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bagelhole/devops-security-agent-skills/model-registry-governance
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version: "1.0.0" name: model-registry-governance description: Establish model registry standards, governance controls, metadata schemas, approvals, and lifecycle policies for enterprise AI deployments. license: MIT metadata: author: devops-skills version: "1.0"


Model Registry Governance

Create a trustworthy system of record for model artifacts, prompts, adapters, and evaluation evidence.

When to Use This Skill

  • Setting up a centralized model registry for your organization
  • Defining metadata standards for model artifacts
  • Building approval workflows for model promotion to production
  • Implementing lifecycle policies for model retirement
  • Preparing for compliance audits of AI systems

Prerequisites

  • MLflow Tracking Server or Weights & Biases instance deployed
  • Object storage for model artifacts (S3, GCS, or MinIO)
  • CI/CD pipeline with access to the registry API
  • OPA or similar policy engine for governance checks
  • Git repository for policy definitions and promotion scripts

Core Principles

  • Traceability: every production model maps to source code, data snapshot, and evaluation results.
  • Reproducibility: builds are deterministic with pinned dependencies.
  • Policy-driven promotion: no manual bypass for critical safety checks.
  • Lifecycle hygiene: stale, vulnerable, or unowned models are retired automatically.

MLflow Registry Setup

bash
# Install MLflow with required backends
pip install mlflow[extras] psycopg2-binary boto3
# Start MLflow tracking server with PostgreSQL backend and S3 artifact store
mlflow server \
--backend-store-uri postgresql://mlflow:password@db:5432/mlflow \
--default-artifact-root s3://mlflow-artifacts/models \
--host 0.0.0.0 \
--port 5000 \
--serve-artifacts
yaml
# docker-compose.yaml for MLflow
services:
mlflow:
image: ghcr.io/mlflow/mlflow:2.12.0
command: >
mlflow server
--backend-store-uri postgresql://mlflow:${DB_PASSWORD}@db:5432/mlflow
--default-artifact-root s3://mlflow-artifacts/models
--host 0.0.0.0
--port 5000
--serve-artifacts
ports:
- "5000:5000"
environment:
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
depends_on:
- db
db:
image: postgres:16-alpine
environment:
POSTGRES_DB: mlflow
POSTGRES_USER: mlflow
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
volumes:
- pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
pgdata:

Required Metadata Schema

python
# model_metadata_schema.py
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from typing import List, Optional
from datetime import datetime
from enum import Enum
class LifecycleState(str, Enum):
DRAFT = "draft"
CANDIDATE = "candidate"
APPROVED = "approved"
DEPRECATED = "deprecated"
RETIRED = "retired"
class RiskRating(str, Enum):
LOW = "low"
MEDIUM = "medium"
HIGH = "high"
CRITICAL = "critical"
class ModelMetadata(BaseModel):
"""Required metadata for every registered model."""
# Identity
name: str = Field(description="Model name matching registry key")
version: str = Field(description="Semantic version")
checksum: str = Field(description="SHA-256 of model artifact")
storage_uri: str = Field(description="Artifact store path")
# Lineage
base_model: str = Field(description="Parent model identifier")
fine_tune_method: Optional[str] = Field(default=None)
training_dataset: Optional[str] = Field(default=None)
training_date: Optional[datetime] = Field(default=None)
source_commit: str = Field(description="Git SHA of training code")
# Evaluation
eval_datasets: List[str] = Field(description="Evaluation dataset IDs")
eval_report_uri: str = Field(description="Path to evaluation results")
quality_score: float = Field(ge=0, le=1)
safety_score: float = Field(ge=0, le=1)
# Governance
license: str = Field(description="SPDX license identifier")
allowed_use_cases: List[str]
prohibited_use_cases: List[str]
risk_rating: RiskRating
security_controls: List[str]
# Ownership
owner: str = Field(description="Primary owner email")
backup_owner: str = Field(description="Backup owner email")
escalation_contact: str
team: str
# Lifecycle
state: LifecycleState = LifecycleState.DRAFT
created_at: datetime = Field(default_factory=datetime.utcnow)
approved_at: Optional[datetime] = None
approved_by: Optional[str] = None
expires_at: Optional[datetime] = None

