Stage variables let you define key/value pairs of configuration values associated with a stage. These values, similarly to environment variables, can be used in your API configuration. For example, you could define the HTTP endpoint for your method integration as a stage variable, and use the variable in your API configuration instead of hardcoding the endpoint – this allows you to use a different endpoint for each stage (e.g. dev, beta, prod) with the same API configuration. Stage variables are also accessible in the mapping templates and can be used to pass configuration parameters to your Lambda or HTTP backend.