Sandboxes Beta: New design & features
Sandboxes are virtual staging environments exclusive to Buddy. They allow you to preview websites on a specified server configuration directly from the application. The feature has been in beta for a while with the official release date scheduled at the end of this year.
As a part of the on-going Buddy v2.0 makeover, sandboxes also received a new coat of paint, a glimpse of what you may expect once we release the new pipelines in the nearest future. We also added a couple of features to the mix – read below for more details!
Example use case
Below you can find a pipeline that involves staging a website on a sandbox for review. The steps are as follows:
- Build application
- Stage application on sandbox
- Inform your team it's ready for review
- Confirm changes and kill sandbox
Here's how it looks split into actions:
Image loading...Sandbox pipeline
Pretty hefty, huh? Now, to the changes!
Update details
New design
The looks of sandboxes follow the direction of changes in our recent changes to Buddy – a more lightweight UI with more space for new features. Each sandbox share the same features, each of them transfered to the new UI:
- Terminal in which you can run commands
- Filesystem hosting the files uploaded to the sandbox
- Pipelines that involve sandbox actions
- Snapshots from which you can run restore the sandbox
- Setup options where you can add point URLs and update sandbox settings
Image loading...Sandbox tabs
Here's the configuration screen where you can define the details of your sandbox. You can see the playbook dropdown expanded with predefined server configurations:
Image loading...Sandbox configuration
For example, selecting WordPress will install Apache with PHP in the chosen version, a MySQL database, and WordPress itself:
Image loading...Playbook configuration
Tags
Users are now able to tag their sandboxes with labels for easier identification. You can find this feature in the Setup tab:
Image loading...Sandbox tags
Folders
Sandbox folders work exactly the same as for projects and pipelines, allowing you to store sandbox servers according to a selected pattern. To add or manage a folder, click the three dots at the top when on the Sandboxes view:
Image loading...Adding folders
You can add however many folders you need and paint them with colors for easier recognition:
Image loading...Folder setup
That's it! Hope you like the update as much as we do. Now, back to work to meet the release deadline! 🤞
Jarek Dylewski
Customer Support
A journalist and an SEO specialist trying to find himself in the unforgiving world of coders. Gamer, a non-fiction literature fan and obsessive carnivore. Jarek uses his talents to convert the programming lingo into a cohesive and approachable narration.