# Organizations, projects, and environments
URL: https://metorial.com/docs/build/operate/organizations-and-projects

How Metorial organizes teams, applications, and isolated environments.

---

<PageIntro>
  <Learn>
    * How organizations, projects, and environments fit together
    * When to use production and sandbox environments
  </Learn>
</PageIntro>

Metorial organizes resources in three levels:

<Hierarchy>
  <HierarchyNode name="Organization" hint="company or team">
    <HierarchyNode name="Project" hint="an application or product">
      <HierarchyNode name="Production environment" hint="one per project" />

      <HierarchyNode name="Sandbox environments" hint="create as many as needed" />
    </HierarchyNode>
  </HierarchyNode>
</Hierarchy>

## Organizations and projects [#organizations-and-projects]

An **organization** is the top-level workspace for your company or team. It holds members, shared settings, and projects.

A **project** usually represents one application or product. Create separate projects when the work, access, or ownership should be separate.

<img alt="Create projects in Metorial" src="__img0" />

## Production and sandboxes [#production-and-sandboxes]

Every project includes **one production environment** by default. Use it for resources used by your live applications and users.

You can create **multiple sandbox environments** for development, testing, or experiments. Each environment has its own provider deployments, API keys, authentication configs, and logs, so changes in a sandbox do not affect production.

Use the environment switcher in the dashboard to move between them. Use a separate API key for each environment.