# Somewhere to be wrong first.

> See what a staging environment is here. Learn its address, who can reach it, what data it holds, and how a change moves out.

Source: https://customhosted.com/environments/

№ 01 Environments

"Staging environment" is a line on the rate card at $12/mo, and Static Pro's spec sheet lists staging as one of its bullets. Neither says what it actually is. This page does: the address, who can reach it, what's in it, how a change gets out of it, and how you go back if it's wrong.

№ 02 The inventory

## Three environments, not one

Production is what a visitor gets. The other two exist so nothing new reaches it untested.

- Production — What it is The live version. What a visitor gets when they type your domain in. Who can reach it The public, and any search engine that goes looking. What's in it Real data — whatever your app or site actually holds today. What it's for Serving traffic. Nothing runs here that hasn't already been reviewed and merged.
- Staging — What it is A second, standing copy of the same stack, built from the same infrastructure definition as production. Who can reach it You and whoever you invite — not the public, not a search engine. What's in it Depends on the tier — see the data section below. Not a full copy of production unless a check genuinely needs one. What it's for Checking a change before it ships: click through it, confirm it, then promote it.
- Migration standing copy — What it is A temporary rehearsal environment stood up only while a move is underway. Who can reach it You, during the migration — torn down once the cutover is confirmed and live. What's in it A copy of whatever is being moved in, provisioned ahead of the actual switch. What it's for Rehearsing the cutover itself, not ongoing iteration — see the move in full on Migrations.

№ 03 What it actually is

## A staging environment, specified

Not a vague "test copy somewhere" — a real address, with the same guarantees production gets.

- Its own address — A subdomain pointed at the platform the same way any other subdomain is — the CNAME case is already on the Domains record sheet.
- Private by default — Not linked from anywhere on your live site, not submitted to a search engine, and left out of the sitemap. Reaching it is a matter of knowing the address and being allowed in — access is controlled, not just unlisted.
- Its own certificate — Issued and renewed on the same schedule as production's — see the certificate lifecycle on Domains for how that renewal actually works.
- The same infrastructure definition as production — Not a lookalike built by hand and left to drift — the same code that defines production, deployed a second time. What you click through here is what goes live.
- Its own values, not a copy of production's — Same definition, different environment variables and secrets — staging holds its own set, so changing a value here never quietly changes it there. See Configuration for where a value actually lives.

№ 04 The honest part

## What data staging holds

The question a "staging environment" line item never answers on its own.

| Tier | Holds | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Static | Nothing to speak of | A static site or SPA has no database — staging is just the same build, deployed a second time. |
| Dedicated with a database | A recent backup, or seeded data | Pulled in on request from a recent backup, or seeded with placeholder data if a real copy isn't needed for the check being done. |
| A full copy of production data | Real customer data, and treated as such | If a check genuinely needs the real thing, that copy is still real customer data the moment it lands in staging — same handling, same privacy commitment as production. See Privacy for what that means in practice. |

See [Privacy](https://customhosted.com/legal/privacy) for how a real copy of production data is handled once it's somewhere new.

№ 05 The tie-in

## Briefed change to production, in six steps

A pull request is reviewable if you read code. A URL is reviewable either way — this is the step [The Loop](https://customhosted.com/loop) doesn't spell out on its own.

1. 1 — Brief the change You — Describe it in plain language, the same way as any other change under the Agentic iteration — CodeHerder add-on.
2. 2 — Agent opens the pull request CodeHerder — Reads the live codebase and makes the change on its own branch — a real diff, not a description of one.
3. 3 — CI builds it CustomHosted — The same build and checks that gate every other change on this platform run against this one too.
4. 4 — It stands on staging CustomHosted — The branch deploys to the standing staging environment automatically — a real URL, not a diff on a screen.
5. 5 — You click the real thing You — No diff-reading required — load the page, use the feature, decide if it's right.
6. 6 — Merge ships production You — Approving the pull request merges it, and the same pipeline that just built staging redeploys production.

Read how a change gets briefed in the first place on [Brief a change](https://customhosted.com/brief), and why this ships through one pipeline rather than two on [The Loop](https://customhosted.com/loop).

№ 06 Going back

## If it's wrong

Two of these are ordinary. The third is a different procedure, on purpose.

- Revert the merge — The same pipeline that shipped the change redeploys the last known-good version. No data touched, because none was.
- Promote the previous deploy — On static hosting, the last deploy is already built and kept. Going back is a request through the usual channel, a straight promotion of it rather than a rebuild.
- A data problem is a restore, not a rollback — If the thing that's wrong is data rather than code, that's the other procedure entirely — see Recovery for the backup and point-in-time paths, and where that boundary actually sits.

№ 07 Priced

## What it costs

Nothing here is typed in twice — every figure below is read straight off the rate card.

- Static Pro — Included — multiple sites & environments · staging · redirects/headers.
- Any other plan — Staging environment, +$12/mo — a second environment to test changes before they ship.
- A dedicated app whose staging copy needs its own instance — A custom quote, sized the same way the main instance was.

