Patent ID: 8286131

Claim:
A method for managing environments associated with software projects, the method comprising: generating, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, information configured to provide a graphical user interface that enables a user of the graphical user interface to declaratively specify the lifecycle of one or more environments to be created by an environment management system for executing software code; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, input provided via the graphical interface indicative of at least one task to be executed by an environment management system to create the one or more environments, at least one task to be executed by the environment management system to manage the execution of software code in the one or more environments, and at least one task to be executed by the environment management system to destroy the one or more environment; and generating, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a definition file indicative of the lifecycle of the one or more environments based on the input provided via the graphical interface that instructs the environment management system to deploy one or more environment templates as the one or more environments created by the environment management system for executing software code.