---
title: Environments
description: Deployment targets inside a project, the mode that decides which keys may touch them, and where secrets live.
type: reference
product: platform
summary: A deployment target inside a project; its mode decides which keys may touch it.
updated: 2026-09-28
order: 2
---

An environment is a deployment target inside a project. You deploy a service
into one environment, and the environment's mode decides which keys may touch
it.

## What an environment is

An environment's path is `orgs/{org}/projects/{project}/envs/{env}`, and its id
starts with `env_`.

The slug is a short lowercase name, unique within the project. The slugs the
platform's own tooling uses are `production`, `staging`, `development` and
`preview`.

## Mode

`mode` is `live` or `test`. A key's mode must match the environment's mode, so a
`test` key cannot touch a `live` environment.

Of the usual slugs, only `production` maps to `live` mode.

## Listing and managing environments

<CodeTabs>
	<CodeTab
		label="CLI"
		language="bash"
		code={`sylphx access envs list`}
	/>
	<CodeTab
		label="cURL"
		language="bash"
		code={`curl https://api.sylphx.com/v1/orgs/{org}/projects/{project}/envs \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYLPHX_API_KEY"`}
	/>
</CodeTabs>

The command takes the project from the project you are linked to. The client
library reads the same path with the same key, so the command, the call and the
library return the same environments.

Listing is what is served on the one API today. A project's environments are
created with the project (`production` and `preview`), and managed through the
project routes: `GET /v1/projects/{id}/environments` and
`PATCH /v1/projects/{id}/environments/{env_id}`. The `create`, `update` and
`delete` commands of `sylphx access envs` are in the CLI's command list, but
the one API does not serve them.

## Secrets live in an environment

A secret and a binding to it live in one environment: a `Secret` and a
`SecretBinding` belong to a single environment, and a binding delivers a value
to a workload in that same environment.

A binding delivers its value in one of three forms:

- `env_var`, an environment variable in the workload.
- `file`, a file the workload reads.
- `egress`, an outbound request header injected on the way out.

Secrets, secret versions and secret bindings are managed through the
`sylphx secrets` commands.

## Limits

A plan bounds projects, members, databases, custom domains and concurrent runs;
it does not bound environments. See
[Plans, usage and limits](/docs/platform/billing-and-limits).

<RelatedDocs
	links={[
		{ href: '/docs/platform/keys-and-scopes', label: 'Keys and scopes' },
		{ href: '/docs/platform/accounts', label: 'Accounts and projects' },
		{ href: '/docs/platform/billing-and-limits', label: 'Plans, usage and limits' },
	]}
/>