The Ultimate Magento Launch Checklist for Adobe Commerce & Magento Open Source (500+ Checkpoints)

When launching any website whether a B2B eCommerce website built on Adobe Commerce or a Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce store there are a number of items that must be checked at the various stages. This is a simplified copy of our internal Adobe Commerce Launch Checklist that is indicative of the work involved. Feel free to use our list when launching any eCommerce site as the principles will be the same. You may find some of the terminology different if you are on a different CMS.
Introduction
For over a decade we have been compiling our experience of launching websites into an ever-growing checklist. Letβs not underestimate the complexity of enterprise-level eCommerce websites. With an increasing number of complex elements a global, multilingual, multi-currency website may hold it is unrealistic to expect everybody involved in the project to get everything 100% correct on the first go.
We use the list to launch and hand over a website, take our learnings and turn them into additional checklist points. At the next launch, there is one less thing (hopefully) to go wrong.


The checklist has become far more than a launch tool. Itβs become a sales tool, a design tool, a scoping tool and a centre point for conversations in general about an upcoming B2B eCommerce website build. The ability to see the end of a project, right at the start, especially for somebody not as experienced in launching Magento websites is incredibly useful.
How we (Rixxo) use the Magento Launch Checklist
The most important thing to understand about our launch checklist is, that it isnβt a how-to. This list is a guide, a prompt, and a reminder for expert developers and each of the checklist items will require knowledge and experience to confirm if it is done to the required or acceptable standard. At Rixxo we use a Handbook, developer guides, a set of Project Standards, and a similar list to the checklist that is a complete and comprehensive Magento Adobe Commerce Configuration that outputs all of the CLI commands with or without their Env of Config locks that we can control on mass.


We use this tool similar to the checklist in that a client will look at it early in the project as deciding on the configuration will often determine the scope of the project and the work involved.
At the Final Version Handover, the point at which we hand the site to a client, we undertake the pre-launch checklist. Yes, this may be a little premature but our experience tells us that the majority of clients expect the site to be further along at handover than an agency typically does. Running through the launch checklist this early can help to give a better first experience and also speed up a smooth handover. As this is an internal handover it is acceptable to have Fails in the report at this point. A Jira ticket is raised for these fails to track them through the Client Phase and they will be triaged, and resolved before Launch.


Before Launch, at the end of the Client Phase, we will run through the Pre-Launch Checklist one more time. A lot could have changed since you got access to your website to add content, products, price & shopping cart rules, contacts and tweak settings. We want to make sure if something is not a-typical we understand why and correct any accidental deviations. Any fails are fixed and a Launch date is set.
Prior to the Launch, the site undergoes the Launch checklist part of our Ultimate Magento Launch Checklist. This list is much smaller maybe than expected. This is because ideally weβve already done the work in pre-launch and minimised the amount of work needed to check the Live (or Production) site versus the Staging site.
The key differences between the Pre-Launch and Launch checklists are the environment variables. Settings need to be different for test and live environments. We want to do everything we can to ensure they stay in the correct place.
Once the site is live the Post Launch checklist is executed. This is often a collaborative exercise as the post-launch list does not contain your typical dev items. Having listened to clientsβ feedback for a decade and a half of building Magento eCommerce websites weβve noted that weβre expected to deliver more than is often documented OR make sure itβs communicated to our clients that there is a workload centred around a go-live exercise.


During the post-launch checklist phase, a PM will direct either a client-side or Rixxo-side engineer to ensure that the tasks are completed or scheduled for the near future. The idea that this checklist was discussed very early on in any project means these tasks are no longer a surprise to the team in charge of the website.
Once wrapped up weβll save a version of the checklist. We can come back in the future and check if any regression has taken place, we can see the differences between configurations. Itβs also a really handy doc to share with incumbent SEO, PPC, CRO agencies etc.
