# Staging: a safe copy of your site

> Rehearse risky changes on an exact copy — your real site never notices.

Source: https://veldhost.eu/docs/staging-copy

A staging copy is an exact duplicate of your site — files *and* database — at its own address, protected by a password. Break it, rebuild it, experiment freely: your real site never notices. Site → **Files** tab → *Staging copy*.

## Creating one

One click. A couple of minutes later you get a link like `yoursite-staging.apps.veldhost.eu` plus a username (`staging`) and password shown on the card. It's included with Pro and Business; on Starter it's €5/month until you remove it.

## What's different on staging

- **It's private.** Password-protected, and search engines are told to stay away.
- **It's frozen in time.** It's a copy from the moment you created (or last refreshed) it — new orders, posts or uploads on your live site don't appear on staging.
- **It's sandboxed.** Your scheduled tasks don't run there, and framework apps have outbound email switched to log-only, so staging can't accidentally email your customers.

## Refreshing and going live

*Refresh from live site* throws the staging copy away and takes a fresh one — anything you changed on staging is lost, so treat staging as a place to rehearse, not to build. When a change works on staging, apply it to your live site the same way you rehearsed it (and [take a backup first](https://veldhost.eu/docs/backups-and-restore) — it's one click).

## Removing it

*Remove staging* deletes the copy and, on Starter, stops the charge immediately. You can create a fresh one any time.