What is the Knack mechanism for building the app in a test environment and then pushing to Production?
I’ve signed up for a trial about a month ago, and it has expired. I don’t remember seeing the option to push things to a Production environment. Any advice is much appreciated.
Hi @Danny2 – Knack doesn’t have a traditional staging-to-production deployment mechanism like many SaaS platforms or development environments. Instead, all Knack apps are live by default, and the concept of “test” vs “production” isn’t built in—you have to simulate that workflow manually.
Knack does allow you to clone an entire app, which is one way to create a test environment. You can use this clone for development and testing, and then manually update the production version when ready. That said, it’s not my preferred route.
Personally, I prefer to utilise User Roles to create a kind of “incognito mode” for testing and building, without exposing unfinished sections to your regular users.
The idea is simple: create a user role called “Developer”, assign it to your account (or to select testers), and then set specific login pages and views to only be visible to users with that role.
You can also use Page Rules to control the visibility of page components. For example, you can hide entire pages unless the user’s role is Developer, or show/hide specific menus, forms, or views accordingly.
It’s a really useful workaround for Knack’s lack of a built-in staging environment—particularly effective for minor updates or ongoing feature development.
This approach has helped me test and refine features safely within the live app for many years. It’s ideal for quick iterations or limited beta testing without the need to clone the entire app.
Hello Carl, thank you so much for the detailed and organized explanation. Very helpful.
I now have an off topic question. I have been on this forum quite a bit over the last two days, and have received speedy replies to my questions from users like you. Have I just been lucky the last few days or is this what I can expect pretty regularly going forward?
I’m evaluating several solutions for an application I’m building for a client, and having a robust support community is one of the criteria.
Thanks again.
Danny
I’m really glad to hear you’ve had a positive experience so far—that reflects the spirit of this forum quite well. The community here is small but genuinely supportive, with a number of highly capable and experienced builders who are generous with their time and knowledge.
It’s worth noting that the forum is run entirely on goodwill—there is currently no formal support team behind it, and all contributors are volunteers who dip in when they can. So while you may get speedy replies at times (especially if your question is specific and well-framed), it’s best not to rely on it as a primary support channel—especially for working through the full learning curve of a client build.
I was recently awarded the role of a community moderator (only non Knack employee 
) so I receive notifications for all posts. I check the forum several times a day to see if I can assist directly or point someone in the right direction. I’m also fortunate to have a direct line to a number of Knack team members, should anything ever need escalating. Like all other contributors here, my involvement is purely voluntary—driven by a genuine desire to support the community.
Knack does offer “office hours” support calls for trial customers, these calls are typically limited to 15 minutes. This allows users to get quick support and answers to their questions.
If you’re planning to explore Knack in more depth or need help ramping up quickly, it might be worth considering working with one of the certified Knack Experts. Many of us have gone down that path ourselves, and it can save a lot of time and frustration in the early stages.
The Knack knowledge base, video tutorials, and live app examples are also a great supplement as you get more familiar with the platform—they cover a lot of ground if you’re willing to explore a bit.
Hi Carl, understood. Your note about the community being run on goodwill was also noted. And the resources you shared will definitely be helpful. Thanks again for the support.