Terminology

When you read the UI and documentation, use these terms. Some APIs and CLI commands use legacy names for compatibility. These sections identify the compatibility terms.

Repository

A repository is a GitHub repository that contains application source or a lifecycle.yaml configuration. A pull request is one Environment source. Static and API-created Environments are not tied to a pull request.

Service

A Service is a named unit in lifecycle.yaml. Service types include GitHub source builds, pre-built Docker images, Helm charts, Codefresh pipelines, external HTTP dependencies, Aurora restores, and configuration-only data. A single repository can define multiple Services.

Example:
The frontend application needs the frontend-service and frontend-cache Services.

Environment

An Environment is an isolated set of selected Services and their resolved configuration.

• Lifecycle builds and deploys defaultServices in an Environment by default.
• Users can select optionalServices. If a user does not select an optional Service, its template variables can use a configured defaultUUID fallback.

Environment ID

Lifecycle assigns each Environment a human-readable identifier such as payments-preview or dev-0. APIs, template variables, and the CLI can use the name uuid or buildUUID for compatibility. It is an Environment identifier, not an RFC-formatted UUID.

Static Environment

A static Environment is long-lived and can track configured Service branches. Cleanup for one pull request does not remove it. It can supply fallback endpoints for optional Services.

Build

Build is the legacy API and CLI term for an Environment record and its current orchestration state. User-facing guidance uses Environment unless it names a literal command, field, or status.

Deploy

A Deploy is the per-Service execution record in an Environment. It tracks the selected branch/image, status, endpoints, and build or deployment jobs for one Service.

Webhook

A webhook runs automation when an Environment reaches deployed, error, or torn_down. Lifecycle supports Codefresh pipelines, Docker-image Jobs, and command Jobs.

Example

• When the Environment status is deployed, start end-to-end tests.
• When the Environment status is error, start infrastructure cleanup.