preview-environments
Browse all articles, tutorials, and guides about preview-environments
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Per-Branch AI Endpoints: Isolating Model Spend Across Prod, Preview, and CI
When previews, CI, and production all call models with the same key, you cannot tell what a preview cost or notice a runaway test until the invoice. Because a Neon branch is its own deployment with a usage ledger that lives in the branch's Postgres, model spend is attributed and isolated per environment. I proved it: a CI branch spent tokens while production stayed flat.
Object Storage That Branches With Your Database
Database branching gives you a throwaway copy of your rows. But your app also stores files in object storage, and those normally stay in one shared bucket. On Neon a branch forks the bucket too, so each branch gets its own copy of the files. I built a small files API to prove it.
The Everything-on-Your-Branch Architecture
For a decade "branch the database" has meant a copy of the schema and rows. But your app is also files, backend code, and model config. Neon now forks all of it on one branch: Postgres, object storage, functions, and the AI gateway, together and isolated. I branched a full-stack project to prove it.
Preview Environments That Include the Backend, Not Just the Frontend
Every PR gets a frontend preview URL. The backend is almost always one shared staging database, so previews quietly lie to you. On Neon a branch is the database, its data, and the functions together, so each PR can get a real isolated backend. Here is the workflow, tested end to end.