [
+      {
+        title: "What the code enforces",
+        body: "The candidate gate binds the Ontario evaluation, legal and product approvals, operational exercises, launch decisions, source health, and governed artifact hashes to a production decision. Missing evidence blocks release.",
+      },
+      {
+        title: "What people must still do",
+        body: "Named reviewers must select and assess the operator, Canadian-region vendors, privacy and security controls, effective policies, support channels, accessibility, legal content, source coverage, benchmark, and limited beta cohort.",
+      },
+      {
+        title: "Current safe boundary",
+        body: "The website remains owner-only and no-index. Any preview or controlled-beta use remains limited to synthetic or affirmatively non-confidential material. No confidential or privileged client-material launch is authorized.",
+      },
+      {
+        title: "Promotion and rollback",
+        body: "A reviewed immutable artifact is promoted only after a staging journey, migration dry run, isolated backup restore, rollback exercise, monitoring test, source observation, dependency review, and incident exercise produce dated evidence.",
+      },
     ],
   },
   subprocessors: {
@@ -451,4 +485,20 @@ export const publicUpdates = [
     limitations:
       "No Ontario lawyer has approved the benchmark or workflows. No production operator, vendor set, confidential-data mode, comprehensive citator, or public launch has been approved.",
   },
+  {
+    slug: "release-controls",
+    title: "Production-readiness controls remain fail-closed",
+    publishedAt: "2026-07-16",
+    status: "Engineering update — launch remains blocked",
+    summary:
+      "ROSS adds governed release artifacts, source quarantine, operational evidence, launch decisions, and indexing safeguards without claiming that external reviews or live exercises have occurred.",
+    changes: [
+      "Added required-provider freshness, quarantine, and recovery policy with a deliberately unobserved pre-production health report.",
+      "Added an immutable SHA-256 release manifest and manual CI evidence workflow with no automatic production deployment.",
+      "Added release, backup/restore, rollback, source, monitoring, incident, and launch procedures tied to dated evidence.",
+      "Added a public readiness page and a launch flag that cannot enable indexing while the operator, production coverage, or domain remains a placeholder.",
+    ],
+    limitations:
+      "No operator, production vendor, domain, live source monitor, staging exercise, restore, rollback, penetration test, accessibility audit, Ontario lawyer review, effective legal notice, support channel, or go-live decision is approved.",
+  },
 ] as const;
diff --git a/website/app/robots.ts b/website/app/robots.ts
index 80d2e604be..463b0d909d 100644
--- a/website/app/robots.ts
+++ b/website/app/robots.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 import type { MetadataRoute } from "next";
+import { siteConfig } from "./site-config";
 
 export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
-  return { rules: { userAgent: "*", disallow: "/" } };
+  return siteConfig.publicLaunchApproved
+    ? {
+        rules: { userAgent: "*", allow: "/" },
+        sitemap: `${siteConfig.websiteUrl}/sitemap.xml`,
+      }
+    : { rules: { userAgent: "*", disallow: "/" } };
 }
diff --git a/website/app/site-config.ts b/website/app/site-config.ts
index 877dd453c6..e3c4f51728 100644
--- a/website/app/site-config.ts
+++ b/website/app/site-config.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ export const siteConfig = {
         ? "Engineering integrations implemented — runtime coverage and legal review remain conditional"
         : "Foundation only — Ontario and Canadian source integrations are not live yet",
   socialLinks: brand.socialLinks,
+  publicLaunchApproved:
+    process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ROSS_PUBLIC_LAUNCH_APPROVED === "true" &&
+    brand.product.legalOperator !== "TBD" &&
+    brand.policy.coverageStatus === "production-reviewed" &&
+    !(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ROSS_WEBSITE_URL ?? brand.urls.website).includes(
+      ".invalid",
+    ),
 } as const;
 
 export const primaryNav = [
@@ -25,6 +32,7 @@ export const primaryNav = [
   { href: "/features", label: "Features" },
   { href: "/workflows", label: "Workflows" },
   { href: "/coverage", label: "Coverage" },
+  { href: "/readiness", label: "Readiness" },
   { href: "/demo", label: "Demo" },
   { href: "/open-source", label: "Open source" },
 ] as const;
@@ -59,6 +67,7 @@ export const footerGroups = [
       ["Documentation", "/docs"],
       ["Contact", "/contact"],
       ["Status", "/status"],
+      ["Launch readiness", "/readiness"],
     ],
   },
   {
diff --git a/website/tests/public-quality.test.mjs b/website/tests/public-quality.test.mjs
index 885ed2818d..2f44a72410 100644
--- a/website/tests/public-quality.test.mjs
+++ b/website/tests/public-quality.test.mjs
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ test("representative public pages meet the automated semantic accessibility cont
     "/ontario",
     "/coverage",
     "/responsible-ai",
+    "/readiness",
     "/privacy",
     "/terms",
     "/accessibility",
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ test("sitemap covers dynamic public content while indexing remains intentionally
   const sitemap = await render("/sitemap.xml");
   assert.equal(sitemap.response.status, 200);
   assert.match(sitemap.html, /updates\/foundation/);
+  assert.match(sitemap.html, /updates\/release-controls/);
   assert.match(sitemap.html, /workflows\/factum-authority-record-cross-check/);
   assert.match(sitemap.html, /\/demo/);
   const robots = await render("/robots.txt");
@@ -93,6 +95,7 @@ test("internal content links resolve in the built site", async () => {
     "/status",
     "/subprocessors",
     "/responsible-ai",
+    "/readiness",
   ];
   const links = new Set();
   for (const seed of seeds) {
diff --git a/website/tests/rendered-html.test.mjs b/website/tests/rendered-html.test.mjs
index a33a508d23..0e8fb9732a 100644
--- a/website/tests/rendered-html.test.mjs
+++ b/website/tests/rendered-html.test.mjs
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ test("required public routes render without authentication", async () => {
     "/subprocessors",
     "/responsible-ai",
     "/demo",
+    "/readiness",
   ];
 
   for (const route of routes) {
@@ -142,6 +143,21 @@ test("the first dated update and governed metadata render", async () => {
   assert.match(update.html, /No Ontario lawyer has approved/);
 });
 
+test("production readiness remains candid and indexing fails closed", async () => {
+  const readiness = await render("/readiness");
+  assert.equal(readiness.response.status, 200);
+  assert.match(readiness.html, /every production approval/i);
+  assert.match(
+    readiness.html,
+    /No confidential or privileged client-material launch/i,
+  );
+  const update = await render("/updates/release-controls");
+  assert.equal(update.response.status, 200);
+  assert.match(update.html, /launch remains blocked/i);
+  const robots = await render("/robots.txt");
+  assert.match(robots.html, /Disallow: \/$/m);
+});
+
 test("unknown routes return the custom not-found page", async () => {
   const { response, html } = await render("/not-a-real-ross-page");
   assert.equal(response.status, 404);