Staging Copies

A staging copy is a throwaway copy of your own OpenBoxes instance, running at its own address, with a copy of your own data in it. Use it to try an upgrade, rehearse a configuration change, train someone, or reproduce a problem — without touching the instance your team works in.

Staging copies are available on the Dedicated plan. They are leased by the day, and you buy days in packs.

What you get#

When you create a copy, we build a complete second instance from your data:

  • It runs at staging-<your-subdomain>.openboxes.cloud — your own instance keeps its usual address and is never touched.
  • It is seeded from your data: either your most recent backup, or a fresh snapshot taken right then.
  • It has its own database, its own sign-in, and its own lifetime. Nothing you do in the copy reaches your real instance.
  • When the lease ends, the copy is torn down automatically and everything in it is deleted.

Buying staging days#

Staging days are sold as a 5-day pack for $100 — $20 a day. You can buy up to 4 packs in one purchase (20 days).

  • A pack is a one-time charge, not a subscription. It is charged when you buy it and never renews.
  • Days you buy never expire. Unused days stay on your balance until you use them.
  • Packs are charged to a card. If the default payment method on your account is a US bank account, the purchase is refused and asks you to add a card on the Payment method card in Billing and make it the default first.
  • Packs are not available during the free trial — they can be bought once your subscription is paid.
  • A pack purchase is not refundable. If something goes wrong with a purchase, contact support.

To buy: go to Billing in the portal sidebar, find the Staging days section on the Add-ons card, and click Buy days. You can also buy from the Staging copy card on the Instance page, using Buy staging days. (Staging days are a pack rather than a monthly add-on, so they do not appear in the Browse add-ons dialog.) Your remaining balance is shown in both places.

Creating a copy#

  1. Go to Instance in the portal sidebar.
  2. On the Staging copy card, click Create staging copy.
  3. Choose how many days the lease should run. The minimum is 1 day; the maximum is however many days you have on your balance.
  4. Choose where the data comes from:
    • Most recent backup — we use your newest backup if it is less than about a day and a half old and we can verify it; otherwise we take a fresh snapshot instead, so the copy is never older than that.
    • Fresh copy of your data as it is right now — we take a snapshot on the spot. This does not count against your manual-backup limit.
  5. Click create.

How long it takes. A small instance is usually ready in about 10 to 15 minutes. A large instance takes longer. You do not have to wait on the page — we email you when it is ready, and the card shows progress in the meantime.

Days are used when the copy becomes ready, not when you ask for it. If a copy fails to build, no days are used and we email you to say so.

One copy at a time. Each instance can have one live staging copy. To make another, tear the current one down first.

Signing in to the copy#

When the copy is ready, the card offers Show sign-in details. These details are shown once and stored nowhere — copy them somewhere safe before you close the dialog. Asking for them again does not work; if you lose them, tear the copy down and create a new one. The one-time password stays available for the whole lease, so you can reveal it on any day of the lease. (Your own users still work in the meantime, with whatever permissions they have in your instance.)

Your own OpenBoxes users exist in the copy with the passwords they had at the moment the data was copied, so your team can sign in as themselves as well.

Third-party sign-in (Google, Microsoft, GitHub) does not work on a staging copy. Sign in with a username and password instead.

Extending a lease#

While the copy is live, Extend adds days to its lease. Extending spends the days immediately, and they are not returned if you tear the copy down afterwards. The button disappears when your balance reaches zero.

Tearing a copy down#

Tear down removes the copy and everything in it. Teardown starts the moment you confirm and the copy is normally gone within a few minutes.

The confirmation names exactly how many days you are giving up: tearing down early forfeits the days remaining on the lease. There is no way to get spent days back — nothing returns a day to your balance, ever. Letting the lease run out instead simply uses the days you have already paid for. You are charged the same either way.

A copy also tears itself down when its lease ends. We email you 24 hours before that happens, and again once it is done.

A staging copy holds your real data#

A staging copy is not anonymised. It contains a full copy of your instance: your products, stock, orders and documents, and every user's name and sign-in — password hashes included. The only things changed are that people's email addresses and phone numbers are cleared and the copy cannot send email.

Anyone who can sign in to your live instance with an OpenBoxes password can sign in to the copy with the same password. Treat the copy's address and its sign-in details exactly as you treat production: do not give a contractor, a trainee cohort or a vendor access to a copy you would not give them to your real instance.

What a staging copy deliberately does not do#

These are on purpose — a copy of your data must not be able to act as your organization:

  • It sends no email. The email addresses and phone numbers that OpenBoxes would notify are cleared from the copy, and mail is switched off, so nothing in it can reach your staff, your suppliers or your customers. A password reset inside the copy sends nothing.
  • It is never backed up. A staging copy is disposable by definition; back up your real instance, not the copy.
  • It has no third-party sign-in. Sign in with a username and password.
  • API keys do not work against a staging copy. An API key is bound to a single instance, and a request naming the copy is refused. Do not plan API testing against a staging copy.

Things to know#

  • Staging copies are a Dedicated feature; they are not available on Shared.
  • The copy's data is a point-in-time copy. It does not keep up with your real instance — changes made in one never appear in the other.
  • A copy runs on the same dedicated capacity pool as instances do, so occasionally a create is refused because we are at capacity for staging copies right now. Your own instance is never affected. Try again later, or contact support and we will tell you when a slot is free.
  • You can see your live copy and your day balance on the Instance page. Past copies are not listed once they are gone.