DEP-242: Change trigger for environment detection

CHANGELOG.MD

@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## April 1, 2026
+
+- **Chore** Change trigger for environment detection in API [🎟️ DEP-242](https://citz-gdx.atlassian.net/browse/DEP-242)
+  - Updated Helm templates to set a new environment variable `ENV` in the API deployment, which is then used by the API to determine the current environment (dev/test/prod).
+  - The env variable is loaded in config.py and is available as current_app.config['ENVIRONMENT'] for use in the API codebase.
+
 ## March 31, 2026
 
 - **Chore** OpenShift and Helm value changes from MET to DEP [🎟️ DEP-231](https://citz-gdx.atlassian.net/browse/DEP-231)

api/src/api/services/engagement_service.py

@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 """Service for engagement management."""
 
+import os
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from http import HTTPStatus
-import os
 from typing import Mapping, Optional, Sequence, Union
 
 from sqlalchemy.exc import SQLAlchemyError
 from sqlalchemy.orm import selectinload
-from flask import current_app
+from flask import current_app, has_app_context
 from flask_restx import abort
 from marshmallow import ValidationError
 
@@ -550,7 +550,13 @@ def delete(cls, engagement_id: int):
         one_of_roles = (Role.SUPER_ADMIN.value, Role.UNPUBLISH_ENGAGEMENT.value)
         authorization.check_auth(one_of_roles=one_of_roles)
 
-        current_env = os.getenv('FLASK_ENV', 'production').lower()
+        current_env = (
+            (current_app.config.get('ENVIRONMENT') if has_app_context() else '') or
+            os.getenv('ENVIRONMENT') or
+            os.getenv('DEPLOYMENT_ENV') or
+            os.getenv('FLASK_ENV', 'development')
+        ).strip().lower()
+
         if current_env in ('prod', 'production'):
             abort(HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, 'Cannot delete an engagement in production environment')
 

notify-api/src/notify_api/config.py

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def get_named_config(config_name: str = 'production'):
 
     :raise: KeyError: if an unknown configuration is requested
     """
-    if config_name in ['production', 'staging', 'default']:
+    if config_name in ['production', 'prod', 'staging', 'default']:
         config = ProdConfig()
     elif config_name == 'testing':
         config = TestConfig()
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class _Config():  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
     """Base class configuration that should set reasonable defaults for all the other configurations."""
 
     PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+    ENVIRONMENT = os.getenv('ENV', 'production')
 
     # GC Notify
     GC_NOTIFY_API_KEY = os.getenv('GC_NOTIFY_API_KEY')

openshift/api/templates/configmap.yaml

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ metadata:
         app-group: engagement-app
 data:
     # Engagement API configuration
+    ENV: {{ .Values.environment | quote }}
     CORS_ORIGINS: {{ .Values.site.url }}
     DEFAULT_TENANT_SHORT_NAME: {{ .Values.tenant.shortName }}
     ACCESS_REQUEST_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_ID: {{ .Values.email.templateID.accessRequest }}