What Is an Environment in TestOwl?

An Environment defines how TestOwl runs your tests. It contains the configuration required to execute a test, such as the browser, device, viewport, location, timezone, network settings, and other runtime options.

A single test can be executed across multiple environments to verify that your application works consistently across different browsers, devices, and configurations.

Creating an environment

To create an environment:

1. 1
   Open Environments from the sidebar.
2. 2
   Click New Environment.
3. 3
   Configure the environment details.

The environment editor opens as a side panel with several collapsible sections. Start with the General section:

The remaining options are organised into these sections (you can expand as many as you need):

The Masking Rules section lets you pick which Masking Rules apply to this environment. Rules themselves are created under Settings → Security & Privacy.

Marking an environment as Production

An environment is considered a Production environment when its Type is set to Production in the General section.

Production environments have an additional safety check: Draft-status test cases cannot be executed against them. This prevents unfinished tests from accidentally running against live applications.

The Environments page

Open Environment in the sidebar to see every environment with its Name, Browser, Viewport, and Device. From each row you can edit, duplicate, or delete it, and you can search and filter the list.

Duplicating an environment

You can duplicate an existing environment to quickly create a similar configuration.

This is useful when creating variations such as:

• The same staging setup with a different browser.
• A desktop environment with a mobile device configuration.
• Multiple environments that share most settings but differ in a few options.

After duplication, update only the settings that need to change.

Deleting and restoring environments

Deleting an environment moves it to the Recycle Bin, together with any Variables and Secrets that were scoped only to that environment. You can restore them all together within 15 days. A schedule that uses a deleted environment shows it as deleted, so edit the schedule to choose another one.

Environments and your plan

The number of environments you can create depends on your plan — 2 on Starter, 5 on Pro, and 15 on Scale, with no limit on the Trial. Some browsers and devices are also plan-based: Safari / WebKit and mobile and tablet emulation need Pro or above, and appear with a lock icon in the editor on plans that don't include them. See Plans & Usage.

Selecting an environment when running tests

When you trigger a run, you can select one or more environments for execution.

Each selected environment runs independently and generates its own result. This makes it easy to identify environment-specific issues, such as a test failing only on mobile Safari or a particular browser version.

Next steps