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Recipe: Dark launch + shadow traffic

Ship Meridian to production silently, mirror real traffic, and validate detection fidelity before flipping the kill switch.

1. Deploy in observe-only mode

Set MERIDIAN_MODE=shadow. The loader injects, fingerprints, and reports telemetry but never blocks or terminates.

2. Mirror production traffic

Route a percentage of real sessions through the shadow path via feature flag or canary deployment. Start at 1% and ramp over 72 hours.

3. Compare detection signals

Diff shadow telemetry against your existing anti-tamper stack. Flag discrepancies: false positives, missed injections, or timing anomalies.

4. Graduated enforcement

Once signal confidence exceeds threshold, switch to MERIDIAN_MODE=enforce. Keep shadow traffic running for one full release cycle as a safety net.

Pro tip: Use thetelemetry dashboardto monitor shadow vs. enforce metrics side-by-side during the transition window.