How you can use our Free Ultimate Magento Launch Checklist
Planning a new website
When planning or purchasing a new website youβll often be asked to provide a brief. But how do you know that you have included everything you need? And, when you get your quote, how do you know that itβs all been quoted for? You can use our checklist to have comprehensive discussions with your agency or development partner to ensure a successful launch.
If you are because your considering a new Magento Adobe Commerce website and are looking for a quote then you may be interested in Lumarix. A B2B eCommerce blueprint that can be deployed in as little as two weeks.
Launching new websites
The most obvious use for the Launch Checklist is to use it when launching your new Magento or Adobe Commerce website. It can help to ensure youβve addressed common mistakes made when launching a new website, checked off some best practices and configured settings correctly.
Upgrading Magento/Adobe Commerce
If you are upgrading your store, especially between major versions, then there is typically a significant amount of change that will occur. Our launch checklist can help to minimise downtime and ensure that critical components of your site get tested before committing to a launch.
SEO or Technical Issues
Changing Agency/Managing Internal Developers
When we take on a new client looking for ongoing support and development retainers weβll almost certainly put the website through the checklist process. The act of following the checklist process when onboarding a new client draws our attention to the configuration of the store and gives us a deeper understanding of the website at a technical level. Itβs also great for spotting inconsistencies or errors and helps to kick off our relationship in a positive and structured manner.
The list is also very useful if you are managing your own team of developers and marketers. Magento Open Source is free and extremely powerful. This also means that itβs complicated. If your team of developers has chosen to build a website on Magento they will have the skills to develop it, customise it and manage it. It doesnβt mean they will get the insight and experience that comes with launching Magento sites and the challenges involved.
Non-Magento eCommerce websites
Weβve written the checklist for Magento but many of the eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce etc share many similar traits. Whilst some of the modules may be named differently or only exists because of an additional extension, a big chunk of the checklist can be used to sanity check and quality control most eCommerce CMS at the launch phase.
Checklist Key
Symbols on Checklist Items
π± = When you see this item test on mobile. Using a real mobile, and several of them will yield the best results.
π = Thereβs no official emoji for βTabletβ so this is our best effort. Just like with a mobile test on a tablet device on multiple OS
π» = Desktop/Laptop devices. When testing on desktop and laptop make sure to test multiple browsers and multiple screen sizes.
βοΈ = Backend or DevOps. This symbol means itβs probably not a GUI and you need to check settings, not something that displays on a screen.


Launch & Checklist Service
Would you like us to undertake the full checklist before the big day?
Free Ultimate Launch Checklist for Magento Adobe Commerce
β± Pre Launch Checklist
Ok, so you are nearly ready to launch your site. Weβre in the Pre-Launch phase. At Rixxo this is where you would be in Final Version Handover and receiving the final version of your site from us.
Itβs time to run through the site as a dry run. The site at this point should be mostly complete in technical terms and probably just awaiting some content, pictures, the final product upload and pricing. If it doesnβt have your final content then it may have demo data in it.
When we donβt have final content building a project we have to use something. We call this our Project Standards. Feel free to check them out and do the same with your projects.
π Hosting Live Environment Configurations
We only use managed hosting providers who specialise in the CMS weβre building on. This ensures the fastest and most secure sites. Learn more about hosting.
