pipelock posture verify is one of the most useful operator additions in v2.2.0 because it turns a signed posture capsule into a deployment decision.
Instead of treating posture output as a report someone might read later, you can gate CI or release automation on it.
What it verifies
pipelock posture verify evaluates a signed posture capsule against:
- integrity requirements
- age requirements
- a named policy
- an optional minimum score
That gives you a binary answer for automation and a structured explanation for humans.
Basic command
pipelock posture verify capsule.json --policy enterprise
Useful flags include:
--policy enterprise|strict|none--min-score--max-age--max-receipt-age--require-discovery--json
Exit codes that actually help automation
The important detail is that the command separates integrity failures from policy failures.
0: verification passed1: verification could not complete or integrity failed2: verification completed, but policy gates did not pass
That means CI can distinguish:
- “the proof is broken”
- from “the proof is valid, but the deployment does not meet our bar”
Without that split, every failure looks the same and operators end up ignoring the signal.
Policy choices
enterprise
A practical default when you want a strong posture check without treating every missing signal as a hard stop.
strict
Use this when you want posture verification to fail on gaps that would otherwise look vacuously clean. In v2.2.0, strict mode closes the zero-discovered-server loophole instead of scoring it as a meaningless pass.
none
Useful for integrity-only flows where you only care whether the capsule is valid and recent.
CI pattern
The cleanest rollout is:
- generate the capsule during assessment or deployment verification
- verify it in CI
- block promotion when the result is
1or2
Example:
pipelock posture verify capsule.json --policy enterprise --min-score 85 --json
If you are staging a rollout, start with enterprise, inspect real failures, then decide whether strict should gate production.
What it is not
pipelock posture verify is not a replacement for:
pipelock check --config- live canary testing
- operator recovery drills
It is a verification layer for signed evidence, not a substitute for runtime testing.
Recommended use
Use posture verification when:
- you want a machine-checkable promotion gate
- you need a clean separation between integrity failure and policy failure
- auditors or internal reviewers care about signed operational evidence
If you are already generating assessments, this is the shortest path from “we have evidence” to “we enforce based on evidence.”