A system such as a service of a computing resource service provider, a directory service, a directory server, or any suitable system includes executable code that, if executed by one or more processors, causes the system to perform a first stage of a multi-stage deployment of a first directory schema by at least providing a second directory schema to a first computer system, wherein the first computer system is associated with a directory configured according to the first directory schema and causing the first computer system to reconfigure the directory according to the second directory schema The system may also determine, based on a result of reconfiguring the directory, whether to proceed to a second stage of the multi-stage deployment of the first directory schema. The system may be utilized as part of a directory schema update process wherein a multi-stage deployment pipeline is utilized.