- Indexers all set to on Schedule except Stock and Price β βοΈ
- Indexers are set to run nightly on the cron β βοΈ
- Varnish operational (if not using Fishpig Bolt) β βοΈ
- Redis Operational β βοΈ
- Rabbit MQ Operational β βοΈ
π Product Pages (PDP)
- Product images are optimised and display correctly across all devices β π± π π»
- Product videos play correctly across all devices β π± π π»
- The product title is prominent and wrapped in an H1 tag β π± π π»
- Price is displayed prominently across all devices β π± π π»
- Price is displayed Inc. or ex. VAT > Sale prices β π± π π»
- Price is displayed Inc. or ex. VAT > Tiered pricing β π± π π»
- Simple prices change when chosen on configurable products β π± π π»
- Price changes when options are selected on bundle products β π± π π»
- Clicking Add to Basket button:
- Correctly adds an item(s) to the basket across all product types β π± π π»
- Displays a concise error message when required product options are not selected β π± π π»
- Add to wishlist functionality works as expected (if enabled) β π± π π»
- Products with Back in Stock notifications enabled are displayed correctly and email address is correctly stored when entered (if enabled) β π± π π»
- Product Description (short and main) displays correctly across all devices β π± π π»
- If using out-of-the-box product reviews, these are working correctly and feeding through to the Magento admin for the appropriate approval status. If using a 3rd party review platform, go to the βThird-Party Reviewsβ section below β π± π π»
- URLs are rewriting correctly. Use Oleg Koval rewrites to fix (with caution) β βοΈ
- All βtestβ products are removed from the site or disabled. β βοΈ
βοΈ Third-Party Reviews
- Switched to production mode and test reviews have been added to ensure they are working β βοΈ
- At the product level β π± π π»
- At the site level, if applicable β π± π π»
- Product reviews contain correct schema markup β βοΈ
- Existing site reviews have been correctly imported across β π± π π» βοΈ
π Category Pages / PLP
- Product images show correctly, as do hover secondary images if applicable β π± π π»
- Placeholder images are updated and do not show Magento Logo when no image is set β βοΈ
- If using Aheadworks or Amasty Layered Nav the extensions are βSyncedβ (see manuals) (hereβs a really useful article on layered navigation for colours in Magento) β βοΈ
- Correct pricing shows for:
- Simple products β π± π π»
- Bundle products β π± π π»
- Configurable products β π± π π»
- Grouped products β π± π π»
- Gift cards β π± π π»
- Filtering/Layered Navigation works as expected β π± π π»
- Category title is wrapped in an H1 tag β βοΈ
- Category description if used is feeding through correctly onto the front end β π± π π»
- Sort By functionality functions as expected β π± π π»
- Pagination functions as expected β π± π π»
- URLs are rewriting correctly. Use Oleg Koval rewrites etc to fix (with caution) β βοΈ
π DNS
- Ensure @ record is pointed at the site ip β βοΈ
- ensure www is changed to @ record. β βοΈ
π SSL
- Check that the site has a valid SSL certificate β βοΈ
- Confirm SSL covers both www and non-www β βοΈ
π On-Site Search
Test connection to search eg. if using Elastic.
Useful tool but not essential Elasticsearch/OpenSearch Configuration Optimisation β Opster. A useful tool but not essential for testing ES Configurations.
- Elasticsearch/OpenSearch Configuration Optimisation β Opster β βοΈ
- Correct attributes for searching have been selected, e.g. SKU, name, description, etc with appropriate weighting β βοΈ
- Popular searches on the previous site (which you can identify via Google Analytics) are checked and bring back expected results β βοΈ
- Site search results filtering options work as expected β π± π π»
- Any search term redirects have been imported from the old site and are working correctly β
- Consider implementing new landing page redirects for popular search terms β π± π π»
- Relevant synonyms have been set up β βοΈ
- If using an extension such as Amasty Elastic Search ensure this is set as the search module β βοΈ
