> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/continuous-delivery/use-continuous-delivery/cd-building-blocks/environments/environment-overview.md).
# Environments overview
Understand Continuous Delivery environments, including infrastructure definitions, service overrides, override priority, and environment groups
A Harness environment represents where you are deploying your application. You categorize each environment as production or non-production.
Environments represent your deployment targets (QA, production, and so on). Each environment contains one or more **Infrastructure Definitions** that list your target clusters, hosts, and namespaces.
## What you will learn from this topic
* How to [create environments](#creating-environments) and [define environment settings](#defining-environment-settings).
* Understand [service overrides](#service-overrides) and [override priority](#override-priority).
* Understand how Harness handles [values YAML overrides and merges](#values-yaml-overrides-and-merges) and [config files and variables](#config-files-and-variables-are-completely-overridden).
* How to add [GitOps clusters](#gitops-clusters) to an environment.
* How to use [runtime inputs and expressions](#runtime-inputs-and-expressions-in-environments), [environments RBAC](#environments-rbac), and [environment groups](#environment-groups).
***
## Environment structure
Each infrastructure definition in an environment defines the specific VM, Kubernetes cluster, or target infrastructure where you plan to deploy your application. An environment can contain multiple infrastructure definitions. When you select an environment in a pipeline, you can pick which infrastructure definition to use.
The service configuration overrides setting allows you to override service properties when a service is deployed into a specific environment.
Environment variables are global variables for that environment. You can use those variables in your pipelines, manifests, and other resources.
For example, you might have an environment that is production, and within that environment you have five infrastructure definitions representing the five Kubernetes clusters associated with the production environment.
***
## Create environments
You can create environments from:
* An Account
* An Organization
* Within a pipeline
* Outside a pipeline
When you create an environment in a pipeline, it is automatically added to **Environments**. You can add the same environment to as many pipelines as you need.
For more information, go to [create environments](/continuous-delivery/use-continuous-delivery/cd-building-blocks/environments/create-environments.md).
### Create environments at an account or organization level
You can create an environment and provide infrastructure definitions at an account or organization level from the Harness UI, using APIs or Terraform.
{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Pipeline Studio" %}
To create an environment at an account or organization level, go to **Organization Resources** -> **Environments**.
Expand the section below to see a sample account level environment YAML.
Account level environment YAML
```yaml
environment:
name: dev
identifier: dev
description: account wide dev environment
tags:
status: non-regulated
type: PreProduction
variables:
- name: port
type: String
value: "8080"
description: ""
- name: namespace
type: String
value: <+service.name>-dev
description: "namespace environment variable"
```
Expand the section below to see a sample account level infrastructure definition YAML.
Account level infrastructure definition YAML
```yaml
infrastructureDefinition:
name: dev-k8s
identifier: dev
description: development Kubernetes cluster
tags: {}
environmentRef: dev
deploymentType: Kubernetes
type: KubernetesDirect
spec:
connectorRef: account.Harness_Kubernetes_Cluster
namespace: <+service.name>-dev
releaseName: release-<+INFRA_KEY_SHORT_ID>
allowSimultaneousDeployments: false
```
Expand the section below to see a sample organization level environment YAML.
Organization level environment YAML
```yaml
environment:
name: prod
identifier: prod
description: production environment for the organization
tags:
status: regulated
type: Production
orgIdentifier: default
variables:
- name: namespace
type: String
value: <+service.name>-prod
description: "namespace for prod environment"
- name: port
type: String
value: "8080"
description: "port for prod environment"
```
Expand the section below to see a sample organization level infrastructure definition YAML.
Organization level infrastructure definition YAML
```yaml
infrastructureDefinition:
name: prod-k8s
identifier: prodk8s
description: production kubernetes cluster
tags: {}
orgIdentifier: default
environmentRef: prod
deploymentType: Kubernetes
type: KubernetesDirect
spec:
connectorRef: account.Harness_Kubernetes_Cluster
namespace: production
releaseName: release-<+INFRA_KEY_SHORT_ID>
allowSimultaneousDeployments: false
```
{% endtab %}
{% tab title="API" %}
For information about creating an environment API, go to [create an environment](https://apidocs.harness.io/tag/Environments#operation/createEnvironmentV2).
For information about creating infrastructure definition API, go to [create an infrastructure in an environment](https://apidocs.harness.io/tag/Infrastructures#operation/createInfrastructure).
