Environment Management
An Environment is a single instance of the Saleor, including:
- Database
- GraphQL API
- API Playground
- Saleor Dashboard
Production vs Sandbox
Saleor Cloud provides two types of environments: Sandbox (for development and testing) and Production (for live stores). While they may look similar at first glance, they behave differently in important ways.
Unlike Sandboxes, the Production environment doesn't have limitations on rate limiting and resource usage, such as orders, API requests, products, etc.
The limits imposed on sandboxes are displayed in the Cloud Console.
Key Differences
| Feature / Capability | Sandbox Environment | Production Environment |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Development, testing, demos | Running live, customer-facing storefronts |
| ToS / Legal | May not be used for production commerce | Fully supported for real transactions |
| Rate limits | Free plan 120 requests/min Paid plan 2,000 requests/min | No enforced request limit |
| Upgrades | Free plan sandboxes auto-upgrade to the latest minor version Paid plan sandboxes are upgraded manually - you have full control over when | Production environments are upgraded manually - you have full control over when |
| Snapshots / Backups | On demand, triggered by cloud users | Automatic daily snapshots |
| Support | Limited | Depending on plan |
| SLA | No SLA | See SLA terms |
| “Promote” action | Promotes sandbox → production. Downtime expected (~5 minutes during database restore) | |
| Selling products | Not allowed under ToS – sandbox is for testing only | Fully supported for commerce |
What happens when you click Promote?
Your sandbox environment is promoted to production.
The process introduces temporary downtime (typically ~5 minutes).
After promotion, the environment gains all production-only benefits: SLAs, backups, higher limits, and legal allowance to process real orders.
While it is technically possible to process orders in a sandbox, this is not supported, not backed by SLAs, and violates the Terms of Service. If something breaks, Saleor cannot guarantee support until you upgrade to production.
Accessing your environment
Dashboard access
From the environment page in the Saleor Cloud, you can quickly access the dashboard for that specific environment. Click the Go to Dashboard button to be automatically logged in via Single Sign-On (SSO).
API access
You can access the GraphQL API Playground directly from the environment page by clicking the Go to Playground button. This allows you to interact with your environment's API.
To learn more, see the GraphQL API overview.
Manage Environment
Version upgrades
Saleor versions can be upgraded on demand via the Cloud Console.
- Sequential upgrades (from one minor version to the next) do not require downtime.
- Each environment has independent version management, allowing you to test new features safely before applying them to production.
When you see a new Saleor version number (e.g., 3.21.1), it follows a standard pattern: Major.Minor.Patch.
- Patch Release:
3.21.0 → 3.21.1- Bug fixes, security updates, and sometimes small new functionalities. - Minor Release:
3.20 → 3.21- New features, improvements, and breaking changes. - Major Release:
3.x → 4.0- Significant architectural changes.
The table below shows how environments are updated:
| Project type | Environment | Patch | Minor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer Project | Sandbox | Automatic | Automatic |
| Production Project | Sandbox | Automatic | Manual — requires Manage Sandbox Environments permission |
| Production Project | Production | Automatic | Manual — requires Manage Production Environments permission |
Access Control
To control Trusted client origins, Allowed API origins and API Password Protection, see the guide for API access restriction.
Subdomain Management
Subdomains of your environments (for example, [your_subdomain].saleor.cloud) can be changed on demand in the Cloud Console.
Changing the subdomain may impact apps. Update any hard‑coded callbacks, CORS/allowed origins, and external services accordingly.
Before promoting an environment to production, review its domain name. We strongly recommend that production domains do not contain words that suggest non‑production usage, such as "test", "staging", or "sandbox".
Maintenance mode
Use maintenance mode during planned maintenance windows or when performing data operations that must not be interrupted.
When enabled:
- API requests return a maintenance response.
- Webhooks are not delivered.
- You can enable or disable maintenance mode from the environment page in the Cloud Console.
Demote
Demoting a production environment converts it back to a sandbox. A demoted environment must not be used for live commerce.
Data Management
Saleor Cloud Console lets you manage environment data in a few ways: you can load a sample database, create and restore snapshots, or clear the database.
Snapshots
Database snapshots let you capture and replicate the state of any sandbox or production environment. They are especially useful for creating staging environments
Production environments automatically create daily snapshots, which are retained for 7 days.
This feature enables productive workflows for development and testing, for example:
- Replicating the latest production data to a staging environment.
- Running integration tests from a consistent starting point.
- Developing migration scripts step by step, saving each successful stage and reverting if needed.
Follow the quickstart guide to learn how to use snapshots.
Clear database
Completely removes all business-related records (orders, products, categories, customer accounts, vouchers, gift cards). This action cannot be undone.
Use this in a sandbox environment when you want to start from a clean slate.
It does not remove environment configuration, such as:
- Staff and superuser accounts
- Channels
- Plugin configurations
- Apps
- Site settings
- Navigation menus
Replace database with a sample
Erases all existing business-related records and environment configuration (like staff members and permissions) and loads a sample dataset. This is useful for demos and quick evaluations.
Removing environment
Delete environment
You can delete an environment from the Cloud Console.
Deletion is permanent. Once deleted, the environment itself cannot be restored. Before deletion, Saleor automatically creates a final snapshot. You can create a new environment later and restore data from this snapshot. See "Restoring deleted environments" below.
Restoring deleted environments
If your environment has been automatically deleted due to inactivity, you can restore it from a snapshot within 7 days. Final snapshot is created automatically before deletion. You don't need to contact support to restore your environment - you can do it yourself by following these steps:
- Go to the cloud project and click
New Sandbox. - Fill out the form. You can set the same sandbox domain as before.
- In the database section select
Use snapshotoption. - Choose the snapshot with
finalin its name (this is the backup created before the environment was deleted).
Snapshots from deleted environments are retained for 7 days.