Work with environments as a team in Postman

An environment enables you to collaborate on Postman data when you’re working as part of a team. You can use environments to share a group of variable values and use those values when sending requests. You can also use environments to share and manage the visibility of sensitive data such as API keys, passwords, or tokens.

To get started, create a new environment, move an environment, or fork an environment in your internal workspace. Then assign roles to team members to specify who can view or edit the environment.

Move an environment to a shared workspace

To collaborate with others, move an environment to a shared workspace. You can share data with other team members in internal workspaces, or share data with anyone using public workspaces.

To move an environment to an internal or public workspace that you have access to, do the following:

1. Click Items in the sidebar, then click Environments and select an environment.

2. Click View more actions and select Move.

3. Use the search bar to find the workspace you want to move the environment to. You can also click Filter by visibility to filter by workspace type.

   You can’t move environments from internal or public workspaces to a workspace restricted only to you.

4. Select the workspace, then click Move Environment.

Export an environment

Another way to move an environment is to export it from one workspace and import it into a different workspace.

1. Click Items in the sidebar, then click Environments and select an environment.
2. Click View more actions next to an environment and select Export. The file downloads automatically.

You can import the JSON file into another workspace by dragging it into Postman. Learn more about data import and export.

Share an environment

After you move an environment, you can share it with others and add them as collaborators.

1. Click Items in the sidebar, then click Environments and select an environment.

2. Click View more actions and select Share. Or, click Share in the upper right of the workbench.

   You can click Copy link in the upper right of the workbench to copy a link to the environment you can share with others. The link only works for users with access to the environment.

3. Enter the names, group names, or email addresses you want to share the environment with. Or, click Copy link to copy a link to the environment you can share with others.

4. If you have the Editor role for the environment, select the role you want your collaborators to have (Viewer or Editor).

5. Click Invite.

Postman notifies the people you shared the element with about your request to collaborate. Learn more about sharing your work in Postman.

Use an environment with the Viewer role

If you have the Viewer role for an environment, you can access the values of all variables in the environment. You can update your local value for the variable, which is used to send requests in your local Postman instance. The local value also isn’t shared with your team or synced to the Postman cloud. With the Viewer role only, you can’t edit the environment or update a variable’s shared value, which is synced to the Postman cloud and shared with your team.

If you have Viewer access to an environment, Read only displays next to the environment’s name to indicate that you can’t make changes to the environment. If you need to edit the environment or shared values for variables, request Editor access to the environment.

Use an environment with the Editor role

If you have the Editor role for an environment, you can edit the environment and update a variable’s shared value. You can also create and update variables from your scripts.

When you edit the shared value of an environment variable, your updated value is reflected for everyone with access to the environment. Make sure it’s safe to share the value with your team and sync it with the Postman cloud. Learn more about managing sensitive variable values.

Request access to an environment

If you need to update the shared value of a variable in an environment you have Viewer access to, you can request Editor access.

1. Click Items in the sidebar, then click Environments and select an environment.
2. Click Request to Edit.

Postman notifies the team members with Editor access to the environment about your request. If your request is approved, you’ll get an email notification.

Manage sensitive variable values

With Editor access, you can set environment variables as sensitive data, masking the values for your collaborators. Learn how to set an environment variable as sensitive data.

Postman recommends that you use your Postman Vault to store sensitive data, such as API keys, as encrypted vault secrets. Only you can access and use values associated with your vault secrets, and they aren’t synced to the Postman cloud. This enables you to prevent unintentional disclosure of your sensitive data.

Fork an environment

You can fork an environment to make changes to it without impacting the parent environment. You can also use a fork to contribute to an environment without having Editor access.

To fork an environment, do the following:

1. Click Items in the sidebar, then click Environments and select an environment.
2. Click Fork in the workbench.
3. Enter a Fork label and select the Workspace where you want to create the fork.
4. Click Fork Environment.

You can edit your forked environment and use it as needed, or you can create a pull request to update the original environment.

View pull requests, forks, and environment details

You can view pull requests, forks, and details about an environment from the right sidebar.

• To view pull requests, click Pull Requests.

  If you have the Editor role for an environment, you can review pull requests and merge changes into the parent environment.

• To view forks, click Forks.

• To view more information about the environment, including its ID, creator, and any mock servers or monitors that use it, click Info.