The `orgIdentifier` and `projectIdentifier` field definitions are optional, and depend on where you want to create the environment. For example, if you create an environment at an account level, you will not need org or project identifiers in the post API call payload.
{% endtab %}
{% tab title="Terraform" %}
For information about creating a Harness platform environment, go to [harness\_platform\_environment (Resource)](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/harness/harness/latest/docs/resources/platform_environment).
Expand the section below to see a sample platform environment in Terraform.
Harness platform environment
```hcl
resource "harness_platform_environment" "example" {
identifier = "identifier"
name = "name"
org_id = "org_id"
project_id = "project_id"
tags = ["foo:bar", "baz"]
type = "PreProduction"
## ENVIRONMENT V2 Update
## The YAML is needed if you want to define the Environment Variables and Overrides for the environment
## Not Mandatory for Environment Creation nor Pipeline Usage
yaml = <<-EOT
environment:
name: name
identifier: identifier
orgIdentifier: org_id
projectIdentifier: project_id
type: PreProduction
tags:
foo: bar
baz: ""
variables:
- name: envVar1
type: String
value: v1
description: ""
- name: envVar2
type: String
value: v2
description: ""
overrides:
manifests:
- manifest:
identifier: manifestEnv
type: Values
spec:
store:
type: Git
spec:
connectorRef: <+input>
gitFetchType: Branch
paths:
- file1
repoName: <+input>
branch: master
configFiles:
- configFile:
identifier: configFileEnv
spec:
store:
type: Harness
spec:
files:
- account:/Add-ons/svcOverrideTest
secretFiles: []
EOT
}
```
For information about creating a Harness platform infrastructure definition, go to [harness\_platform\_infrastructure (Resource)](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/harness/harness/latest/docs/resources/platform_infrastructure).
Expand the section below to see a sample platform infrastructure definition in Terraform.
Harness platform infrastructure definition
```hcl
resource "harness_platform_infrastructure" "example" {
identifier = "identifier"
name = "name"
org_id = "orgIdentifer"
project_id = "projectIdentifier"
env_id = "environmentIdentifier"
type = "KubernetesDirect"
deployment_type = "Kubernetes"
yaml = <<-EOT
infrastructureDefinition:
name: name
identifier: identifier
description: ""
tags:
asda: ""
orgIdentifier: orgIdentifer
projectIdentifier: projectIdentifier
environmentRef: environmentIdentifier
deploymentType: Kubernetes
type: KubernetesDirect
spec:
connectorRef: account.gfgf
namespace: asdasdsa
releaseName: release-<+INFRA_KEY_SHORT_ID>
allowSimultaneousDeployments: false
EOT
}
```
The `org_id` and `project_id` field definitions are optional, and depend on where you want to create the environment. For example, if you create an environment at an account level, you will not need org or project identifiers.
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}
### Create environments inside a pipeline
To create an environment from inside of a pipeline, select **New Environment** in the **Infrastructure** tab of a new Deploy stage.
### Create environments outside a pipeline
To create an environment from outside of a pipeline, go to **Environments** in the navigation pane.
***
## Environment settings
After creating an environment, you can define all its settings:
* **Configuration**: The default environment configuration, including variables, manifests, specifications, and config files that are used every time the environment is used in a stage.
* **Service Overrides**: Override specific services. You select a service and define what is overridden whenever that service is deployed to this environment.
* **Infrastructure Definitions**: Represent one or more environment infrastructures.
* Infrastructure definitions are the actual clusters, hosts, and related resources where Harness deploys a service. For example, you might have a QA environment with separate Kubernetes clusters (infrastructure definitions) for each service you want to test.
* You can add multiple infrastructure definitions to a single environment and select an infrastructure definition when you add the environment to a stage.
* **GitOps Clusters**: Adding Harness GitOps clusters to an environment lets you select them as the deployment target in stages. For more information on Harness GitOps, go to [Harness GitOps basics](/continuous-delivery/use-gitops/get-started/harness-git-ops-basics.md).
* **Referenced by**: Displays the list of pipelines using the infrastructure definitions in the environment.
### Configuration
In the environment **Configuration**, you can manage the **Name**, **Description**, **Tags**, and **Environment Type** of the environment.
You can also set default manifests, specifications, config files, and variables to use whenever Harness deploys a service to this environment.
