Early release cycle environments

Note

The new and improved Power Platform admin center is now generally available. We're currently updating the documentation to reflect these changes, so check back to ensure that you're getting the latest updates.

Product engineering teams update online software continuously. Updates that include fixes and minor or major features and capabilities may be made daily and weekly. It may take the update days or weeks to rollout to all customer environments in all regions.

Early release cycle lets you create environments that get updates first. Early release cycle environments allow you to validate scenarios that matter to you before updates reach your business-critical apps.

Early release cycle environments are also the type of environment used for the Power Apps preview program.

Create early release cycle environments

Create early release cycle environments the same way you create other environments in the Power Platform admin center.

The only difference is the infrastructure where you create the environment, so it gets software releases first.

When you create an environment and select a region, you see the option to create the environment as an early release cycle environment. This option is named Get new features early. Only some regions support this option, so make sure to select a supported region.

Manage early release cycle environments

You can manage early release cycle environments the same way as other environments in the Power Platform admin center. Identify early release cycle environments by the Early value in the Release cycle column.

Move existing environments to early release cycle

To move an environment to early release cycle:

1. Create a new sandbox environment in early release in the same region as the environment to be moved.
2. Copy your existing environment to the new early release environment. This effectively moves your environment to first release after the copy completes.
3. Delete the original environment if you don't need it. The original environment's URL can then be reused for the early release environment by editing the environment properties.