test-on-staging

name	test-on-staging
description	Test a change on a branch's staging server without a browser — inspect or patch a chart's config remotely, pick the right preview link to share, and know why /search 404s there. Use when testing on staging-site-<branch>, reading or changing a chart config on a remote server, or pointing someone at a chart on staging.
metadata	{"internal":true}

Testing on staging

• yarn tsx devTools/callAdminApi.ts get <chartId> --branch <branch> / set <chartId> '<jsonPatch>' --branch <branch> / unset <chartId> <field> --branch <branch>: inspect or change a chart's config on any staging-site-<branch> (or --host for local/prod) without the browser.
• Auth is ADMIN_API_KEY in .env — one shared key works against every staging server (not per-branch), since admin_api_keys ships in the private data dump every staging build restores from (see db/exportMetadataTables.ts). It's the same key etl already uses; no need to mint a new one.
• Don't wait for the static-site rebake (~10-13 min) to check or share a chart — http://staging-site-<branch>/admin/charts/<id>/preview reflects both chart-config edits and pushed code changes within ~1-3 min. Default to this link (not the public /grapher/<slug> page) whenever pointing someone at a chart on staging.
• A branch's /search and /api/search 404/500 with "index does not exist" unless the PR carries the staging-algolia label (like staging-typesense/staging-bake) — that label is what triggers the per-branch Algolia reindex during bake, and it isn't applied by default. Staging and production Algolia data also live in separate Algolia applications, so don't probe a staging index with production's appId/key to check whether it exists; test through the deployed /search or /api/search, which uses whatever env that deployment is configured with.