How to manage Repl after deploying to prod?

Deployments
1

I have an app that doesn’t use DB, but rather API calls when in need to update a DB.
We finished testing, and i would like now to publish to prod. I will change the API url’s to the production ones, but how will i do in the future to keep adding features to this app?

Thanks
Jaime

2

The same way you are doing it now…rinse and repeat. You can tell it to have dev URL’s vs prod URL’s.

1 Like
3

thanks
i have currently a test url where i deploy for customers to see and test.
Now i will deploy to prod url. Can i remove the prod url in future deployments so i can show further improvements to the customer? will it void the prod url?

4

Hey Jaime, this is a common scenario when moving from testing to production, especially with API driven apps.

Once you’ve deployed the production version, a good approach is to create two separate branches or Repls:

  1. Production Repl: Stable, tested version pointing to your production API URLs. Only updated after proper testing.
  2. Development Repl (or branch): Where you keep experimenting, building, and testing new features. You point this to your test/staging APIs.

Then your flow could look like:

  • Make changes and test in the dev Repl
  • Once everything looks good, manually or programmatically sync the changes to the production Repl
  • Optionally, use .env files or environment variables for switching between API URLs dynamically, so you don’t need to hardcode them every time

For larger apps, you might even consider using GitHub + Replit’s deployments to manage versions more cleanly.

Let us know if you’d like a quick example setup, we’ve helped a few teams structure similar workflows for smoother rollout :rocket:

— Hashlogics | Book a call

5

Duplicating the Repl to prod and dev seems a very good and easy to implement solution.
How can i use .env files to switch api urls dynamically?

6

In your Repl, create environment variables by clicking on the padlock icon :locked: in the left sidebar (next to “Files”). Add something like:

API_URL=https://staging.api.example.com

For production, you can switch this to:

API_URL=https://prod.api.example.com

In most environments (Node.js, Python, etc.), you can access the variable like this:

const apiUrl = process.env.API_URL;

or

import os
api_url = os.getenv("API_URL")

You can now set different values in each Repl:

  • In your dev Repl, keep the staging/test API URL.
  • In your prod Repl, set the same key (API_URL) but with the production endpoint.

This way, you don’t need to change the code at all just the environment variable behind the scenes.

Feel free to book a quick call if you’re planning to scale or automate more of this flow from the given calendly link previously!