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+### Setting Up Environment Variables for Local Development to the Staging API
+
+When you’re working locally, you can point your local admin repo to the staging API and use that to help debug
+issues with the staging data set.  To do this, you’ll need to modify your .env file for the admin project and
+include the following new environment variables:
+
+- `ADMIN_CLIENT_SECRET`
+- `ADMIN_CLIENT_USERNAME`
+- `DANGEROUS_SALT`
+- `SECRET_KEY`
+
+Additionally, update `API_HOST_NAME` and `NOTIFY_ENVIRONMENT`:
+
+1. Change `API_HOST_NAME` to `API_HOST_NAME=https://notify-api-staging.app.cloud.gov`
+2. Change `NOTIFY_ENVIRONMENT` to `NOTIFY_ENVIRONMENT=staging`
+
+### Retrieving Environment Variables for Staging
+
+You can retrieve the values needed for these by using the `cf` CLI (Cloud Foundry CLI tool) and making sure
+you’re targeting the `notify-staging` space.
+
+1. `cf login -a [api.fr.cloud.gov](http://api.fr.cloud.gov/) --sso`
+2. select `notify-staging`
+3. `cf env notify-admin-staging`
+
+By pointing your local environment to staging, it should mirror what's in staging.