> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.paradime.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Environments and connections

> How Paradime connects to your data warehouse, and why development, scheduler, and cost environments are kept separate for safer and cheaper dbt™ runs.

Every workspace talks to your data warehouse through **connections**, and those connections are organized into **environments**. Understanding this split explains most of what an Admin configures in Settings.

## Why environments exist

You don't want a work-in-progress model overwriting a production table. Environments keep the two worlds apart:

* **Development environment**: used by the Code IDE. When you run a model while developing, it builds into your development schema, safely away from production data.
* **Scheduler environment**: used by Bolt. Production runs build into your production schema with production credentials.

Each environment has its own connection: warehouse credentials, target database or dataset, and schema. Same project code, different targets.

Paradime also uses dedicated connections for specific jobs:

* **Cost connection**: read-only access Radar uses to analyze warehouse spend.
* **DinoAI agent environment**: the connection background agents use when they work on your project.

## What a connection contains

A connection is the set of details dbt™ needs in its `profiles.yml`, managed for you in the UI: adapter type (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, and others), credentials, target schema, and any [optional connection attributes](/guides/data-warehouse-essentials/optional-connection-attributes) your adapter supports.

## The git side

Your code has environments too. Development happens on branches in the Code IDE; production runs from your default branch. The [git repository](/products/settings/git-repositories/index) connection is what lets Paradime clone, commit, and open pull requests on your behalf.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Set up warehouse connections" href="/guides/paradime-101/getting-started-with-your-paradime-workspace/setting-up-data-warehouse-connections" icon="database">
    Step-by-step connection setup for Admins.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Environments reference" href="/products/settings/connections/index" icon="settings">
    Every environment type and its settings.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


## Related topics

- [Bolt environment](/products/settings/connections/scheduler-environment/index.md)
- [Agent environment](/products/settings/connections/dinoai-background-agent-environment/index.md)
- [Code IDE environment](/products/settings/connections/development-environment/index.md)
- [Migrate Turbo CI from --target flags to a CI environment](/guides/migrations/migrate-turbo-ci-to-a-dedicated-environment.md)
- [Redshift](/integrations/redshift/index.md)