Canva Multi-Environment Setup

Overview

Configure Canva Connect API integrations across development, staging, and production. Each environment needs separate OAuth integrations registered in the Canva developer portal with distinct redirect URIs.

Environment Strategy

Environment	Canva Integration	Redirect URI	Data
Development	my-app-dev	http://localhost:3000/auth/canva/callback	Test account
Staging	my-app-staging	https://staging.myapp.com/auth/canva/callback	Staging account
Production	my-app-prod	https://myapp.com/auth/canva/callback	Real users

Important: Register a separate Canva integration per environment. Each gets its own client ID and secret.

Configuration

// src/config/canva.ts
interface CanvaEnvConfig {
  clientId: string;
  clientSecret: string;
  redirectUri: string;
  baseUrl: string;  // Always api.canva.com — Canva has no sandbox API
  scopes: string[];
  debug: boolean;
}

const configs: Record<string, CanvaEnvConfig> = {
  development: {
    clientId: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_ID!,
    clientSecret: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    redirectUri: 'http://localhost:3000/auth/canva/callback',
    baseUrl: 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1', // No sandbox exists
    scopes: ['design:content:write', 'design:content:read', 'design:meta:read', 'asset:write', 'asset:read'],
    debug: true,
  },
  staging: {
    clientId: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_ID!,
    clientSecret: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    redirectUri: process.env.CANVA_REDIRECT_URI!,
    baseUrl: 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1',
    scopes: ['design:content:write', 'design:content:read', 'design:meta:read', 'asset:write', 'asset:read'],
    debug: false,
  },
  production: {
    clientId: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_ID!,
    clientSecret: process.env.CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    redirectUri: process.env.CANVA_REDIRECT_URI!,
    baseUrl: 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1',
    scopes: ['design:content:write', 'design:content:read', 'design:meta:read'],
    debug: false,
  },
};

export function getCanvaConfig(): CanvaEnvConfig {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
  return configs[env] || configs.development;
}

Secret Management

Local Development

# .env.local (git-ignored)
CANVA_CLIENT_ID=OCA_dev_xxxxxxxx
CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET=dev_xxxxxxxx

GitHub Actions / CI

# Per-environment secrets
gh secret set CANVA_CLIENT_ID --env staging --body "OCA_staging_xxx"
gh secret set CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET --env staging --body "staging_xxx"
gh secret set CANVA_CLIENT_ID --env production --body "OCA_prod_xxx"
gh secret set CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET --env production --body "prod_xxx"

Production — Cloud Secret Managers

# GCP Secret Manager
gcloud secrets create canva-client-id-prod --data-file=-
gcloud secrets create canva-client-secret-prod --data-file=-

# AWS Secrets Manager
aws secretsmanager create-secret \
  --name canva/production/client-id \
  --secret-string "OCA_prod_xxx"

# HashiCorp Vault
vault kv put secret/canva/production \
  client_id="OCA_prod_xxx" \
  client_secret="prod_xxx"

Environment Isolation Guards

// Prevent accidental cross-environment operations
function assertEnvironment(expected: string): void {
  const actual = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
  if (actual !== expected) {
    throw new Error(`Expected ${expected} environment, got ${actual}`);
  }
}

// Guard destructive operations
async function deleteAllUserDesigns(userId: string, token: string) {
  assertEnvironment('development'); // Block in staging/production
  // ...
}

Token Storage per Environment

// Development: file-based for convenience
// Staging/Production: encrypted database

function getTokenStore(): TokenStore {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';

  if (env === 'development') {
    return new FileTokenStore('.canva-tokens.json'); // git-ignored
  }

  return new DatabaseTokenStore({
    connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
    encryptionKey: process.env.TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY!,
  });
}

Canva-Specific Considerations

1. No sandbox API — Canva has no separate sandbox environment. All environments hit api.canva.com/rest/v1. Use separate Canva accounts for dev/staging.
2. Separate integrations — Each environment should be a distinct integration in the Canva developer portal to avoid redirect URI conflicts.
3. Scope differences — Use broader scopes in dev for testing, minimal scopes in production.
4. Token isolation — Never share tokens across environments. Refresh tokens are single-use.

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Wrong redirect URI	Environment mismatch	Use per-environment integration
Missing secret	Not deployed to env	Add via secret manager
Token cross-contamination	Shared token store	Isolate by environment prefix
Production guard triggered	Wrong NODE_ENV	Set correct environment variable

Resources

• Canva Creating Integrations
• Canva Authentication
• 12-Factor App Config

Next Steps

For observability setup, see canva-observability.