diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable.environment.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable.environment.yml
index 4c885c9..1485a13 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable.environment.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/reusable.environment.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ on:
         description: commit of the CI repo to deploy on workflow dispatch
         required: false
         type: string
+      environment: 
+        description: environment to deploy to
+        required: false
+        type: string
     outputs:
       tag:
         description: tag of the docker image
@@ -46,7 +50,8 @@ jobs:
             commit=${input_commit:-${{ github.sha }}}
             submodule_append=`[ -z ${{ inputs.submodule_commit }} ] || echo "_sha-${{ inputs.submodule_commit }}" && echo ""`
             tag="sha-$commit$submodule_append"
-            environment=development
+            env=${{ inputs.environment }}
+            environment=${env:-development}
           elif [[ "${{ github.event_name }}" == "push" && "${{ github.ref }}" == "refs/heads/main" ]]; then
               tag="sha-${{ github.sha }}"
               environment=qa
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scicat-be.yml b/.github/workflows/scicat-be.yml
index 236d7d2..43e4ab0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scicat-be.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scicat-be.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ on:
       commit: 
         description: 'Commit of the CI repo to deploy'     
         required: false
+      environment: 
+        description: 'Environment to deploy to'
+        type: choice
+        default: 'development'
+        options:
+          - development
+          - qa
   pull_request:
     branches: [ main ]
   push:
@@ -23,6 +30,7 @@ jobs:
     with: 
       commit: ${{ github.event.inputs.commit }}
       submodule_commit: ${{ github.event.inputs.submodule_commit }}
+      environment: ${{ github.event.inputs.environment }}
 
   check_changed:
     needs: set_env