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Branch deployments

Dagster+ feature

This feature is only available in Dagster+.

Branch deployments automatically create ephemeral preview deployments of your Dagster code, right in Dagster+. Every time you push to a branch with an open pull or merge request in the Git repository for your Dagster code, Dagster+ will redeploy the code in the branch, allowing you to preview the changes to the branch in real time, without affecting production or overwriting a test environment.

Supported platforms​

Branch deployments can be used with any Git or CI provider. However, setup is easiest with the Dagster GitHub Actions or Dagster GitLab CI/CD workflow, as parts of the process are automated. For more information, see Setting up branch deployments.

Change tracking​

When a branch deployment is deployed, it compares the asset definitions in the branch deployment with the asset definitions in the main deployment. The Dagster UI will then mark the changed assets, making it easy to identify changes. For more information, see Change tracking in branch deployments.

Branch deployment example​

Below is an example branch deployment setup:

Overview of branch deployment architecture

  1. In the Git repository, a new branch called feature-1 is created from the main branch, and a pull request is opened from that branch.

  2. Dagster+ is notified of the new pull request and creates a branch deployment named feature-1. The branch deployment functions just like the production deployment of Dagster+, but contains the Dagster code changes from the feature-1 branch.

    In this example, the feature-1 branch deployment communicates with a cloned schema in a database. This is completely separate from the prod schema associated with the production deployment.

  3. For every push to the feature-1 branch, the feature-1 branch deployment in Dagster+ is rebuilt and redeployed.