Environments
Environments let you manage separate configurations for different stages of your workflow. Stellar supports three environments:
- Development: For building and debugging your agent with test credentials and development APIs.
- Staging: For pre-production validation with near-production settings.
- Production: For live customer conversations with real credentials.
What is environment-aware​
The following features support per-environment configuration:
| Feature | What changes per environment |
|---|---|
| Custom API integrations | Base URL and auth connector per environment |
| Auth connectors | Credentials and token endpoints |
| Secrets | API keys and sensitive values |
| Variables | Non-sensitive config values, defined once and reused across agents and actions |
| Connectors | Each connector is assigned to a specific environment |
When a conversation starts, the environment determines which set of values is used for all of these.
How the environment is determined​
The environment for a conversation depends on how it was initiated:
| Context | How environment is set |
|---|---|
| Playground | Selected in the environment selector before starting the conversation |
| Phone call | Determined by the connector's environment setting |
| Public link / SDK | Each public link targets a specific environment; choose the environment when copying the link from the Sharing tab |
Typical workflow​
A typical development workflow using environments:
- Configure Development values: Point actions at development APIs, use test API keys, set variables to development values.
- Build and test in Playground: Select the Development environment in the Playground to test with your development configuration.
- Configure Staging values: Set up pre-production credentials and endpoints.
- Validate in Staging: Create a staging connector or use the Playground with the Staging environment to verify everything works with near-production settings.
- Configure Production values: Set live API keys, real endpoints, and production credentials.
- Deploy to Production: Create a production connector to route live customer calls.
Setting up environment values​
Custom API integrations​
Open Integrations, edit a Custom API integration, and switch between Development, Staging, and Production tabs on the Settings tab. Each tab has its own base URL and auth connector.
See Custom API integrations for details.
Secrets​
Navigate to Secrets in the main menu. Each secret can hold a different value for each environment.
See API secrets management for details.
Variables​
Navigate to Variables in the main menu. When creating or editing a variable, enter a value for each environment.
See Variables for details.
Auth connectors​
Auth connectors are managed from the auth picker on a Custom API integration's Settings tab or on an action's auth field. Each auth connector has per-environment configuration for its credentials.
See Authentication connectors for details.
Best practices​
- Always configure all three environments for secrets and auth connectors to avoid missing values in production.
- Use test credentials in Development so you can test freely without affecting real systems.
- Test each environment in the Playground before routing live traffic through a connector.
- Keep Production credentials separate from Development and Staging for security isolation.