> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.fastn.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.fastn.ai/manage/environments.md).
# Environments and GitHub
Deployment stages, and the GitHub review gate in front of them.
**Settings → Environments**
What a workspace looks like before anyone adds a stage: one built-in Live target and no review gate in front of it.
> Test and Live are built in. Add a named environment here when you want another stage, such as staging or review.
### Environments
| Column | Notes |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name** | Display name. |
| **Slug** | Used in the `x-fastn-env` header and in trigger routes. |
| **Type** | Default, or a named environment you created. |
| **Requires review** | A toggle per environment, off by default. Switched on, promoting to it opens a pull request instead of deploying. |
Live carries a **Protected** badge. Read that as fastn marking it as the one you should not casually restructure; whether the badge also hard-blocks deletion is not something this page can confirm.
**New environment** opens the **Create Environment** dialog, which adds a stage and asks for two things:
| Field | Notes |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name \*** | Display name, for example `Staging`. |
| **Slug \*** | What goes in `x-fastn-env` and in trigger routes. The form notes that `test` and `live` are built in, so those two are taken. |
A named environment runs whatever version is deployed to it. If nothing has been deployed there, there is no code for a trigger pointed at it to run: deploy before you point traffic at a new stage.
### The special value `test`
In trigger routes and in the `x-fastn-env` header, `test` is not a deployed environment. It means *the workflow's latest published version*. Any other slug means *the version deployed to that environment*. That is why the table is a list of deployment targets, with `test` handled by the platform rather than sitting among them.
### GitHub
A **GitHub** panel sits above the table, explaining what connecting a repository buys you:
> Connect a repository and promoting to a reviewed environment opens a pull request instead of deploying straight away.
Until you connect one, its status reads **No repository connected** and the only control is **Connect GitHub**. That is what a new workspace sees, and it is worth knowing that the review gate does nothing on its own: it needs both a repository here and **Requires review** switched on for the environment you are promoting into.
Once a repository is connected the panel shows it, along with controls for mirroring workflows to the repo and for disconnecting. Those controls were not captured on a connected workspace, so check what disconnecting does to anything already deployed before you use it rather than assuming it is inert.
### A workable setup
1. Connect the repository.
2. Add a `staging` environment.
3. Tick **Requires review** on it.
4. Developers publish; the promotion opens a pull request; the reviewed and merged version deploys to staging.
5. Promote from staging to live once it has run against real traffic.
{% hint style="success" %}
The repository plus **Requires review** is the single change that turns fastn from a place where anyone can push to production into one with a real approval trail. If you have more than a couple of people building, do it.
{% endhint %}
Publishing and deploying are both recorded in the [audit log](/manage/audit-log.md).
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