Deployment environments

Deployment environments let the same project use different configuration for testing and production traffic.

Easel provides two deployment environments:

Preview
Production

The environment is selected when the deployment is created. It determines which environment variables and environment-specific settings are used during the build and at runtime.

Preview

Preview deployments are for changes that are not yet serving production traffic.

They are commonly created from:

Non-production branches
CLI deployments without --prod

Preview deployments let you test application behavior using Preview configuration without modifying production domains.

A Preview deployment receives a unique deployment URL. Git-connected deployments also update a stable branch preview URL after the deployment reaches Ready, and a pull request preview URL when an open pull request exists for that branch.

Production

Production deployments are for live traffic.

They are commonly created from:

The configured production branch
easel deploy --prod
The dashboard Deploy action
Promoting a Preview deployment (rebuilds with Production configuration)

Production deployments use Production environment variables and settings.

A Production deployment may become the current production deployment automatically or stay Staged until you promote it, depending on Auto-assign production domains.

Environment comparison

	Preview	Production
Primary purpose	Test changes	Serve live traffic
Typical Git source	Feature branch	Production branch
Environment variables	Preview	Production
Unique deployment URL	Yes	Yes
Stable branch or PR URL	Yes	Not for production traffic
Can serve production domains	No	Yes, when Current

Environment variables

Variables can have different values in Preview and Production.

For example:

DATABASE_URL
  Preview:    preview database
  Production: production database

When a deployment is created, Easel snapshots the resolved variable values for that environment. The build and runtime use that snapshot. Changing variables later does not alter an existing deployment; create a new deployment to pick up updates.

You can also set preview branch overrides in Project settings → Environment Variables for branch-specific Preview values.

Do not place secrets directly in source control. Configure them in Project settings → Environment Variables.

Environment and traffic are separate

A deployment's environment describes its configuration. It does not, by itself, describe whether the deployment currently receives production traffic.

For example, a Production deployment can be:

Building
Ready but not Current (Staged)
Current
Superseded by a newer Current deployment
Restored during Instant Rollback

This separation lets Easel finish a production-ready release before changing production routing.

Auto-assign production domains

In Project settings → Environments, turn Auto-assign production domains on or off. It is on by default.

On: When a Production deployment becomes Ready, Easel assigns the production hostname and live custom domains to it and marks it Current.
Off: Production builds still complete as Staged. They do not receive production domains until you promote them.

Use auto-assign off when you want to verify a Production build before it goes live. Instant Rollback also turns auto-assign off until you undo the rollback or promote a newer Production deployment. See Rolling back deployments.

Changing the production branch

Configure the production branch in Project settings → Environments.

Changing the production branch affects future Git-triggered deployments only. It does not rewrite or reclassify deployments that already exist.

After changing the production branch:

New pushes to the selected branch create Production deployments.
New pushes to other branches create Preview deployments.
Existing branch URLs and deployment URLs keep their existing identity.
Auto-assign continues to apply to new Ready Production deployments according to the project setting.

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