Rapid Development Environments

February 5, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin
  • Developer

To deploy changes, current Cloud Development environments require the use of a process that employs extensive code security and quality rules called a CI/CD pipeline. For situations where quick and iterative changes are needed, Adobe has introduced Rapid Development Environments (RDEs for short).

RDEs allow developers to swiftly deploy and review changes, minimizing the amount of time needed to test features that are proven to work on a local development environment.

Once the changes have been tested in an RDE, they can be deployed to a regular Cloud Development environment through the Cloud Manager pipeline.

NOTE
Get in touch with the RDE developers on our Discord channel. Feel free to ask any questions or give feedback regarding RDE topics.

You can see additional videos demonstrating how to set it up, how to use it, and the development life cycle using RDE.

Introduction

RDEs can be used for code, content, and Apache or Dispatcher configurations. Unlike regular Cloud Development environments, developers can use local command-line tools to sync code built locally to an RDE.

Every program is provisioned with an RDE. If there are Sandbox accounts, they are hibernated after a few hours of non-use.

Upon creation, RDEs are set to the most recently available Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) version. An RDE reset, which can be performed using Cloud Manager, cycles the RDE and set it to the most recently available AEM version.

Typically, an RDE would be used by a single developer at a given time, for testing and debugging a specific feature. When the development session is done, the RDE can be reset into a default state for the next usage.

Additional RDEs may be licensed for Production (non-sandbox) programs.

Enabling RDE in a Program

Follow these steps so you can use Cloud Manager to create an RDE for your program.

  1. Log into Cloud Manager at my.cloudmanager.adobe.com and select the appropriate organization.

  2. Click the program to which you want to add an RDE to show its details.

  3. From the Program Overview page, click Add Environment on the Environments card to add an environment.

    Environments card

    • The Add Environment option is also available on the Environments tab.

      Environments tab

    • The Add Environment option may be disabled due to lack of permissions or depending on the licensed resources.

  4. In the Add environment dialog that appears:

    • Select Rapid Development under the Select environment type heading.
      • The number of available/used environments is displayed in parentheses behind the environment type.
    • Provide a Name for the environment.
    • Provide an optional Description for the environment.
    • Select a Cloud Region.

    Add environment dialog

  5. Click Save to add the specified environment.

The Overview screen now displays your new environment in the Environments card.

Upon creation, RDEs are set to the most recently available AEM version. An RDE reset, which can also be performed using Cloud Manager, cycles the RDE and set it to the most recently available AEM version.

For more information about using Cloud Manager to create environments, manage who has access to them, and assign custom domains, see the Cloud Manager documentation.