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When a new developer joins the project, they need their own local environment connected to Forest. This keeps their work isolated from production while they develop.

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Invite them to the project

  1. Go to Project Settings → Users
  2. Invite the developer with the Developer or Admin permission level so they can manage their environment

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They set up their local back-end

The developer clones the back-end repository and installs dependencies: 
git clone <your-back-end-repo>
cd <your-back-end>
npm install

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Create a development environment

Each developer works in their own environment, which has its own FOREST_ENV_SECRET.
  1. In Forest, go to Project Settings → Environments
  2. Click Add environment → Development
  3. Give it a name (e.g. “Alice’s dev”)
  4. Copy the generated FOREST_ENV_SECRET
The developer adds their environment variables to their local .env: 
FOREST_ENV_SECRET=<their-dev-env-secret>
FOREST_AUTH_SECRET=<same-as-production>
DATABASE_URL=<their-local-or-staging-db>

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Start the back-end

npm start
Their local back-end is now connected to their own Forest environment, isolated from production.

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Work with branches

Layout changes (collections display, segments, workspaces) are managed through branches, just like code. The developer creates a branch to work on UI changes without affecting production: 
forest branch my-feature-branch
When the changes are ready, they push the branch: 
forest push
An Admin can then review and deploy the branch to production from the Forest UI.
For a full explanation of the branch and deploy workflow, see Developer Workflow.
You’re all set. Your back-office is live, your team has access, and your development workflow is in place. Explore Product to go deeper on any feature, Connect, Build, Customize, Control, and more.