--- stage: Configure group: Configure info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments type: reference disqus_identifier: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments.html' --- # Environments and deployments **(FREE)** Environments describe where code is deployed. Each time [GitLab CI/CD](../yaml/index.md) deploys a version of code to an environment, a deployment is created. GitLab: - Provides a full history of deployments to each environment. - Tracks your deployments, so you always know what is deployed on your servers. If you have a deployment service like [Kubernetes](../../user/infrastructure/clusters/index.md) associated with your project, you can use it to assist with your deployments. ## View environments and deployments Prerequisites: - You must have at least the Reporter role. There are a few ways to view a list of environments for a given project: - On the project's overview page, if at least one environment is available (that is, not stopped). ![Number of Environments](img/environments_project_home.png "Incremental counter of available Environments") - On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. The environments are displayed. ![Environments list](img/environments_list_v14_8.png) - To view a list of deployments for an environment, select the environment name, for example, `staging`. ![Deployments list](img/deployments_list.png) Deployments show up in this list only after a deployment job has created them. ## Search environments > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/10754) in GitLab 15.5. > - [Searching environments within a folder](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/373850) was introduced in GitLab 15.7 with [Feature flag `enable_environments_search_within_folder`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/382108). Enabled by default. To search environments by name: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. In the search bar, enter your search term. - The length of your **search term should be 3 or more characters**. - Matching applies from the beginning of the environment name. - For example, `devel` matches the environment name `development`, but `elop` does not. - For environments with a folder name format, matching applies after the base folder name. - For example when the name is `review/test-app`, search term `test` matches `review/test-app`. - Also searching with the folder name prefixed like `review/test` matches `review/test-app`. ## Types of environments An environment is either static or dynamic: - Static environment - Usually reused by successive deployments. - Has a static name - for example, `staging` or `production`. - Created manually or as part of a CI/CD pipeline. - Dynamic environment - Usually created in a CI/CD pipeline and used by only a single deployment, then either stopped or deleted. - Has a dynamic name, usually based on the value of a CI/CD variable. - A feature of [review apps](../review_apps/index.md). ### Create a static environment You can create a static environment in the UI or in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. #### In the UI Prerequisites: - You must have at least the Developer role. To create a static environment in the UI: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Select **New environment**. 1. Complete the fields. 1. Select **Save**. #### In your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file Prerequisites: - You must have at least the Developer role. To create a static environment, in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file: 1. Define a job in the `deploy` stage. 1. In the job, define the environment `name` and `url`. If an environment of that name doesn't exist when the pipeline runs, it is created. NOTE: Some characters cannot be used in environment names. For more information about the `environment` keywords, see the [`.gitlab-ci.yml` keyword reference](../yaml/index.md#environment). For example, to create an environment named `staging`, with URL `https://staging.example.com`: ```yaml deploy_staging: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy to staging server" environment: name: staging url: https://staging.example.com ``` ### Create a dynamic environment To create a dynamic environment, you use [CI/CD variables](../variables/index.md) that are unique to each pipeline. Prerequisites: - You must have at least the Developer role. To create a dynamic environment, in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file: 1. Define a job in the `deploy` stage. 1. In the job, define the following environment attributes: - `name`: Use a related CI/CD variable like `$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG`. Optionally, add a static prefix to the environment's name, which [groups in the UI](#group-similar-environments) all environments with the same prefix. - `url`: Optional. Prefix the hostname with a related CI/CD variable like `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG`. NOTE: Some characters cannot be used in environment names. For more information about the `environment` keywords, see the [`.gitlab-ci.yml` keyword reference](../yaml/index.md#environment). In the following example, every time the `deploy_review_app` job runs the environment's name and URL are defined using unique values. ```yaml deploy_review_app: stage: deploy script: make deploy environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com only: - branches except: - main ``` ### Rename an environment > - Renaming an environment by using the UI was [removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/68550) in GitLab 14.3. > - Renaming an environment by using the API was [deprecated](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/338897) in GitLab 15.9 and is planned for removal in GitLab 16.0. You cannot rename an environment by using the UI, and the API method was deprecated in GitLab 15.9. To achieve the same result as renaming an environment: 1. [Stop the existing environment](#stop-an-environment-through-the-ui). 