For example, a stage has a Kubernetes service with a manifest but whenever that service is deployed to the **QA** environment, the manifest in that environment's **Configuration** overwrites the namespace of the manifest in the service with `QA`.
### Service overrides
Service overrides are different from **Environment Configuration** in the following ways:
* **Environment Configuration**: Applies to every service that is used with the environment.
* **Environment Service Overrides**: Applies to specific services you select. Whenever that service is used with that environment, the **Service Override** is applied.
{% hint style="info" %}
Runtime inputs are not supported if you are trying to override services in multi-service and multi-environment set ups.
{% endhint %}
### Override priority
When you use environment configuration and service overrides to override service settings, understand the priority of the overrides.
The priority from top to bottom is:
1. Environment service overrides
2. Environment configuration
3. Service settings
### Override priority example
Suppose you have a pipeline that runs as follows:
* Deploys a service named `myService`, which has a variable `cpu` set to 1.
* Deploys `myService` to `myEnvironmentAlpha`, and then overrides the `myService` variable `cpu` value to 2.
In this case, the environment variable takes precedence, and overrides the service variable. When the pipeline runs, it uses the `cpu` value of 2.
Suppose you have another pipeline that deploys `myService` to `myEnvironmentKappa`, which has a service override that sets `cpu` to 4. In this case, the environment service override takes precedence over the environment configuration and the service setting. When the pipeline runs, it uses the `cpu` value of 4.
### Infrastructure definitions
Infrastructure definitions represent an environment's infrastructures physically. They are the actual clusters, hosts, namespaces, and related resources where you deploy a service.
An environment can have multiple **Infrastructure Definitions**.
When you select an environment in a stage, you can select the **Infrastructure Definition** to use for that stage.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Infrastructure definition scoping**
During pipeline execution, all infrastructure definitions are displayed, regardless of whether they are scoped to the selected service. Manually ensure that only the appropriate infrastructure definitions are selected for your services. This limitation is more prominent when services or environments are dynamically expressed, as scoping may not apply consistently.
{% endhint %}
### Infrastructure tags
Tags can be attached to infrastructure definitions representing their characteristics. These tags can be key value pairs.
When you select the **Infrastructure Definition** for a stage, the attached tags can be accessed using their keys with the expression, `<+infra.tags.tag_key>`. This expression is available for use throughout the stage.
For example, you can skip certain steps in a pipeline based on the tags attached to the infrastructure.
{% hint style="info" %}
You can define allowed values in the **Select Hosts** settings under infrastructure. In the runtime view, a multi-select dropdown displays the predefined allowed values to choose from.
{% endhint %}
***
## Values YAML overrides and merges
You can specify values YAML files at the environment's **Service Overrides** and **Configuration**, and the service itself.
Here is an example of specifying it at the environment's **Configuration**:
When you have a values YAML file at two or more of the environment **Service Overrides**, **Environment Configuration**, and the service itself, Harness merges the files into a single values YAML for deployment. This merging runs at pipeline execution runtime.
Overriding occurs when the higher priority setting has the same `name:value` pair as a lower priority setting.
Consider the following two examples.
### Merge values YAML name:value pairs
An environment's **Service Overrides** values YAML has the name:value pair `servicePort: 80` but no `replicas` name:value.
A service's **Service Definition** has a values YAML with `replicas: 2` but no `servicePort` name:value.
At runtime, the two values YAML files are merged into one.
The `servicePort: 80` from the environment **Service Overrides** values YAML is merged with the **Service Definition**'s `replicas: 2` in the values YAML:
### Fully override values YAML name:value pairs
An environment's **Service Overrides** values YAML has the name:value pairs `replicas: 2` and `servicePort: 80`.
A service's **Service Definition** has a values YAML with `replicas: 4` and `servicePort: 8080`.
At runtime, the name:value pairs from the environment **Service Overrides** values YAML fully override the service values YAML. The `replicas: 2` and `servicePort: 80` from the environment **Service Overrides** are used.
### Config files and variables are completely overridden
Config files are a black box that can contain multiple formats and content, such as YAML, JSON, and plain text. Consequently, they cannot be overridden like Values YAML files.
Variables cannot be partially overridden either. They are completely replaced.
When you have **Config files** at two or more of the environment **Service Overrides**, **Configuration**, and the service itself, the standard override priority is applied.
When you have **Variables** with the same name at two or more of the environment **Service Overrides**, **Configuration**, and the service itself, the standard override priority is applied.
