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Overview

Ephemeral environments are temporary, isolated environments that are automatically created for specific purposes (like feature development or testing) and destroyed when no longer needed. They provide developers with production-like environments without the cost and complexity of maintaining permanent infrastructure. Ephemeral environments (also called Preview Environments) are automatically created when you open a pull request and deleted when it’s merged or closed, giving you on-demand testing environments that mirror your production setup.

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Benefits

Faster Development

Test changes in isolation without affecting other developers

Cost Savings

Pay only for environments when they’re in use

Improved Testing

Test in production-like environments before deployment

Better Collaboration

Stakeholders can review changes in live environments

Reduced Risk

Catch issues early before they reach production

Faster Feedback

Get immediate feedback from team members and stakeholders

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Prerequisites

Cluster Required: Before setting up ephemeral environments, you need a Kubernetes cluster. Ephemeral environments will be created on this cluster.
Don’t have a cluster yet?

Managed Cluster (Recommended)

Let Qovery provision and manage your Kubernetes cluster on AWS, GCP, Azure, or ScalewayTime: ~30 minutes | Maintenance: Qovery handles it

Bring Your Own Cluster (BYOK)

Connect your existing Kubernetes cluster or create your ownTime: ~20 minutes | Maintenance: You handle it

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Two Approaches

Qovery offers two approaches to create and manage ephemeral environments, depending on your team’s needs and technical requirements.

Simple: Preview Environments

Fully Automated with Zero ConfigurationTurn on auto-preview environment feature in Qovery and let it handle everything automatically.
  • No CI/CD setup required
  • Built-in Qovery feature
  • Instant setup (enable and go)
  • Automatic creation/destruction on PR events
  • Perfect for quick feedback
  • Best for teams wanting simplicity
Time to setup: 10-15 minutes

Advanced: CI/CD Integration

Custom Workflows with E2E TestingIntegrate ephemeral environments into your existing CI/CD pipeline for complete control.
  • Full workflow customization
  • E2E testing automation (K6, Playwright, Cypress)
  • Custom creation/deletion logic
  • Integration with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.
  • Advanced testing scenarios
  • Best for teams requiring custom testing workflows
Time to setup: 1-2 hours