test-environment-management

When to Use

• Setting up test infrastructure
• Debugging environment-specific failures
• Reducing test infrastructure costs
• Ensuring dev/prod parity

Environment Types

| Type | Purpose | Lifetime |

|------|---------|----------|

| Local | Fast feedback | Developer session |

| CI | Automated tests | Per build (ephemeral) |

| Staging | Pre-prod validation | Persistent |

| Production | Canary/synthetic | Continuous |

Dev/Prod Parity Checklist

| Item | Must Match |

|------|------------|

| OS | Same version |

| Database | Same type + version |

| Dependencies | Same versions |

| Config | Same structure |

| Env vars | Same names |

---

```yaml

# docker-compose.test.yml

version: '3.8'

services:

app:

build: .

ports:

- "3000:3000"

environment:

NODE_ENV: test

DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:password@db:5432/test

depends_on:

- db

- redis

db:

image: postgres:15

environment:

POSTGRES_DB: test

POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password

redis:

image: redis:7

```

Run tests in container:

```bash

docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d

docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app npm test

docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down

```

---

```hcl

# test-environment.tf

resource "aws_instance" "test_server" {

ami = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"

instance_type = "t3.medium"

tags = {

Name = "test-environment"

Environment = "test"

AutoShutdown = "20:00" # Cost optimization

}

}

resource "aws_rds_instance" "test_db" {

engine = "postgres"

engine_version = "15"

instance_class = "db.t3.micro"

backup_retention_period = 0 # No backups needed for test

skip_final_snapshot = true

}

```

---

```javascript

// Mock external services with WireMock

import { WireMock } from 'wiremock-captain';

const wiremock = new WireMock('http://localhost:8080');

// Mock payment gateway

await wiremock.register({

request: {

method: 'POST',

url: '/charge'

},

response: {

status: 200,

jsonBody: { transactionId: '12345', status: 'approved' }

}

});

// Tests use mock instead of real gateway

```

---

```bash

# Auto-shutdown test environments after hours

0 20 * aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids $(aws ec2 describe-instances \

--filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=test" \

--query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text)

# Start before work hours

0 7 1-5 aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids $(aws ec2 describe-instances \

--filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=test" \

--query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text)

```

Use spot instances (70% savings):

```hcl

resource "aws_instance" "test_runner" {

instance_type = "c5.2xlarge"

instance_market_options {

market_type = "spot"

spot_options {

max_price = "0.10"

}

}

}

```

---

```typescript

// Provision test environment

await Task("Environment Provisioning", {

type: 'integration-testing',

services: ['app', 'db', 'redis', 'mocks'],

parity: 'production',

lifetime: '2h'

}, "qe-test-executor");

// Chaos testing in isolated environment

await Task("Chaos Test Environment", {

baseline: 'staging',

isolate: true,

injectFaults: ['network-delay', 'pod-failure']

}, "qe-chaos-engineer");

```

---

Memory Namespace

```

aqe/environment-management/

├── configs/* - Environment configurations

├── parity-checks/* - Dev/prod parity results

├── cost-reports/* - Infrastructure costs

└── service-mocks/* - Service virtualization configs

```

Fleet Coordination

```typescript

const envFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({

strategy: 'environment-management',

agents: [

'qe-test-executor', // Provision environments

'qe-performance-tester', // Environment performance

'qe-chaos-engineer' // Resilience testing

],

topology: 'sequential'

});

```

---

• [test-data-management](../test-data-management/) - Data for environments
• [continuous-testing-shift-left](../continuous-testing-shift-left/) - CI/CD environments
• [chaos-engineering-resilience](../chaos-engineering-resilience/) - Environment resilience

---

Environment inconsistency = flaky tests. "Works on my machine" problems come from: different OS/versions, missing dependencies, configuration differences, data differences.

Infrastructure as Code ensures repeatability. Version control your environment configurations. Spin up identical environments on demand.

With Agents: Agents automatically provision test environments matching production, ensure parity, mock external services, and optimize costs with auto-scaling and auto-shutdown.