1. [Delete the existing environment](#delete-an-environment). 1. [Create a new environment](#create-a-static-environment) with the desired name. ## Deployment tier of environments > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/300741) in GitLab 13.10. Sometimes, instead of using an [industry standard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deployment_environment) environment name, like `production`, you might want to use a code name, like `customer-portal`. While there is no technical reason not to use a name like `customer-portal`, the name no longer indicates that the environment is used for production. To indicate that a specific environment is for a specific use, you can use tiers: | Environment tier | Environment name examples | |------------------|----------------------------------------------------| | `production` | Production, Live | | `staging` | Staging, Model, Demo | | `testing` | Test, QC | | `development` | Dev, [Review apps](../review_apps/index.md), Trunk | | `other` | | By default, GitLab assumes a tier based on [the environment name](../yaml/index.md#environmentname). Instead, you can use the [`deployment_tier` keyword](../yaml/index.md#environmentdeployment_tier) to specify a tier. ## Configure manual deployments You can create a job that requires someone to manually start the deployment. For example: ```yaml deploy_prod: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy to production server" environment: name: production url: https://example.com rules: - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH when: manual ``` The `when: manual` action: - Exposes a play button for the job in the GitLab UI, with the text **Can be manually deployed to <environment>**. - Means the `deploy_prod` job is only triggered when the play button is selected. You can find the play button in the pipelines, environments, deployments, and jobs views. ## Configure Kubernetes deployments (deprecated) > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/27630) in GitLab 12.6. > - [Deprecated](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/configure/-/epics/8) in GitLab 14.5. WARNING: This feature was [deprecated](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/configure/-/epics/8) in GitLab 14.5. If you are deploying to a [Kubernetes cluster](../../user/infrastructure/clusters/index.md) associated with your project, you can configure these deployments from your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. NOTE: Kubernetes configuration isn't supported for Kubernetes clusters [managed by GitLab](../../user/project/clusters/gitlab_managed_clusters.md). The following configuration options are supported: - [`namespace`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/) In the following example, the job deploys your application to the `production` Kubernetes namespace. ```yaml deploy: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy to production server" environment: name: production url: https://example.com kubernetes: namespace: production rules: - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH ``` When you use the GitLab Kubernetes integration to deploy to a Kubernetes cluster, you can view cluster and namespace information. On the deployment job page, it's displayed above the job trace: ![Deployment cluster information](../img/environments_deployment_cluster_v12_8.png) ### Configure incremental rollouts Learn how to release production changes to only a portion of your Kubernetes pods with [incremental rollouts](../environments/incremental_rollouts.md). ## CI/CD variables for environments and deployments When you create an environment, you specify the name and URL. If you want to use the name or URL in another job, you can use: - `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME`. The name defined in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. - `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG`. A "cleaned-up" version of the name, suitable for use in URL and DNS, for example. This variable is guaranteed to be unique. - `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. The environment's URL, which was specified in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file or automatically assigned. If you change the name of an existing environment, the: - `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME` variable is updated with the new environment name. - `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` variable remains unchanged to prevent unintended side effects. ## Set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/17066) in GitLab 12.9. In a job script, you can specify a static environment URL. However, there may be times when you want a dynamic URL. For example, if you deploy a Review App to an external hosting service that generates a random URL per deployment, like `https://94dd65b.amazonaws.com/qa-lambda-1234567`. In this case, you don't know the URL before the deployment script finishes. If you want to use the environment URL in GitLab, you would have to update it manually. To address this problem, you can configure a deployment job to report back a set of variables. These variables include the URL that was dynamically-generated by the external service. GitLab supports the [dotenv (`.env`)](https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv) file