- Ensure each site on the stack has a different elastic search prefix for their elastic search. The best practice is to name it after the site, e.g the live site is example_live, the staging stack is example_staging and the dev stack is example_dev β βοΈ
- The quality of site search results is subjective but through performing a range of relevant searches, you should have a good idea as to whether the algorithm is working optimally. Remember: a lot of 3rd party services learn as they go, so this may need a bedding-in period post-launch. β βοΈ
π― SEO
- Google Tag Manager is installed and registering correctly with GTM Tag Inspector β π± π π»
- The site is set to noindex/nofollow (because we are pre-launch) β βοΈ
- Robots.txt at this stage should: β βοΈ
- Block search engines from accessing the site β βοΈ
- Prevent dynamic URLs from being indexed β βοΈ
- Product schema implemented β Schema Markup Testing Tools β βοΈ
- Title tags and meta descriptions have been imported from the current website and checked β βοΈ
- Fall back Title tags and meta descriptions have been added (view page source and check meta tags and descriptions) β βοΈ
- Meta Keywords should be blank (best practice is for these not to be used) β βοΈ
- Href-langs implemented if applicable (applicable to multi-language sites) β βοΈ
- Images should:
- Be optimised for the web β βοΈ
- Contain appropriate alt tags β βοΈ
- 301 redirects from the current to the new website are ready to be implemented at a server level and have been manually spot-checked checked to confirm they are correct β βοΈ
- Canonical URLs have been set up for products and categories if applicable β βοΈ
π€ Promo codes
- All βtestβ promo rules have been removed or disabled β βοΈ
- Check all active Shopping Cart rules (or as many as practical) to ensure they are working correctly β π± π π»
- Check Catalog Price rules work and amend prices on the front end as expected β π± π π»
π Breadcrumbs
- Breadcrumbs display correctly across all areas of the website β π± π π»
- Breadcrumbs link through correctly to the destination page β π± π π»
ππΌ Social links
- Check to ensure all social icons link to the correct destination β π± π π» βοΈ
- If using social sharing buttons on product pages, check these work as expected β π± π π» βοΈ
βοΈ General admin/setup
- The Demo store notice is removed β βοΈ
- The correct default country and allowed shipping countries are selected β βοΈ
- Store information is filled out β βοΈ
- If only one store is being managed, single store mode is enabled β βοΈ
- Store email addresses are updated from the example placeholder β βοΈ
- Contacts are updated from the example placeholder β βοΈ
- Currency β correct base and allowed currencies added β βοΈ
- Favicon is setup β βοΈ
- Catalogue β ensure fallback meta data is added β βοΈ
- XML sitemap β ensure this is set to update daily β βοΈ
- XML sitemap is present at [DOMAIN]sitemap/sitemap.xml β βοΈ
- Customer configuration β ensure the share customer accounts option is as desired β βοΈ
- Tax β ensure tax is calculated and shown correctly sitewide β βοΈ
- Checkout β ensure you are comfortable with how the checkout will look and function β βοΈ
- Shipping settings β Origin correctly filled in β βοΈ
- Shipping methods β double-check all settings β βοΈ
- Google API β to add in credentials for GA and/or GTM β βοΈ
- Payment methods β ensure these are changed from sandbox to production in order to test live transactions β βοΈ
π¬ Transactional emails
- SMTP module is setup and configured β βοΈ
- The Header contains the correct logo β βοΈ
- Footer contains VAT Number and Company Number β βοΈ
- Sales order/invoice (typically most items are paid for at checkout so no need to send Sales Order, just Sales Invoice β Guest User β βοΈ
- Sales order/invoice (typically most items are paid for at checkout so no need to send Sales Order just Sales Invoice β Logged in user β βοΈ
- New account sign-up β βοΈ
- Forgotten password β βοΈ
- Link to reset the password works and can be reset β βοΈ
- Back in stock notification (if enabled) β βοΈ
πΊ Tax
- Tax rules, rates and classes have been entered β βοΈ
- Tax display settings in configuration have been correctly set up β βοΈ