***
## GitOps clusters
When you use Harness GitOps, you can add GitOps clusters to an environment.
For more information on Harness GitOps, go to [Harness GitOps basics](/continuous-delivery/use-gitops/get-started/harness-git-ops-basics.md).
You can select your environment (**Deployments** -> **Environments** -> your environment), then select the **GitOps Clusters** tab to view the list of GitOps clusters associated with an environment. Each row's **Cluster ID** and **Agent** name is a link that opens the corresponding Cluster or Agent detail page in a new tab:
* **Cluster ID**: Click to open the Cluster's detail page in a new tab.
* **Agent name**: Click to open the linked Agent's detail page in a new tab.
Perform the following steps to add a cluster to this list:
1. Click **+ Select Cluster** at the top of the page.
2. In the **Select GitOps Clusters to add to Environment** popup, select the scope tab (**Project**, **Organization**, or **Account**) to view clusters in that scope.
3. Select the desired GitOps cluster from the list.
4. Click **Apply Selected**. The selected cluster appears in the Environment's **GitOps Clusters** list.
Next, when you create a pipeline, you can select the environment and the GitOps cluster(s) to use.
GitOps clusters are used in a PR pipeline. A PR pipeline creates and merges a Git PR on the `config.json` for a destination cluster as part of an ApplicationSet. The PR pipeline runs, merges a change to the `config.json`, and a GitOps sync on the ApplicationSet is initiated.
GitOps clusters are not used in standard Continuous Delivery pipelines. They are used only when you use GitOps.
***
## Runtime inputs and expressions in environments
If you use runtime inputs in your environments, you must provide values for these when you run pipelines that use these environments.
If you use expressions in your environments, Harness must be able to resolve these expressions when you run pipelines that use these environments.
Select **Runtime input** for the environment.
When you run the pipeline, you can select the environment for runtime inputs.
For more information on runtime inputs and expressions, go to [Fixed Values, Runtime Inputs, and Expressions](https://developer.harness.io/harness-platform/use-harness-platform/variables-and-expressions/runtime-inputs).
***
## Environments RBAC
Go to [RBAC in Harness](https://developer.harness.io/harness-platform/use-harness-platform/platform-access-control) for examples of RBAC use cases for environments.
### Access permission is needed to deploy to an environment
One of the most important advantages of environments is the ability to define roles that determine who can deploy them.
For a role to allow deployments using environments, the role must have the access permission enabled for environments.
The **View**, **Create**, **Edit**, **Delete**, and **Manage** permissions enable you to deploy an environment.
If a role does not have the **Access** permission for **Environments**, a user or user group assigned that role cannot deploy to any environment.
### Restrict access to specific environments for a user or user group
You can restrict a user or user group to using specific environments only.
Perform the following steps to restrict a user or user group to deploying to a specific environment only:
1. Create a resource group and select the environment.
2. Create a role and give the user or user group permissions. The **Access** permission is needed for deployments.
3. Assign the role and resource group to the user or user group.
***
## Metadata sync with bidirectional sync
When you store environments and infrastructure definitions remotely in Git with [bidirectional sync](https://developer.harness.io/harness-platform/use-harness-platform/git-experience/gitexp-bidir-sync-setup) enabled, Harness automatically syncs entity metadata (**name**, **description**, and **tags**) back to Harness when those fields are updated on the Git side for the default branch.
Previously, modifying environment or infrastructure metadata directly in the Git repository did not propagate those changes to Harness, requiring a separate update from the Harness UI. With metadata sync, any change committed to the default branch in Git is reflected in Harness automatically. This sync applies only to the default branch; metadata changes on other branches are not synced.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Feature flag required**
This feature is behind the feature flag `CDS_GITX_WEBHOOK_SYNC_ENTITY_METADATA`. Contact [Harness Support](mailto:support@harness.io) to enable it.
{% endhint %}
***
## Environment groups
Environment groups are a way to group environments so you can assign permissions to multiple environments in a role.
***
## Next steps
* [Create environments](/continuous-delivery/use-continuous-delivery/cd-building-blocks/environments/create-environments.md): Create environments at the account, organization, or project level.
* [Harness GitOps basics](/continuous-delivery/use-gitops/get-started/harness-git-ops-basics.md): Learn how Harness GitOps clusters work with environments.
{% @harness-feedback/feedback %}