format, and expands the `environment:url` value with variables defined in the `.env` file. To use this feature, specify the [`artifacts:reports:dotenv`](../yaml/artifacts_reports.md#artifactsreportsdotenv) keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`. For an overview, see [Set dynamic URLs after a job finished](https://youtu.be/70jDXtOf4Ig). ### Example of setting dynamic environment URLs The following example shows a Review App that creates a new environment for each merge request. The `review` job is triggered by every push, and creates or updates an environment named `review/your-branch-name`. The environment URL is set to `$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`: ```yaml review: script: - DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$(deploy-script) # In script, get the environment URL. - echo "DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL" >> deploy.env # Add the value to a dotenv file. artifacts: reports: dotenv: deploy.env # Report back dotenv file to rails. environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL # and set the variable produced in script to `environment:url` on_stop: stop_review stop_review: script: - ./teardown-environment when: manual environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop ``` As soon as the `review` job finishes, GitLab updates the `review/your-branch-name` environment's URL. It parses the `deploy.env` report artifact, registers a list of variables as runtime-created, uses it for expanding `environment:url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` and sets it to the environment URL. You can also specify a static part of the URL at `environment:url`, such as `https://$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. If the value of `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` is `example.com`, the final result is `https://example.com`. The assigned URL for the `review/your-branch-name` environment is visible in the UI. Note the following: - `stop_review` doesn't generate a dotenv report artifact, so it doesn't recognize the `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` environment variable. Therefore you shouldn't set `environment:url` in the `stop_review` job. - If the environment URL isn't valid (for example, the URL is malformed), the system doesn't update the environment URL. - If the script that runs in `stop_review` exists only in your repository and therefore can't use `GIT_STRATEGY: none`, configure [merge request pipelines](../../ci/pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md) for these jobs. This ensures that runners can fetch the repository even after a feature branch is deleted. For more information, see [Ref Specs for Runners](../pipelines/index.md#ref-specs-for-runners). NOTE: For Windows runners, using `echo` to write to `.env` files may fail. Using the PowerShell `Add-Content`command helps in such cases. For example: ```powershell Add-Content -Path deploy.env -Value "DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL" ``` ## Track newly included merge requests per deployment GitLab can track newly included merge requests per deployment. When a deployment succeeded, the system calculates commit-diffs between the latest deployment and the previous deployment. This tracking information can be fetched via the [Deployment API](../../api/deployments.md#list-of-merge-requests-associated-with-a-deployment) and displayed at a post-merge pipeline in [merge request pages](../../user/project/merge_requests/index.md). To activate this tracking, your environment must be configured in the following: - [Environment name](../yaml/index.md#environmentname) is not using folders with `/` (that is, top-level/long-lived environments), _OR_ - [Environment tier](#deployment-tier-of-environments) is either `production` or `staging`. Here are the example setups of [`environment` keyword](../yaml/index.md#environment) in `.gitlab-ci.yml`: ```yaml # Trackable environment: production environment: production/aws environment: development # Non Trackable environment: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG environment: testing/aws ``` ## Working with environments Once environments are configured, GitLab provides many features for working with them, as documented below. ### Environment rollback When you roll back a deployment on a specific commit, a _new_ deployment is created. This deployment has its own unique job ID. It points to the commit you're rolling back to. For the rollback to succeed, the deployment process must be defined in the job's `script`. #### Retry or roll back a deployment If there is a problem with a deployment, you can retry it or roll it back. To retry or rollback a deployment: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Select the environment. 1. To the right of the deployment name: - To retry a deployment, select **Re-deploy to environment**. - To roll back to a deployment, next to a previously successful deployment, select **Rollback environment**. NOTE: If you have [prevented outdated deployment jobs](deployment_safety.md#prevent-outdated-deployment-jobs) in your project, the rollback buttons might be hidden or disabled. In this case, see [how to rollback to an outdated deployment](deployment_safety.md#how-to-rollback-to-an-outdated-deployment). ### Environment URL > - [Fixed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/337417) to persist arbitrary URLs in GitLab 15.2 [with a flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `soft_validation_on_external_url`. Disabled by default. > - [Generally available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/337417) in GitLab 15.3. [Feature flag `soft_validation_on_external_url`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/367206) removed. The [environment URL](../yaml/index.md#environmenturl) is displayed in a few places in GitLab: - In a merge request as a link: ![Environment URL in merge request](../img/environments_mr_review_app.png) - In the Environments view as a button: ![Open live environment from environments view](img/environments_open_live_environment_v14_8.png) - In the Deployments view as a button: ![Environment URL in deployments](../img/deployments_view.png) You can see this information in a merge request if: - The merge request is eventually merged to the default branch (usually `main`). - That branch also deploys to an environment (for example, `staging` or `production`). For example: ![Environment URLs in merge request](../img/environments_link_url_mr.png) #### Go from source files to public pages With GitLab [Route Maps](../review_apps/index.md#route-maps), you can go directly from source files to public pages in the environment set for Review Apps. ### Stop an environment When you stop an environment: - On the **Environments** page, it moves from the list of **Available** environments to the list of **Stopped** environments. - An [`on_stop` action](../yaml/index.md#environmenton_stop), if defined, is executed. There are multiple ways to clean up [dynamic environments](#create-a-dynamic-environment): - If you use [merge request pipelines](../pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md), GitLab stops an environment [when a merge request is merged or closed](#stop-an-environment-when-a-merge-request-is-merged-or-closed). - If you do _NOT_ use [merge request pipelines](../pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md), GitLab stops an environment [when the associated feature branch is deleted](#stop-an-environment-when-a-branch-is-deleted). - If you set [an expiry period to an environment](../yaml/index.md#environmentauto_stop_in), GitLab stops an environment [when it's expired](#stop-an-environment-after-a-certain-time-period). To stop stale environments, you can [use the API](../../api/environments.md#stop-stale-environments). #### Stop an environment when a branch is deleted You can configure environments to stop when a branch is deleted. The following example shows a `deploy_review` job that calls a `stop_review` job to clean up and stop the environment. ```yaml deploy_review: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy a review app" environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com on_stop: stop_review stop_review: stage: deploy script: - echo "Remove review app" environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop when: manual ``` Both jobs must have the same [`rules`](../yaml/index.md#rules) or [`only/except`](../yaml/index.md#only--except) configuration. Otherwise, the `stop_review` job might not be included in all pipelines that include the `deploy_review` job, and you cannot trigger `action: stop` to stop the environment automatically. The job with [`action: stop` might not run](#the-job-with-action-stop-doesnt-run) if it's in a later stage than the job that started the environment. If you can't use [merge request pipelines](../pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md), set the [`GIT_STRATEGY`](../runners/configure_runners.md#git-strategy) to `none` in the `stop_review` job. Then the [runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) doesn't try to check out the code after the branch is deleted. Read more in the [`.gitlab-ci.yml` reference](../yaml/index.md#environmenton_stop). #### Stop an environment when a merge request is merged or closed > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/issues/60885) in GitLab 11.10. You can configure environments to stop when a merge request is merged or closed. This stop trigger is automatically enabled when you use [merge request pipelines](../pipelines/merge_request_pipelines.md). The following example shows a `deploy_review` job that calls a `stop_review` job to clean up and stop the environment. ```yaml deploy_review: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy a review app" environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG on_stop: stop_review rules: - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID stop_review: stage: deploy script: - echo "Remove review app" environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop rules: - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID when: manual ``` #### Stop an environment when another job is finished You can set an environment to stop when another job is finished. In your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, specify in the [`on_stop`](../yaml/index.md#environmenton_stop) keyword the name of the job that stops the environment. The following example shows a `review_app` job that calls a `stop_review_app` job after the first job is finished. The `stop_review_app` is triggered based on what is defined under `when`. In this case, it is set to `manual`, so it needs a [manual action](../jobs/job_control.md#create-a-job-that-must-be-run-manually) from the GitLab UI to run. Both jobs must have the same rules or only/except configuration. In this example, if the configuration is not identical: - The `stop_review_app` job might not be included in all pipelines that include the `review_app` job. - It is not possible to trigger the `action: stop` to stop the environment automatically. Also in the example, `GIT_STRATEGY` is set to `none`. If the `stop_review_app` job is [automatically triggered](../environments/index.md#stop-an-environment), the runner doesn't try to check out the code after the branch is