Model Registration Script

python
# register_model.py
import mlflow
from mlflow.tracking import MlflowClient
import json
import hashlib
def register_model(
model_path: str,
model_name: str,
metadata: dict,
mlflow_uri: str = "http://mlflow:5000"
):
"""Register a model with full metadata and governance tags."""
mlflow.set_tracking_uri(mlflow_uri)
client = MlflowClient()
# Compute artifact checksum
with open(model_path, "rb") as f:
checksum = hashlib.sha256(f.read()).hexdigest()
metadata["checksum"] = checksum
# Log model with metadata
with mlflow.start_run(run_name=f"register-{model_name}-{metadata['version']}") as run:
# Log all metadata as params
mlflow.log_params({
"model_name": model_name,
"version": metadata["version"],
"base_model": metadata["base_model"],
"risk_rating": metadata["risk_rating"],
"owner": metadata["owner"],
"license": metadata["license"],
})
# Log quality metrics
mlflow.log_metrics({
"quality_score": metadata["quality_score"],
"safety_score": metadata["safety_score"],
})
# Log full metadata as artifact
with open("metadata.json", "w") as f:
json.dump(metadata, f, indent=2, default=str)
mlflow.log_artifact("metadata.json")
# Log model artifact
mlflow.log_artifact(model_path)
# Register in model registry
model_uri = f"runs:/{run.info.run_id}/model"
result = mlflow.register_model(model_uri, model_name)
# Set lifecycle tags
client.set_model_version_tag(
model_name, result.version, "state", "draft"
)
client.set_model_version_tag(
model_name, result.version, "risk_rating", metadata["risk_rating"]
)
client.set_model_version_tag(
model_name, result.version, "checksum", checksum
)
return result

Approval Workflow

  1. Registration request created from CI.
  2. Security checks (artifact scan, dependency scan, provenance).
  3. Evaluation package uploaded (quality, toxicity, jailbreak, bias, latency, cost).
  4. Required approvals: platform + product + security (as policy dictates).
  5. Promotion to stage/prod based on signed decision record.

Promotion Script

python
# promote_model.py
import mlflow
from mlflow.tracking import MlflowClient
from datetime import datetime
import sys
def promote_model(
model_name: str,
version: str,
target_stage: str,
approver: str,
mlflow_uri: str = "http://mlflow:5000"
):
"""Promote a model version after governance checks pass."""
mlflow.set_tracking_uri(mlflow_uri)
client = MlflowClient()
# Verify current state allows promotion
mv = client.get_model_version(model_name, version)
current_state = mv.tags.get("state", "draft")
valid_transitions = {
"draft": ["candidate"],
"candidate": ["approved", "draft"],
"approved": ["deprecated"],
"deprecated": ["retired"],
}
if target_stage not in valid_transitions.get(current_state, []):
raise ValueError(
f"Invalid transition: {current_state} -> {target_stage}. "
f"Allowed: {valid_transitions.get(current_state, [])}"
)
# Verify required eval scores for production promotion
if target_stage == "approved":
run = client.get_run(mv.run_id)
quality = float(run.data.metrics.get("quality_score", 0))
safety = float(run.data.metrics.get("safety_score", 0))
if quality < 0.85:
raise ValueError(f"Quality score {quality} below threshold 0.85")
if safety < 0.95:
raise ValueError(f"Safety score {safety} below threshold 0.95")
# Record promotion
now = datetime.utcnow().isoformat()
client.set_model_version_tag(model_name, version, "state", target_stage)
client.set_model_version_tag(model_name, version, f"promoted_to_{target_stage}_at", now)
client.set_model_version_tag(model_name, version, f"promoted_to_{target_stage}_by", approver)
# Transition MLflow stage alias
stage_map = {
"candidate": "Staging",
"approved": "Production",
"deprecated": "Archived",
}
if target_stage in stage_map:
client.transition_model_version_stage(
model_name, version, stage_map[target_stage]
)
print(f"Model {model_name} v{version}: {current_state} -> {target_stage}")
print(f"Approved by: {approver} at {now}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
promote_model(
model_name=sys.argv[1],
version=sys.argv[2],
target_stage=sys.argv[3],
approver=sys.argv[4],
)

