# Environments, Approvals and Releases — GitHub Actions

Source: https://www.skillbyai.com/en/github-actions/r-env

> Gate deployments.

## Protection rules and deployment history

An **environment** (staging, production) holds its own secrets and variables and can require **reviewers** to approve, wait timers, and restrictions on which branches or tags may deploy. Jobs reference it with `environment: production`; GitHub records deployments and their URLs. Combine with tag-triggered release workflows, a concurrency group per environment, and smoke tests after deployment, with a documented rollback path.

## A gated production deployment

Not linted or run here; check the GitHub Actions documentation for current syntax.

```yaml
jobs:
  deploy-production:
    needs: deploy-staging
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: production
      url: https://shop.example.com
    concurrency:
      group: deploy-production
      cancel-in-progress: false
    steps:
      - run: ./scripts/deploy.sh production
      - run: ./scripts/smoke-test.sh https://shop.example.com
```

## Restrict production to tags or main

Environment deployment branch rules stop feature branches from deploying to production.

**Quiz:** What can an environment protection rule require?

- [ ] A different YAML syntax
- [ ] A faster runner
- [ ] A larger cache
- [x] Approval from designated reviewers before the job runs

*Answer:* Approval from designated reviewers before the job runs. Human gates for sensitive deploys.