deleted. The `stop_review_app` job **must** have the following keywords defined: - `when`, defined at either: - [The job level](../yaml/index.md#when). - [In a rules clause](../yaml/index.md#rules). If you use `rules` and `when: manual`, you should also set [`allow_failure: true`](../yaml/index.md#allow_failure) so the pipeline can complete even if the job doesn't run. - `environment:name` - `environment:action` ```yaml review_app: stage: deploy script: make deploy-app environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com on_stop: stop_review_app stop_review_app: stage: deploy variables: GIT_STRATEGY: none script: make delete-app when: manual environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop ``` #### Stop an environment after a certain time period > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/20956) in GitLab 12.8. You can set environments to stop automatically after a certain time period. In your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, specify the [`environment:auto_stop_in`](../yaml/index.md#environmentauto_stop_in) keyword. You can specify a human-friendly date as the value, such as `1 hour and 30 minutes` or `1 day`. After the time period passes, GitLab automatically triggers a job to stop the environment. Due to resource limitations, a background worker for stopping environments only runs once every hour. This means that environments aren't stopped at the exact timestamp specified, but are instead stopped when the hourly cron worker detects expired environments. In the following example, each merge request creates a Review App environment. Each push triggers the `review_app` job and an environment named `review/your-branch-name` is created or updated. The environment runs until `stop_review_app` is executed: ```yaml review_app: script: deploy-review-app environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG on_stop: stop_review_app auto_stop_in: 1 week rules: - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID stop_review_app: script: stop-review-app environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop rules: - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID when: manual ``` As long as the merge request is active and keeps getting new commits, the Review App doesn't stop. Developers don't need to worry about re-initiating Review App. Because `stop_review_app` is set to `auto_stop_in: 1 week`, if a merge request is inactive for more than a week, GitLab automatically triggers the `stop_review_app` job to stop the environment. #### Stop an environment without running the `on_stop` action There may be times when you want to stop an environment without running the defined [`on_stop`](../yaml/index.md#environmenton_stop) action. For example, you want to delete many environments without using CI/CD minutes. To stop an environment without running the defined `on_stop` action, execute the [Stop an environment API](../../api/environments.md#stop-an-environment) with the parameter `force=true`. #### Stop an environment through the UI NOTE: To trigger an `on_stop` action and manually stop an environment from the Environments view, the stop and deploy jobs must be in the same [`resource_group`](../yaml/index.md#resource_group). To stop an environment in the GitLab UI: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Next to the environment you want to stop, select **Stop**. 1. On the confirmation dialog box, select **Stop environment**. #### Multiple stop actions for an environment > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/22456) in GitLab 14.10 [with a flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `environment_multiple_stop_actions`. Disabled by default. > - [Generally available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/358911) in GitLab 15.0. [Feature flag `environment_multiple_stop_actions`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/86685) removed. This feature is useful when you need to perform multiple **parallel** stop actions on an environment. To configure multiple stop actions on an environment, specify the [`on_stop`](../yaml/index.md#environmenton_stop) keyword across multiple [deployment jobs](../jobs/index.md#deployment-jobs) for the same `environment`, as defined in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. When an environment is stopped, the matching `on_stop` actions from *successful deployment jobs* alone are run in parallel in no particular order. In the following example, for the `test` environment there are two deployment jobs `deploy-to-cloud-a` and `deploy-to-cloud-b`. ```yaml deploy-to-cloud-a: script: echo "Deploy to cloud a" environment: name: test on_stop: teardown-cloud-a deploy-to-cloud-b: script: echo "Deploy to cloud b" environment: name: test on_stop: teardown-cloud-b teardown-cloud-a: script: echo "Delete the resources in cloud a" environment: name: test action: stop when: manual teardown-cloud-b: script: echo "Delete the resources in cloud b" environment: name: test action: stop when: manual ``` When the environment is stopped, the system runs `on_stop` actions `teardown-cloud-a` and `teardown-cloud-b` in parallel. #### View a deployment's scheduled stop time You can view a deployment's expiration date in the GitLab UI. 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Select the name of the deployment. In the upper-left corner, next to the environment name, the expiration date is displayed. #### Override a deployment's scheduled stop time You can manually override a deployment's expiration date. 