# Set up environments

Environments on Northflank allow you to automate your release process and preview changes in isolated environments.

By creating workflows, you can automate building and deploying your code, backing up databases, running migrations, and promoting deployments from development through to production. By creating preview blueprints, you can automatically provision complete environments when you push commits or open pull requests.

This guide will walk you through creating a build service, setting up preview environments for pull requests, and creating workflows to automate deployments across development stages.

![Environments in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/environments.png)

## Create a build service

Before you can deploy code, you need a build service to compile your source code into images. This build service will be shared across your workflows and preview environments, ensuring consistent builds across all deployment stages.

1. Navigate to [**Services**](https://app.northflank.com/s/project/services) in your project

2. Click **Create service** → **Build**

3. Under **Basic information** enter a service name

4. Under **Repository** select your repository from the dropdown
  
  
  
  - **Trigger mode**: Select **Build rules**
  
  - **Pull request build rules**: Leave empty (configured later in preview blueprint)
  
  - **Branch build rules**: Leave empty (configured later in preview blueprint)

5. Under **Build options** select **Dockerfile** if you have a custom Dockerfile or **Buildpack**
  
  
  
  - If your Dockerfile is not in the root directory, specify the relative paths

6. Under **Resources** choose a compute plan appropriate for your build workload

7. Under **Environment variables** add build arguments or runtime variables if required

8. Click **Create service**

## Create a preview blueprint

Preview blueprints automatically create isolated test environments when you open pull requests. Each preview environment gets its own services, databases, and unique URLs, allowing you to test changes before merging to your main branch.

1. Navigate to [**Environments**](https://app.northflank.com/s/project/environments) in your project

2. Click **Create preview blueprint**

3. Configure the blueprint:
  
  
  - **Name**: e.g. `pr-previews`
  
  - **Naming convention**: Select **Pull request ID**
  
  - Enable **Suffix** to append the pull request number to resource names

4. Click **Add trigger**
  
  
  - **Kind**: Select **Git pull request** or any option of your choice
  
  - **Repository**: Select the same repository used for the build service

5. Click **Continue** to open the visual editor

![Creating a preview blueprint in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/create-preview-blueprint.png)

## Configure the preview blueprint

The visual editor lets you build the workflow that creates your preview environment. You'll connect nodes together to define what gets deployed: starting with building your code, then deploying it to services, and optionally adding databases or other resources.

1. On the **Build on trigger** node, click **Deploy to service** to create a **Deployment service** node

2. Select the **Deployment service** node and configure:
  
  
  - **Basic information:** Enter a service name
  
  - **Environment variables:** Add runtime variables if required
  
  - **Networking:** Expose public or private ports
  
  - **Resources:** Select a compute plan

3. Click **Save preview blueprint**

Additional nodes can be added to the workflow, including databases, jobs, and volumes.

![Configuring a preview blueprint in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/configure-preview-blueprint.png)

## Run the preview blueprint

Test your preview blueprint by running it manually before relying on automatic Git triggers. This lets you verify the workflow creates preview environments correctly.

1. Click **Run** in the header

2. Under **Git trigger**, select a commit

3. Click **Create**

After the workflow completes:

- On the **Deployment service** click **View resource** to access the deployed instance

![Running a preview blueprint in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/run-preview-blueprint.png)

## Add environments

Environments organize your workflows by deployment stage. Each environment represents a stage in your release process, such as development, staging, or production, and contains the workflows that deploy to that stage.

1. Navigate to [**Environments**](https://app.northflank.com/s/project/environments) in your project

2. Click **Add environment**

3. Enter a name (e.g., `development`, `staging`, or `production`)

4. Click **Create**

The new environment appears as a column in the environments board view. You can create multiple environments to match your deployment stages.

![Adding environments in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/add-environments.png)

## Create a workflow

Workflows are automated release processes that execute when triggered manually or by Git events. Each workflow contains a series of steps (nodes) that build your code, deploy it to services, run database migrations, and perform other release tasks.

Create a workflow in an environment to automate deployments to that stage. For example, a production workflow might build from your main branch and deploy to production services, while a development workflow deploys feature branches to development services.

1. In the environment column, click **Workflow**

2. Enter a name (e.g., `Deploy to prod`)

3. Click **Add trigger** (optional):
  
  
  
  - **Kind**: Select **Git push**
  
  - **Repository**: Select your repository
  
  - **Branch rules**: Enter the branch name (e.g., `main` or `develop`) or `*` to trigger on every push to a branch

4. Click **Continue** to open the visual editor

![Creating a workflow in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/create-workflow.png)

## Configure the workflow

Build your deployment workflow by connecting nodes together. Each node performs a specific action: building code, deploying to services, backing up databases, or running migrations. Connect them in sequence to create your complete release process.

1. Select the **Start build** node and configure:
  
  
  - **Service / job**: Select your build service
  
  - **Branch**: Enter the branch name (e.g., `main`)
  
  - **Commit**: Leave blank to build the latest commit

2. Click **Save node**

3. On the **Start build** node, click **Deploy build**

4. Select the **Deploy build** node and configure:
  
  
  - **Target service/job**: Select or create a deployment service

5. Click **Save node**

6. Click **Save workflow**

Additional nodes can be added to the workflow, including databases, jobs, and volumes.

![Configuring a workflow in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/configure-workflow.png)

## Run the workflow

After you have configured the workflow, you can manually test run it and Northflank will execute the workflow as you have specified it.

1. Click **Run** in the header

2. Add a release name (optional):
  
  
  - Click **Add release name**
  
  - Enter a descriptive name for this release

3. Add a release description (optional):
  
  
  - Click **Add release description**
  
  - Enter details about what this release includes

4. Click **Create**

The workflow will execute and you can monitor its progress. If you configured Git triggers, the workflow will also run automatically when commits are pushed to the configured branch.

![Running a workflow in the Northflank application](https://assets.northflank.com/documentation/v1/application/getting-started/set-up-environments/run-workflow.png)

## Use cron schedules (optional)

Workflows and preview blueprints can run automatically on a repeating schedule. This is useful for regular deployments (nightly builds), periodic maintenance tasks (database backups, cache warming), or refreshing test environments on a schedule.

To add a cron trigger:

1. Open your workflow or preview blueprint

2. Click the plus sign

3. Select **Cron schedule** from the **Kind** dropdown

4. Enter a cron expression in the **Schedule** field (times are UTC, minimum interval is 10 minutes)

Each workflow or preview blueprint can have one cron trigger.