Go live

Build and validate a notification change without touching live traffic, then promote it to Production. Test and Production are separate environments with their own keys, templates, and logs. Work in Test, review the draft against a real payload, then migrate the assets.

The promotion path

Prerequisites

Promote the change

Work in the Test environment

Switch to Test with the toggle in the settings menu. Templates, brands, and topics you create here are isolated from Production. Edit your template, then send with your Test key. Those sends appear only in the Test dashboard.

const { requestId } = await courier.send.message({
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "sarah@acme-corp.com",
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Sarah Bennett",
    },
  },
});

response = client.send.message(
    message={
        "to": {
            "email": "sarah@acme-corp.com",
        },
        "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        "data": {
            "name": "Sarah Bennett",
        },
    },
)

curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COURIER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": {
        "email": "sarah@acme-corp.com"
      },
      "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
      "data": {
        "name": "Sarah Bennett"
      }
    }
  }'

response = courier.send_.message(
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "sarah@acme-corp.com"
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Sarah Bennett"
    }
  }
)

response, err := client.Send.Message(context.TODO(), courier.SendMessageParams{
	Message: courier.SendMessageParamsMessage{
		To: courier.SendMessageParamsMessageToUnion{
			OfUserRecipient: &shared.UserRecipientParam{
				Email: courier.String("sarah@acme-corp.com"),
			},
		},
		Template: courier.String("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40"),
		Data: map[string]any{
			"name": "Sarah Bennett",
		},
	},
})

SendMessageParams params = SendMessageParams.builder()
    .message(SendMessageParams.Message.builder()
        .to(UserRecipient.builder().email("sarah@acme-corp.com").build())
        .template("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40")
        .data(JsonValue.from(java.util.Map.of(
            "name", "Sarah Bennett"
        )))
        .build())
    .build();
SendMessageResponse response = client.send().message(params);

$response = $client->send->message(
  message: [
    'to' => [
      'email' => 'sarah@acme-corp.com',
    ],
    'template' => 'nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40',
    'data' => [
      'name' => 'Sarah Bennett',
    ],
  ],
);

SendMessageParams parameters = new()
{
    Message = new()
    {
        To = new UserRecipient { Email = "sarah@acme-corp.com" },
        Template = "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        Data = new Dictionary<string, JsonElement>()
        {
            { "name", JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement("Sarah Bennett") },
        },
    },
};

var response = await client.Send.Message(parameters);

courier send message \
  --api-key "$COURIER_API_KEY" \
  --message.to '{"email": "sarah@acme-corp.com"}' \
  --message.template nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 \
  --message.data '{"name": "Sarah Bennett"}'

With Courier MCP, send my nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 template to sarah@acme-corp.com with my test key.

Keep test sends out of real inboxes.
Configure a sandbox provider key in each integration’s Test configuration so Test sends stay in the sandbox.

Preview the draft with a draft key

A draft key renders the latest unpublished draft, not the published version. Use one to review a change against a real payload before publishing. Generate it in , send with it, then check the rendered output in .

const { requestId } = await courier.send.message({
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "reviewer@acme-corp.com",
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Draft Preview",
    },
  },
});

response = client.send.message(
    message={
        "to": {
            "email": "reviewer@acme-corp.com",
        },
        "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        "data": {
            "name": "Draft Preview",
        },
    },
)

curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COURIER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": {
        "email": "reviewer@acme-corp.com"
      },
      "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
      "data": {
        "name": "Draft Preview"
      }
    }
  }'

response = courier.send_.message(
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "reviewer@acme-corp.com"
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Draft Preview"
    }
  }
)

response, err := client.Send.Message(context.TODO(), courier.SendMessageParams{
	Message: courier.SendMessageParamsMessage{
		To: courier.SendMessageParamsMessageToUnion{
			OfUserRecipient: &shared.UserRecipientParam{
				Email: courier.String("reviewer@acme-corp.com"),
			},
		},
		Template: courier.String("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40"),
		Data: map[string]any{
			"name": "Draft Preview",
		},
	},
})

SendMessageParams params = SendMessageParams.builder()
    .message(SendMessageParams.Message.builder()
        .to(UserRecipient.builder().email("reviewer@acme-corp.com").build())
        .template("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40")
        .data(JsonValue.from(java.util.Map.of(
            "name", "Draft Preview"
        )))
        .build())
    .build();
SendMessageResponse response = client.send().message(params);