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Select the deployment name. 1. in the upper-right corner, select the thumbtack (**{thumbtack}**). ![Environment auto stop](img/environment_auto_stop_v13_10.png) The `auto_stop_in` setting is overwritten and the environment remains active until it's stopped manually. ### Delete an environment Delete an environment when you want to remove it and all its deployments. Prerequisites: - You must have at least the Developer role. - You must [stop](#stop-an-environment) the environment before it can be deleted. To delete an environment: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Deployments > Environments**. 1. Select the **Stopped** tab. 1. Next to the environment you want to delete, select **Delete environment**. 1. On the confirmation dialog box, select **Delete environment**. ### Access an environment for preparation or verification purposes > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/208655) in GitLab 13.2. You can define a job that accesses an environment for various purposes, such as verification or preparation. This effectively bypasses deployment creation, so that you can adjust your CD workflow more accurately. To do so, add either `action: prepare`, `action: verify`, or `action: access` to the `environment` section of your job: ```yaml build: stage: build script: - echo "Building the app" environment: name: staging action: prepare url: https://staging.example.com ``` This gives you access to environment-scoped variables, and can be used to protect builds from unauthorized access. Also, it's effective to avoid the [prevent outdated deployment jobs](deployment_safety.md#prevent-outdated-deployment-jobs) feature. ### Group similar environments You can group environments into collapsible sections in the UI. For example, if all of your environments start with the name `review`, then in the UI, the environments are grouped under that heading: ![Environment groups](img/environments_dynamic_groups_v13_10.png) The following example shows how to start your environment names with `review`. The `$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG` variable is populated with the branch name at runtime: ```yaml deploy_review: stage: deploy script: - echo "Deploy a review app" environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG ``` ### Environment incident management Production environments can go down unexpectedly, including for reasons outside of your control. For example, issues with external dependencies, infrastructure, or human error can cause major issues with an environment. Things like: - A dependent cloud service goes down. - A 3rd party library is updated and it's not compatible with your application. - Someone performs a DDoS attack to a vulnerable endpoint in your server. - An operator misconfigures infrastructure. - A bug is introduced into the production application code. You can use [incident management](../../operations/incident_management/index.md) to get alerts when there are critical issues that need immediate attention. #### View the latest alerts for environments **(ULTIMATE)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/214634) in GitLab 13.4. If you [set up alerts for Prometheus metrics](../../operations/metrics/alerts.md), alerts for environments are shown on the environments page. The alert with the highest severity is shown, so you can identify which environments need immediate attention. ![Environment alert](img/alert_for_environment.png) When the issue that triggered the alert is resolved, it is removed and is no longer visible on the environments page. If the alert requires a [rollback](#retry-or-roll-back-a-deployment), you can select the deployment tab from the environment page and select which deployment to roll back to. #### Auto Rollback **(ULTIMATE)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/35404) in GitLab 13.7. In a typical Continuous Deployment workflow, the CI pipeline tests every commit before deploying to production. However, problematic code can still make it to production. For example, inefficient code that is logically correct can pass tests even though it causes severe performance degradation. Operators and SREs monitor the system to catch these problems as soon as possible. If they find a problematic deployment, they can roll back to a previous stable version. GitLab Auto Rollback eases this workflow by automatically triggering a rollback when a [critical alert](../../operations/incident_management/alerts.md) is detected. GitLab selects and redeploys the most recent successful deployment. Limitations of GitLab Auto Rollback: - The rollback is skipped if a deployment is running when the alert is detected. - A rollback can happen only once in three minutes. If multiple alerts are detected at once, only one rollback is performed. GitLab Auto Rollback is turned off by default. To turn it on: 1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project. 1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > CI/CD**. 1. Expand **Automatic deployment rollbacks**. 1. Select the checkbox for **Enable automatic rollbacks**. 