export const metadata = {
  title: `Environments`,
}

# {metadata.title}

In this guide, you'll learn about environments in Cloud, how to create and manage them, and how to use preview environments.

## Environments Overview

A Cloud project can have multiple environments, each representing a different stage of your application. For example, you can have a Production environment for your live application, and a Staging environment for testing new features.

Each environment has its own deployed Medusa backend, admin dashboard, and storefront. It also has its own resources, such as a database and server instance.

By default, a project has at least a Production environment, and you can create custom environments based on your development needs.

Environments are useful to test changes in production-like conditions before actually pushing them to production. You can test out new features, bug fixes, and integrations without affecting the live application.

### Environment Types

There are two types of environments:

- [Long-lived environments](./long-lived/page.mdx): These are environments that you create for specific branches in your GitHub repository, such as Production or Staging environments.
- [Short-lived Preview environments](./preview/page.mdx): These are environments automatically created for each pull request (PR) towards a branch that has a long-lived environment in Cloud. They're created as a preview for the PR, and are destroyed once the PR is merged or closed.

---

## View Project's Environments on Cloud

To view a project's environments:

1. Make sure you're viewing the [correct organization's dashboard in Cloud](../organizations/page.mdx#switch-organization).
2. Click on the project whose environments you want to view.

In the project's dashboard, you'll find a card for every long-lived environment in your project. For example, you may have Production and Staging cards.

You'll also find a table listing all the preview environments created for the project below the long-lived environment cards.

![Project dashboard showing the environment cards](https://res.cloudinary.com/dza7lstvk/image/upload/v1767787582/Cloud/CleanShot_2026-01-07_at_14.06.03_2x_bane7m.png)