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Courier’s two-environment model (Test and Production) lets you develop and validate notification changes without touching live traffic. This tutorial walks through a recommended promotion workflow; from building in Test, through staging and approval, to production migration and verification.

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Prerequisites

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Step 1: Build in Test

Switch to the Test environment using the toggle in the lower-left settings menu. Everything you create here; templates, brands, subscription topics; is fully isolated from Production.
Environment toggle in the settings menu
Create or edit your template, then send test notifications using your Test API key. Test sends only appear in the Test environment dashboard and never reach production recipients (unless you use real contact info). 
curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TEST_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": { "email": "test@example.com" },
      "template": "YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID",
      "data": { "name": "Test User" }
    }
  }'
Configure a separate provider API key for your Test environment (e.g., a sandbox SendGrid key) so test sends never reach real inboxes. Set this under each integration’s Test Configuration.

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Step 2: Stage with draft keys

Draft keys let you preview unpublished template changes against real send payloads before publishing. This catches rendering issues early.
API Keys settings page
You can generate draft keys from Settings > API Keys. When you send with a draft key, Courier renders the latest unpublished draft of the template rather than the last published version. 
curl -X POST https://api.courier.com/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_DRAFT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "to": { "email": "reviewer@yourteam.com" },
      "template": "YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID",
      "data": { "name": "Draft Preview" }
    }
  }'
Check the rendered output in Message Logs to confirm variables, branding, and channel content look correct before publishing.

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Step 3: Get approval (optional)

If your team requires review before publishing, enable the Template Approval Workflow. When enabled, the “Publish Changes” button is replaced with “Send for Review,” and the template enters a read-only state until the submission is resolved via API. This is useful for teams that need compliance review, copy editing, or multi-stakeholder sign-off before changes go live. Skip this step if your team doesn’t need formal approval gates.

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Step 4: Promote to Production

Once your template is published in Test and validated, migrate it to Production:
1

Open the template

Navigate to the notification template you want to promote.
2

Open the migration modal

Click the dropdown on the “Publish Changes” button and select “Migrate Assets.”
3

Review and copy

Courier copies the template and all dependencies (brands, tags, subscription topics) to the destination environment. Choose “Copy Assets” to copy without publishing, or “Copy And Publish” to go live immediately.
Migrate Assets button in the template editor
If you have multiple workspaces, you can also select a destination workspace in the migration modal.

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Step 5: Verify

After promotion, confirm everything works in Production:
  1. Check Message Logs. Open Message Logs in the Production environment and verify that sends are rendering and delivering as expected.
  2. Run a smoke test. Use the CLI or API with your Production key to send a test notification to an internal recipient: 
export COURIER_API_KEY="YOUR_PRODUCTION_API_KEY"
courier send --email ops@yourteam.com --template YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID --name "Smoke Test"
  1. Inspect the timeline. In Message Logs, expand the message and review the timeline to confirm the correct template version was used and the provider accepted the send.

Environments & API Keys

Manage environments, keys, and asset migration

Template Approval Workflow

Require review before publishing template changes

Message Logs

Monitor delivery status and debug issues

Courier CLI

Send, test, and manage notifications from the command line