№ 08 Said plainly

## The honest limits

Not buried in a footnote — the same discipline as every other honesty band on this site.

- A copy can't reproduce real traffic — Load, concurrency, and the exact mix of requests production sees don't show up in a check run by one or two people clicking through.
- Third-party integrations rarely behave the same way twice — A payment gateway or a customer-messaging tool usually needs its own sandbox mode, or isn't wired into staging at all — check per integration rather than assuming.
- A copy goes stale — Seeded or backed-up data reflects the moment it was taken, not this morning. Re-pull it before trusting it for anything time-sensitive.
- One standing environment per site, unless quoted otherwise — There's no unlimited fleet of per-branch preview URLs on dedicated compute by default — a second standing copy beyond the one is a custom quote, same as any other non-standard shape.
- Outbound mail and messaging are pointed at a sink or disabled — The classic staging mistake is a test run that emails or texts real customers. Anything a staging copy would otherwise send outward is caught or turned off, not delivered. See [Email](https://customhosted.com/email) for what a real sending path looks like once mail leaves this sink.
- The uptime commitment covers the live service — The 99.9% monthly uptime target on the SLA is measured on production. Staging has no separate availability commitment.

№ 09 Answers

## Environment questions

The anxiety questions, verbatim — the ones a rate-card line item never answers on its own.

1. 01 Can Google find my staging site? No. It carries no link from your live site, is left out of the sitemap, and isn't submitted to any search engine. Reaching it takes knowing the address and being allowed in.
2. 02 Can my client see it without a login? Staging is private by default — access is controlled, not just unlisted. If a client needs to look at a change, invite them rather than treating the address as public.
3. 03 Does staging have real data in it? Depends on the tier — a static site has none to speak of, a database tier gets a recent backup or seeded data on request, and a full copy of production data is treated exactly like production data, because that's what it is. See the data section above.
4. 04 How do I see a change before it goes live if I can't read code? That's the point of the promotion path above: a briefed change comes back as a working URL on staging, not just a diff — click it, use it, then merge when you're happy.
5. 05 How do I undo a deploy, and how long does it take? Revert the merge and the same pipeline redeploys the last known-good version — no data touched, because none was. See the rollback paths above for the static-deploy case and where a data problem is a different procedure entirely.
6. 06 Do I get one per site or one per client? One standing staging environment per site by default. Running several client sites on one account gets each of them their own — that's the shape the Static Pro tier is built for.
7. 07 What does it cost? Static Pro includes it. On any other plan it's staging environment, +$12/mo — a second environment to test changes before they ship. A dedicated app that needs its own separate instance for staging is a custom quote instead.
8. 08 Who'd be doing this if I ran it myself? You would. The hours ledger prices "keeping the deploy pipeline working" at around 1 hour, as the stack changes — here, that row is included in every plan.

№ 10 Keep reading

## What environments connects to

- [Under load The standing staging copy this page describes, put to work as the rehearsal ground for a load test.](https://customhosted.com/under-load)
- [The Loop "One pipeline, not two" and "no environment drift" — the claims this page expands.](https://customhosted.com/loop)
- [Brief a change Where a change starts, before it ever reaches the staging URL this page describes.](https://customhosted.com/brief)
- [Static The per-deploy preview and rollback this page's "promote the previous deploy" path relies on.](https://customhosted.com/static)
- [Patching The standing window that applies an update to a staging copy first, before it touches anything live.](https://customhosted.com/patching)
- [Checks What "CI builds it" in the promotion path above actually runs, before a change ever reaches this environment.](https://customhosted.com/checks)
- [Recovery Where the revert-vs-restore boundary this page quotes is actually backed, in full.](https://customhosted.com/recovery)
- [Migrations The migration standing copy in the inventory above, followed through the cutover it exists for.](https://customhosted.com/migrate)
- [Glossary: Shipping & iteration Plain-English definitions for every term on this page.](https://customhosted.com/glossary#shipping-iteration)
- [Scaling The compute and database ladder a staging copy shares with production, and what outgrowing a tier looks like.](https://customhosted.com/scaling)
- [Configuration Why staging keeps its own values instead of production's, and where a value lives hop by hop.](https://customhosted.com/configuration)
- [Deploys Where "merge ships production" above actually goes — the mechanics between that merge and a visitor seeing the change.](https://customhosted.com/deploys)
- [Review The "you click the real thing" step above, in full — what a pull request is, and how to review one without reading code.](https://customhosted.com/review)
- [Being found Why keeping staging out of the sitemap and off a search engine matters, and the rest of the technical foundation behind search visibility.](https://customhosted.com/being-found)
- [Outside services What a sandbox key is, and why a payment gateway or a messaging tool rarely behaves the same way twice on a staging copy.](https://customhosted.com/outside-services)

## Want to see a change before it merges?

Write in through the quote channel — we'll walk you through what stands up on staging and what it costs on your plan.

[Get a quote →](https://customhosted.com/contact)