| name | environment-management |
| description | Use when listing, creating, deleting, or mirroring Cloud environments, managing CDEs, deploying code to an environment, or checking environment status. |
| license | Proprietary |
| compatibility | acli>=2.x |
| metadata | {"category":"deployment","author":"Acquia","version":"1.0.0","tags":"acli, acquia-cloud, environments, cde, deployment","software_requirements":"acli>=2.x"} |
Environment Management with Acquia CLI
Use when:
- Creating or deleting Continuous Delivery Environments (CDEs)
- Making one environment identical to another (mirroring)
- Copying cron tasks between environments
- Installing SSL certificates
- Listing or inspecting environments
- Deploying code to an environment
List Environments
acli api:applications:environment-list
Shows all environments for an application (prod, staging, dev, and any CDEs).
Get Environment Details
acli env:info
Shows PHP version, database, last deployment, URLs, and status for the selected environment.
Create a Continuous Delivery Environment (CDE)
CDEs are on-demand environments — useful for testing feature branches before merging.
acli env:create "My Feature Branch" feature/my-branch
Arguments:
label (required) — Human-readable name for the new environmentbranch (optional) — The git branch to deploy; prompts if omitted
acli env:create "QA Review"
acli env:create "Sprint 42 Demo" release/sprint-42
Delete a CDE
acli env:delete
Prompts you to select the environment to delete. Only CDEs can be deleted; production and standard environments cannot.
Deploy Code to an Environment
acli api:environments:code-switch <environmentId> <branch>
Example:
acli api:environments:code-switch 112927-9454a2b1-cce0-475e-ae5f-5374dbca9b0a master
Returns a notification UUID you can track with acli app:task-wait <uuid>.
Mirror an Environment
Makes a destination environment identical to a source — copies code, database, files, and config.
acli env:mirror <source-environment> <destination-environment>
Use environment aliases in the format app-name.env:
acli env:mirror myapp.prod myapp.staging
Skip specific components:
acli env:mirror myapp.prod myapp.staging \
--no-code \
--no-databases \
--no-files \
--no-config
Warning: This overwrites the destination. All existing data in the destination environment is replaced.
Copy Cron Tasks Between Environments
Copy all cron tasks from one environment to another:
acli env:cron-copy <source_env> <dest_env>
Example:
acli env:cron-copy myapp.prod myapp.staging
Useful after mirroring an environment to ensure scheduled tasks match.
Install an SSL Certificate
acli env:certificate-create <certificate> <private-key>
Options:
acli env:certificate-create \
/path/to/cert.pem \
/path/to/private-key.pem \
--label="My SSL Cert" \
--ca-certificates=/path/to/ca-bundle.pem \
--legacy
To install from an existing CSR:
acli env:certificate-create cert.pem key.pem --csr-id=<csr-uuid>
Typical Workflows
Set up a CDE for a feature branch
acli env:create "Feature: New Checkout" feature/new-checkout
acli env:mirror myapp.prod myapp.<new-cde-id>
Refresh staging from production
acli env:mirror myapp.prod myapp.staging
Promote staging to prod
acli api:environments:code-switch <prod-env-id> main
Best Practices
- Mirror before testing — Always sync a CDE from prod or staging before QA.
- Clean up CDEs — Delete CDEs when done; they consume resources.
- Test deploys in staging first — Always deploy to staging before production.
- Copy crons after mirror — Run
env:cron-copy after mirroring to keep scheduled tasks in sync.
Troubleshooting
"Environment not found"
Check available environments:
acli api:applications:environment-list
Mirror fails midway
Check logs and retry. Use --no-databases or --no-files to skip the component that failed:
acli env:mirror myapp.prod myapp.staging --no-files
Related Topics
