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Available for Cloud projects and free during Beta. Pricing will be decided at a later point.
Test and Live environments let you separate development from production data while working in Lovable Cloud projects.
  • Test: Your development environment. Lovable always builds in Test when Test and Live environments are enabled.
  • Live: Your production environment. This is what real users interact with. Only updated when you explicitly publish.
This gives you a safe way to:
  • Experiment with new features and schema changes
  • Test integrations, workflows, and edge functions
  • Avoid unintended changes to production data
By isolating development work in Test and publishing intentionally, you keep Live stable while continuing to iterate quickly.

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Prerequisites

  • The project must use Lovable Cloud.
  • You must publish at least once to create a Live database before enabling Test.

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How it works

When you enable Test and Live environments, Lovable creates a Test database alongside your Live (production) database. The following is copied from Live to Test only once, on setup:
  • Database schema
  • Database data
  • Cloud configuration
This is the only time data or Cloud configuration is copied between environments. After that:
  • Lovable always builds in Test, never in Live
  • While building in Test, Lovable can reference context from Live to help debug issues, but never modifies Live data
  • Test and Live environments evolve independently
  • Application code and database schema are synced through publishing
  • Database data and cloud configuration are never shared, reset, or overwritten
  • Publishing syncs structure, not content
Publishing updates how your app works. When you publish, Lovable syncs your application code and database structure from Test to Live (never the other way around) so your production app behaves the same way.
Before each publish, Lovable automatically creates a backup of your Live database. This ensures you can recover production data if something unexpected happens during or after publishing. Contact support if you need help restoring a backup.
Publishing does not change what data exists or how your Cloud instance is configured. Each environment permanently owns its own data and settings.
Application componentDescriptionSynced on publish and shared between environments?
Application codeYour app’s logic (frontend, backend, edge functions), which defines how your app works.
Built in Test		Yes
Database schemaThe structure of your database (tables, columns, indexes, migrations).
Built in Test		Yes*
Database dataThe contents of your database (rows, users, records, uploads).
Environment-specific		No
Cloud configurationEnvironment settings like auth, secrets, environment variables, integrations, and features.
Environment-specific		No
*Safe schema migrations that should not cause data loss (for example, adding tables or columns) are applied to Live automatically on publish. Data migrations (moving or transforming existing data) are not run automatically. If a change could risk data loss, Lovable:
  • Explains the situation
  • Provides an SQL query
  • Asks you to run it manually in the SQL editor

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Enable Test and Live environments

To enable Test and Live environments, follow the steps below:
  1. Go to Cloud view → Advanced settings.
  2. Select Enable Test and Live environments option.
  3. Complete the onboarding flow.
  4. Click Enable Test and Live environments button.

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Test and Live Cloud view

When you enable Test and Live environments, you can switch between Test and Live in the Cloud view to inspect data and settings. This selector only controls what you’re viewing, not where Lovable builds.
Editing Live data or Live Cloud configuration (auth, secrets, integrations) affects your production app immediately.

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Remove the Test database

You can delete the Test database from Cloud → Advanced settings → Danger zone. This action:
  • Deletes all Test data
  • Disables the Test and Live environments feature
  • Does not affect Live data
You can re-enable the Test and Live environments later if needed. This will create a new Test database from the current Live state.