1. Select **Save changes**. ### Monitor environments To monitor the behavior of your app as it runs in each environment, enable [Prometheus for monitoring system and response metrics](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md). For the monitoring dashboard to appear, configure Prometheus to collect at least one [supported metric](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md). All deployments to an environment are shown on the monitoring dashboard. You can view changes in performance for each version of your application. GitLab attempts to retrieve [supported performance metrics](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md) for any environment that has had a successful deployment. If monitoring data was successfully retrieved, a **Monitoring** button appears for each environment. To view the last eight hours of performance data, select the **Monitoring** button. It may take a minute or two for data to appear after initial deployment. ![Monitoring dashboard](../img/environments_monitoring.png) #### Embed metrics in GitLab Flavored Markdown Metric charts can be embedded in GitLab Flavored Markdown. See [Embedding Metrics in GitLab Flavored Markdown](../../operations/metrics/embed.md) for more details. ### Web terminals (deprecated) > [Deprecated](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/configure/-/epics/8) in GitLab 14.5. WARNING: This feature was [deprecated](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/configure/-/epics/8) in GitLab 14.5. If you deploy to your environments with the help of a deployment service (for example, the [Kubernetes integration](../../user/infrastructure/clusters/index.md)), GitLab can open a terminal session to your environment. You can then debug issues without leaving your web browser. The Web terminal is a container-based deployment, which often lack basic tools (like an editor), and can be stopped or restarted at any time. If this happens, you lose all your changes. Treat the Web terminal as a debugging tool, not a comprehensive online IDE. Web terminals: - Are available to project Maintainers and Owners only. - Must [be enabled](../../administration/integration/terminal.md). In the UI, you can view the Web terminal by selecting **Terminal** from the actions menu: ![Terminal button on environment index](img/environments_terminal_button_on_index_v14_3.png) You can also access the terminal button from the page for a specific environment: ![Terminal button for an environment](img/environments_terminal_button_on_show_v13_10.png) Select the button to establish the terminal session: ![Terminal page](../img/environments_terminal_page.png) This works like any other terminal. You're in the container created by your deployment so you can: - Run shell commands and get responses in real time. - Check the logs. - Try out configuration or code tweaks. You can open multiple terminals to the same environment. They each get their own shell session and even a multiplexer like `screen` or `tmux`. ### Check out deployments locally A reference in the Git repository is saved for each deployment, so knowing the state of your current environments is only a `git fetch` away. In your Git configuration, append the `[remote ""]` block with an extra fetch line: ```plaintext fetch = +refs/environments/*:refs/remotes/origin/environments/* ``` ### Archive Old Deployments > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/73628) in GitLab 14.5. > - [Enabled on GitLab.com and self-managed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345027) in GitLab 14.6. > - [Generally available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/73628) in GitLab 14.0. [Feature flag `deployments_archive`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345027) removed. When a new deployment happens in your project, GitLab creates [a special Git-ref to the deployment](#check-out-deployments-locally). Since these Git-refs are populated from the remote GitLab repository, you could find that some Git operations, such as `git-fetch` and `git-pull`, become slower as the number of deployments in your project increases. To maintain the efficiency of your Git operations, GitLab keeps only recent deployment refs (up to 50,000) and deletes the rest of the old deployment refs. Archived deployments are still available, in the UI or by using the API, for auditing purposes. Also, you can still fetch the deployed commit from the repository with specifying the commit SHA (for example, `git checkout `), even after archive. NOTE: GitLab preserves all commits as [`keep-around` refs](../../user/project/repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md) so that deployed commits are not garbage collected, even if it's not referenced by the deployment refs. ### Limit the environment scope of a CI/CD variable > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/2112) in GitLab Premium 9.4. > - Environment scoping for CI/CD variables was [moved](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/30779) from GitLab Premium to GitLab Free in 12.2. > - Environment scoping for Group CI/CD variables [added](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/2874) to GitLab Premium in 13.11. By default, all [CI/CD variables](../variables/index.md) are available to any job in a pipeline. Therefore, if a project uses a compromised tool in a test job, it could expose all CI/CD variables that a deployment job used. This is a common scenario in supply chain attacks. GitLab helps mitigate supply chain attacks by limiting the environment scope of a variable. You can limit the environment scope of a CI/CD variable by defining which environments it can be available for. For example, if the environment scope is `production`, then only the jobs with the environment `production` defined would have this specific variable. The default environment scope is a wildcard (`*`), which means that any job can have this variable, regardless of whether an environment is defined. If the environment scope is `review/*`, then jobs with environment names starting with `review/` would have that variable available. In most cases, these features use the _environment specs_ mechanism, which offers an efficient way to implement scoping in each environment group. For example, if there are four environments: - `production` - `staging` - `review/feature-1` - `review/feature-2` Each environment can be matched