$response = $client->send->message(
  message: [
    'to' => [
      'email' => 'reviewer@acme-corp.com',
    ],
    'template' => 'nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40',
    'data' => [
      'name' => 'Draft Preview',
    ],
  ],
);

SendMessageParams parameters = new()
{
    Message = new()
    {
        To = new UserRecipient { Email = "reviewer@acme-corp.com" },
        Template = "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        Data = new Dictionary<string, JsonElement>()
        {
            { "name", JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement("Draft Preview") },
        },
    },
};

var response = await client.Send.Message(parameters);

courier send message \
  --api-key "$COURIER_API_KEY" \
  --message.to '{"email": "reviewer@acme-corp.com"}' \
  --message.template nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 \
  --message.data '{"name": "Draft Preview"}'

With Courier MCP, send the unpublished draft of my nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 template to reviewer@acme-corp.com.

Get approval (optional)

If your team reviews changes before they ship, enable the . Publishing then opens a submission instead of going live, and the template stays read-only until that submission is resolved.

Move the template to Production

Read the template’s content from Test and write it to Production with the Templates API. returns the { version, elements } JSON, and writes it, using each environment’s own key.Remove every checksum field and any locales key that starts with an underscore before the PUT, and keep each element’s locales so the Production template gets the same translations. covers the rest, and is the same flow as .Create a template’s dependencies in Production yourself. Brands, tags, and subscription topics are per environment, so set them up there first. A send that references one that is missing fails there while it worked in Test.

Verify

Smoke test with your Production key

Send to an internal recipient in Production.

const { requestId } = await courier.send.message({
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "ops@acme-corp.com",
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Smoke Test",
    },
  },
});

response = client.send.message(
    message={
        "to": {
            "email": "ops@acme-corp.com",
        },
        "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        "data": {
            "name": "Smoke Test",
        },
    },
)

curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COURIER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": {
        "email": "ops@acme-corp.com"
      },
      "template": "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
      "data": {
        "name": "Smoke Test"
      }
    }
  }'

response = courier.send_.message(
  message: {
    to: {
      email: "ops@acme-corp.com"
    },
    template: "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
    data: {
      name: "Smoke Test"
    }
  }
)

response, err := client.Send.Message(context.TODO(), courier.SendMessageParams{
	Message: courier.SendMessageParamsMessage{
		To: courier.SendMessageParamsMessageToUnion{
			OfUserRecipient: &shared.UserRecipientParam{
				Email: courier.String("ops@acme-corp.com"),
			},
		},
		Template: courier.String("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40"),
		Data: map[string]any{
			"name": "Smoke Test",
		},
	},
})

SendMessageParams params = SendMessageParams.builder()
    .message(SendMessageParams.Message.builder()
        .to(UserRecipient.builder().email("ops@acme-corp.com").build())
        .template("nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40")
        .data(JsonValue.from(java.util.Map.of(
            "name", "Smoke Test"
        )))
        .build())
    .build();
SendMessageResponse response = client.send().message(params);

$response = $client->send->message(
  message: [
    'to' => [
      'email' => 'ops@acme-corp.com',
    ],
    'template' => 'nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40',
    'data' => [
      'name' => 'Smoke Test',
    ],
  ],
);

SendMessageParams parameters = new()
{
    Message = new()
    {
        To = new UserRecipient { Email = "ops@acme-corp.com" },
        Template = "nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40",
        Data = new Dictionary<string, JsonElement>()
        {
            { "name", JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement("Smoke Test") },
        },
    },
};

var response = await client.Send.Message(parameters);

courier send message \
  --api-key "$COURIER_API_KEY" \
  --message.to '{"email": "ops@acme-corp.com"}' \
  --message.template nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 \
  --message.data '{"name": "Smoke Test"}'

With Courier MCP, send my nt_01kx4h2jdafq8bk9aftxak4b40 template to ops@acme-corp.com in production.

Confirm the right version rendered

Open the message in , expand the timeline, and confirm the migrated version is the one that rendered.

Confirm the provider accepted it

The same timeline shows the provider’s response. A SENT status that doesn’t progress to DELIVERED points at the provider, not the migration.

Get started

Send your first message

Build a notification

Send to many people

Send when something happens

Let users choose

Move to Courier

Go live

The promotion path

Prerequisites

Promote the change

Verify

​The promotion path

​Prerequisites

​Promote the change

​Verify

The promotion path

Prerequisites

Promote the change

Verify