---
title: "About environments"
source: dbt Core Documentation
source_url: https://github.com/dbt-labs/docs.getdbt.com
licence: Apache-2.0
domain: data-and-analysis
subdomain: dbt-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

In software engineering, environments are used to enable engineers to develop and test code without impacting the users of their software. Typically, there are two types of environments in dbt:

- **Deployment or Production** (or _prod_) &mdash; Refers to the environment that end users interact with. 

- **Development** (or _dev_) &mdash; Refers to the environment that engineers work in. This means that engineers can work iteratively when writing and testing new code in _development_. Once they are confident in these changes, they can deploy their code to _production_.

In traditional software engineering, different environments often use completely separate architecture. For example, the dev and prod versions of a website may use different servers and databases. <Term id="data-warehouse">Data warehouses</Term> can also be designed to have separate environments &mdash; the _production_ environment refers to the relations (for example, schemas, tables, and <Term id="view">views</Term>) that your end users query (often through a BI tool).

Configure environments to tell <Constant name="dbt" /> or <Constant name="core" /> how to build and execute your project in development and production:


<Card
    title="Environments in dbt"
    body="Seamlessly configure development and deployment environments in dbt to control how your project runs in both the Studio IDE, dbt CLI, and dbt jobs."
    link="/docs/dbt-cloud-environments"
    icon="dbt-bit"/>

<Card
    title="Environments in dbt Core"
    body="Setup and maintain separate deployment and development environments through the use of targets within a profile file"
    link="/docs/local/dbt-core-environments"
    icon="command-line"/>

 

## Related docs

- [<Constant name="dbt" /> environment best practices](/guides/set-up-ci)
- [Deployment environments](/docs/deploy/deploy-environments)
- [About <Constant name="core" /> versions](/docs/dbt-versions)
- [Set Environment variables in <Constant name="dbt" />](/docs/build/environment-variables#special-environment-variables)
- [Use Environment variables in jinja](/reference/dbt-jinja-functions/env_var)