Lifecycle States

StateDescriptionServing AllowedNew Usage
draftInternal experimentationDev onlyDev only
candidatePassed baseline testsStagingStaging
approvedAuthorized for productionAll environmentsYes
deprecatedReplacement announcedExisting onlyBlocked
retiredArchived for auditNoneNone

Lifecycle Automation

python
# lifecycle_policy.py
from mlflow.tracking import MlflowClient
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def enforce_lifecycle_policies(mlflow_uri: str = "http://mlflow:5000"):
"""Run periodic lifecycle enforcement."""
client = MlflowClient()
for rm in client.search_registered_models():
for mv in client.search_model_versions(f"name='{rm.name}'"):
tags = mv.tags
state = tags.get("state", "draft")
# Auto-deprecate models with expired approvals (90 days)
if state == "approved":
approved_at = tags.get("promoted_to_approved_at")
if approved_at:
approved_date = datetime.fromisoformat(approved_at)
if datetime.utcnow() - approved_date > timedelta(days=90):
print(f"Auto-deprecating {rm.name} v{mv.version}: approval expired")
client.set_model_version_tag(rm.name, mv.version, "state", "deprecated")
client.set_model_version_tag(
rm.name, mv.version, "auto_deprecated_reason", "approval_expired"
)
# Auto-retire deprecated models after 30 days
if state == "deprecated":
deprecated_at = tags.get("promoted_to_deprecated_at")
if deprecated_at:
deprecated_date = datetime.fromisoformat(deprecated_at)
if datetime.utcnow() - deprecated_date > timedelta(days=30):
print(f"Auto-retiring {rm.name} v{mv.version}")
client.set_model_version_tag(rm.name, mv.version, "state", "retired")
client.transition_model_version_stage(
rm.name, mv.version, "Archived"
)
# Flag drafts with no activity for 14 days
if state == "draft":
created = datetime.fromisoformat(mv.creation_timestamp / 1000)
if datetime.utcnow() - created > timedelta(days=14):
print(f"Stale draft: {rm.name} v{mv.version}")

Governance Policies (OPA/Rego)

rego
# policy/model_governance.rego
package model.governance
# Reject artifacts without SBOM
deny[msg] {
not input.metadata.sbom_uri
msg := "Model must include SBOM artifact URI"
}
# Block promotion if critical CVEs remain
deny[msg] {
input.target_state == "approved"
input.security_scan.critical_cves > 0
msg := sprintf("Cannot promote: %d critical CVEs unresolved", [input.security_scan.critical_cves])
}
# Require refreshed evals after prompt changes
deny[msg] {
input.target_state == "approved"
input.prompt_changed
not input.eval_refreshed_after_prompt_change
msg := "Evaluation must be re-run after prompt template changes"
}
# Require minimum eval scores for production
deny[msg] {
input.target_state == "approved"
input.metadata.quality_score < 0.85
msg := sprintf("Quality score %.2f below threshold 0.85", [input.metadata.quality_score])
}
# Require dual approval for high-risk models
deny[msg] {
input.target_state == "approved"
input.metadata.risk_rating == "high"
count(input.approvals) < 2
msg := "High-risk models require at least 2 approvals"
}

Audit Readiness

Maintain immutable records of:

  • Who approved and when
  • Which policy checks executed
  • Which exceptions were granted
  • What model/version served each customer request window

Troubleshooting

IssueDiagnosisResolution
Model registration failsCheck MLflow server connectivity and artifact store permissionsVerify S3/GCS credentials and bucket policy
Promotion blocked by policyReview OPA deny messages in CI outputFix metadata gaps or request policy exception
Stale models not auto-retiringLifecycle cron job not runningCheck CronJob status in Kubernetes
Duplicate model versionsRace condition in CI pipelineAdd locking via registry API or database
Missing eval evidenceEval pipeline skipped or failedRe-run eval suite and re-register

Related Skills

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