Environments & Keys

Environments are isolated workspaces. Each one has its own data and API keys.

Creating an Environment

1. Log in to the Admin Panel
2. Go to Environments in the sidebar
3. Click Create Environment
4. Enter a name (e.g., "Production", "Staging")

After creation, you'll see your API key pair:

API Keys

Each environment has a key pair:

Publishable Key (pk_...)

pk_a1b2c3d4e5f6...

• Where it goes: Your frontend code (HTML/JavaScript)
• What it does: Identifies which environment to connect to
• Safe to expose? Yes

Secret Key (sk_...)

sk_x9y8z7w6v5u4...

• Where it goes: Your backend server (environment variables)
• What it does: Mints user tokens + authenticates REST API calls
• Safe to expose? No — never put this in frontend code

Save Your Secret Key

The secret key is only shown once when the environment is created. Save it securely (e.g., in your backend's environment variables or a secrets manager). If you lose it, you can rotate it from the Admin Panel.

Key Rotation

If a key is compromised or you need to rotate for security:

1. Go to the environment detail page
2. Click Rotate Keys
3. A new key pair is generated
4. Update your frontend (pk_) and backend (sk_) with the new keys
5. The old keys stop working immediately

Revoking Individual Keys

You can revoke a specific key without generating new ones:

1. Go to the environment detail page
2. Find the key in the API Keys table
3. Click Revoke

Revoked keys can't be used again.

Multiple Environments

Use separate environments to isolate data between contexts:

Your Pulse Account
├── Production (pk_prod..., sk_prod...)
│   └── Live user data
├── Staging (pk_stg..., sk_stg...)
│   └── Test data
└── Development (pk_dev..., sk_dev...)
    └── Local dev data

Data never crosses environment boundaries. A user in Production can never see data from Staging.

Environment Settings

From the environment detail page you can:

• Edit the name — update the display name
• View API keys — see key prefixes and creation dates
• Rotate / revoke keys — manage key lifecycle
• Browse data — see rooms, threads, users in this environment
• View analytics — room count, thread count, user count, comment count