- The front end displays the correct VAT price per product on β π± π π»
- Product pages β π± π π»
- Page builder blocks β π± π π»
- Product Category pages β π± π π»
π Cart/Basket
- Basket total displays the following correctly: Subtotal β π± π π»
- Basket total displays the following correctly: Total β π± π π»
- Basket total displays the following correctly: Tax β π± π π»
- Basket total displays the following correctly: Discount β π± π π»
- Basket total displays the following correctly: Promo code field β π± π π»
- Basket total Works as expected with valid codes β π± π π»
- Basket total Displays a user-friendly error message for invalid codes β π± π π»
- Basket Changes product quantity updates as expected β π± π π»
- Removing product from the cart works as expected β π± π π»
- Continue Shopping buttons return the user to the homepage β π± π π»
- The gift card field works expected β π± π π»
π° Checkout
- Error messages on address/billing details are user-friendly β π± π π»
- Address autocomplete is working as expected β π± π π»
- If using enclosed checkout, clicking the site logo returns the user to the homepage or opens nav options β π± π π»
- Promo and gift card fields work as expected β π± π π»
- Correct shipping options are pulled through with the correct shipping value β π± π π»
- All payment options Have been fully configured and set to production accounts β βοΈ
- All payment options Show user-friendly error messages for invalid details β π± π π»
- All payment options Have been fully configured and set to production accounts β βοΈ
- All payment options Take payment as expected when correct details are used β βοΈ
- Order is shown in the correct Order Status and State in Magento, e.g. Processing β βοΈ
- Order exports successfully to ERP if applicable β βοΈ
- Payment is received in the gateway as expected β βοΈ
- Order completes as expected β π± π π»
- If checking out as a guest, the option to register on the success page is present and works as expected β π± π π»
πββοΈ My Account
- Sidebar: Ensure unused items are removed β π± π π»
- Sidebar: Ensure the order of items makes sense β π± π π»
- Personal details pull through as expected and passwords can be updated β π± π π»
- Billing addresses show correctly β π± π π»
- New addresses can be added β π± π π»
- Addresses can be updated β π± π π»
- New orders show as expected with the correct order state β π± π π»
- Re-order button works as expected β π± π π»
- Newsletter subscriptions show the correct mailing list user is subscribed to β π± π π»
- Newsletter subscription provides an opportunity to remove themselves from mailing lists β π± π π»
- Items in the wishlist are shown as expected β π± π π»
- Clicking on an item in the wishlist takes the user through to the corresponding product β π± π π»
π§ Navigation
- Categories that are selected to βshow in menuβ do so as expected β π± π π»
- Different levels of navigation show as expected β π± π π»
- Any dropdowns used do not hinder the user experience, i.e. too fast or too slow β π± π π»
π CMS pages
- Create an example page with all cms blocks across the site to test the functionality. β π± π π»
πͺ Cookie Policy
- Present on the website for new users (cookie restriction mode is set to enabled) β π± π π»
- Doesnβt show for users who have already accepted the policy β π± π π»
- First Party Cookies are working/saving as expected when policy is accepted
π Google Analytics / GTM (Google Tag Manager)
Live GA/GTM credentials to be added if you are filtering out traffic to your unlaunched website β βοΈ
π’ 404 page
- Looks and functions as expected β π± π π»
- A custom 404 page should be present β π± π π»
π·ββοΈ 503 Maintenance/Launch Page
- Put the site into maintenance mode. The site should have a custom, nicely designed 503 page βDown for maintenance, Back soonβ type message. β π± π π»
β Holding page
- Check holding page for launch includes a Phone number (including tel: link) β π± π π»
- Check holding page for launch includes Email address β π± π π»
- Check holding page for launch includes Content β π± π π»


Launch & Checklist Service
Would you like us to undertake the full checklist before the big day?