with the following environment spec: | Environment Spec | `production` | `staging` | `review/feature-1` | `review/feature-2` | |:-----------------|:-------------|:----------|:-------------------|:-------------------| | * | Matched | Matched | Matched | Matched | | production | Matched | | | | | staging | | Matched | | | | review/* | | | Matched | Matched | | review/feature-1 | | | Matched | | You can use specific matching to select a particular environment. You can also use wildcard matching (`*`) to select a particular environment group, like [Review Apps](../review_apps/index.md) (`review/*`). The most specific spec takes precedence over the other wildcard matching. In this case, the `review/feature-1` spec takes precedence over `review/*` and `*` specs. ## Related topics - [Use GitLab CI to deploy to multiple environments (blog post)](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2021/02/05/ci-deployment-and-environments/) - [Review Apps](../review_apps/index.md): Use dynamic environments to deploy your code for every branch. - [Deploy boards](../../user/project/deploy_boards.md): View the status of your applications running on Kubernetes. - [Protected environments](protected_environments.md): Determine who can deploy code to your environments. - [Environments Dashboard](../environments/environments_dashboard.md): View a summary of each environment's operational health. **(PREMIUM)** - [Deployment safety](deployment_safety.md#restrict-write-access-to-a-critical-environment): Secure your deployments. - [Track deployments of an external deployment tool](external_deployment_tools.md): Use an external deployment tool instead of built-in deployment solution. ## Troubleshooting ### The job with `action: stop` doesn't run In some cases, environments do not [stop when a branch is deleted](#stop-an-environment-when-a-branch-is-deleted). For example, the environment might start in a stage that also has a job that failed. Then the jobs in later stages job don't start. If the job with the `action: stop` for the environment is also in a later stage, it can't start and the environment isn't deleted. To ensure the `action: stop` can always run when needed, you can: - Put both jobs in the same stage: ```yaml stages: - build - test - deploy ... deploy_review: stage: deploy environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com on_stop: stop_review stop_review: stage: deploy environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop when: manual ``` - Add a [`needs`](../yaml/index.md#needs) entry to the `action: stop` job so the job can start out of stage order: ```yaml stages: - build - test - deploy - cleanup ... deploy_review: stage: deploy environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com on_stop: stop_review stop_review: stage: cleanup needs: - deploy_review environment: name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG action: stop when: manual ``` ### A deployment job failed with "This job could not be executed because it would create an environment with an invalid parameter" error > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/21182) in GitLab 14.4. If your project is configured to [create a dynamic environment](#create-a-dynamic-environment), you might encounter this error because the dynamically generated parameter can't be used for creating an environment. For example, your project has the following `.gitlab-ci.yml`: ```yaml deploy: script: echo environment: production/$ENVIRONMENT ``` Since `$ENVIRONMENT` variable does not exist in the pipeline, GitLab tries to create an environment with a name `production/`, which is invalid in [the environment name constraint](../yaml/index.md). To fix this, use one of the following solutions: - Remove `environment` keyword from the deployment job. GitLab has already been ignoring the invalid keyword, therefore your deployment pipelines stay intact even after the keyword removal. - Ensure the variable exists in the pipeline. Review the [limitation on supported variables](../variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md#gitlab-ciyml-file). #### If you get this error on Review Apps For example, if you have the following in your `.gitlab-ci.yml`: ```yaml review: script: deploy review app environment: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME ``` When you create a new merge request with a branch name `bug-fix!`, the `review` job tries to create an environment with `review/bug-fix!`. However, the `!` is an invalid character for environments, so the deployment job fails since it was about to run without an environment. To fix this, use one of the following solutions: - Re-create your feature branch without the invalid characters, such as `bug-fix`. - Replace the `CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` [predefined variable](../variables/predefined_variables.md) with `CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG` which strips any invalid characters: ```yaml review: script: deploy review app environment: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG ``` ### Deployment refs are not found Starting from GitLab 14.5, GitLab [deletes old deployment refs](#archive-old-deployments) to keep your Git repository performant. If you have to restore archived Git-refs, ask an administrator of your self-managed GitLab instance to execute the following command on Rails console: ```ruby Project.find_by_full_path().deployments.where(archived: true).each(&:create_ref) ``` GitLab might drop this support in the future for the performance concern. You can open an issue in [GitLab Issue Tracker](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/new) to discuss the behavior of this feature.