π Launch Checklist
βοΈ Admin
- The client has logins and has logged in at least once β βοΈ
- 2FA module is enabled on the Live site β βοΈ
π§βπ¬Test orders
- Place multiple test orders β βοΈ
- Logged in and as guest users: Same billing/shipping address β βοΈ
- Logged in and as guest users: Different billing/shipping address β βοΈ
- Logged in and as guest users: Multiple tests of different payment options β βοΈ
- Orders go through as expected β βοΈ
- To Magento β βοΈ
- To ERP / Order management software β π± π π»
- Tax amounts are correct β π± π π»
- Payment is captured as expected in the gateway β π± π π»
π Website address
- Correctly resolves to HTTPS β βοΈ
- Non-www resolves to www or vice versa β βοΈ
- Non HTTPS redirects to HTTPS β βοΈ
π― SEO
- Spot check 301 redirects β as many as practically possible β βοΈ
- Create XML sitemap(s) in Magento β βοΈ
- Ensure the site is set to INDEX/FOLLOW β βοΈ
- View page source across several on FE to confirm text is there β βοΈ
- Search engines are unblocked from robots.txt β βοΈ
- Webmaster tools account is created/updated β βοΈ
- New sitemap(s) are added β βοΈ
- If using SEO software, check for broken links across the site and fix β βοΈ
- Run product pages through schema markup tool Schema Markup Testing Tool | Google Search Central | Google Developers β βοΈ
- Double check canonical URLs are in place β βοΈ
- Double check href-lang implementation β βοΈ
π¬ Transactional emails
- Guest β βοΈ
- Logged-in user β βοΈ
- New account sign-up β βοΈ
- Forgotten password β βοΈ
- Link to reset the password works and can be reset β βοΈ
π Google Analytics
- Use real-time reports to ensure external traffic is coming through to the website β βοΈ
- Update the site search parameters if necessary to ensure site search queries are recorded β βοΈ
- Update the site search parameters if necessary to ensure site search queries are recorded β βοΈ
- Performance β π± π π»
- Run Google lighthouse audit and compare to the previous website. Address any concerns with your technical team as necessary. β βοΈ
π¨βπ» Third-party service checks
- Site Search β run a re-index and check results are as expected β βοΈ
- Email β sign up for marketing email lists works as expected β βοΈ
- Live chat β βοΈ
- Personalisation software β βοΈ
- Reviews β βοΈ
- Tax extensions β βοΈ
- Shipping extensions β βοΈ
- Reviews β βοΈ
- PSP modules β βοΈ


Launch & Checklist Service
Would you like us to undertake the full checklist before the big day?
Post-Launch Checklist
π° Checkout
- Immediately place an order front end and backend with Live payment credentials and check that all live credentials are working in the live environment (best done by the client/product owner)
π― SEO
- Check entries submitted to Webmaster tools β βοΈ
- Error log and address if necessary β βοΈ
- Sitemap(s) have been successfully read β βοΈ
- The Robots file is valid β βοΈ
- Spot check search listings to ensure β βοΈ
- Title tags are displaying in results as expected β βοΈ
- Meta descriptions are pulling through correctly β βοΈ
- Schema markup is showing where necessary β βοΈ
- Review ratings where applicable are displaying β βοΈ
- The XML sitemap is updated daily. β βοΈ
- XML sitemap is present at [DOMAIN]sitemap/sitemap.xml β βοΈ
- New content and images added to the site are optimised β βοΈ
π Google Analytics / GTM
- Organic traffic registering activity. Use real-time reports to ensure external traffic is coming through to the website β βοΈ
- Direct traffic registering activity β βοΈ
- Referral traffic registering activity β βοΈ
- Search is being recorded in GA β βοΈ
- Direct traffic registering activity β βοΈ
- Enhanced eCommerce is enabled and tracking β βοΈ
- If using GTM, all tags are firing as expected β βοΈ
π¬ Transactional emails
- Emails are received in the inbox from user actions β βοΈ
Summary
Launching any business-critical website is a challenge full of expected and unexpected challenges.
FAQS
Is there an Official Adobe Commerce launch checklist for Magento?
Yes, there is. However, itβs not as comprehensive as the Rixxo one.
Adobe Commerce Launch Checklist β download the PDF from this page
Launch Steps
How do I get a copy of the Advanced Magento Launch Checklist?
Right now our Advanced Launch Checklist is reserved for client use. We use it during our Launch Checklist Service, launching our own B2B eCommerce websites and when doing services like SEO Audits or Consulting.
If youβre interested in getting hold of a copy then consider taking advantage of our 1-Hour Free Magento Consulting offer.