diff --git a/e2e/scenarios/16-pr-preview.yaml b/e2e/scenarios/16-pr-preview.yaml
index 82f23850..a74a0cbc 100644
--- a/e2e/scenarios/16-pr-preview.yaml
+++ b/e2e/scenarios/16-pr-preview.yaml
@@ -4,11 +4,16 @@ description: |
   workflow that plans a preview on pull requests, with a per-PR
   concurrency group (#93).
 
+  The manifest declares multiple environments so the generated dry-run
+  step must target the first environment; orchestrate setup resolves the
+  version against that environment, and a bare environment would fail the
+  preview with `environment "" not found`.
+
   Generator-output verification only.
 
 config:
   trunk_branch: main
-  environments: [dev]
+  environments: [staging, prod]
   builds:
     - name: app
       workflow: build.yaml
@@ -35,3 +40,4 @@ steps:
             - "cascade-pr-preview-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}"
             - "preview:"
             - "Plan Preview"
+            - "--environment staging"
diff --git a/internal/generate/pr_preview.go b/internal/generate/pr_preview.go
index 5626d766..edb2adf9 100644
--- a/internal/generate/pr_preview.go
+++ b/internal/generate/pr_preview.go
@@ -158,6 +158,13 @@ func (g *PRPreviewGenerator) writeDetectStep(sb *strings.Builder) {
 // hard-coded, so no release is cut, no state is written, and no deploy is
 // triggered. orchestrate setup only reports the head SHA, the version that would
 // be cut, and which builds/deploys this merge would run.
+//
+// When the manifest declares environments the step targets the first (lowest)
+// environment with --environment, mirroring how the orchestrate workflow
+// defaults its setup environment. orchestrate setup resolves the version against
+// that environment, so an empty value would fail with `environment "" not
+// found`. A manifest with no environments omits the flag and runs the
+// no-environment version calculation.
 func (g *PRPreviewGenerator) writeDeployDryRunStep(sb *strings.Builder) {
 	sb.WriteString("      - name: Compute plan (dry-run)\n")
 	// pull_request.head.sha is attacker-influenceable on a fork PR; route it
@@ -169,6 +176,11 @@ func (g *PRPreviewGenerator) writeDeployDryRunStep(sb *strings.Builder) {
 	sb.WriteString("          # so no release is cut, no state is written, and no deploy is triggered.\n")
 	sb.WriteString("          cascade --dry-run orchestrate setup \\\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(sb, "            --config %s \\\n", g.config.GetManifestFile())
+	if len(g.config.Environments) > 0 {
+		// Target the first environment so version calculation resolves; the
+		// preview is read-only regardless of which environment it reports on.
+		fmt.Fprintf(sb, "            --environment %s \\\n", g.config.Environments[0])
+	}
 	sb.WriteString("            --sha \"$HEAD_SHA\" \\\n")
 	sb.WriteString("            > cascade-plan.json\n")
 	sb.WriteString("\n")
diff --git a/internal/generate/pr_preview_test.go b/internal/generate/pr_preview_test.go
index 586c3b45..23d2e869 100644
--- a/internal/generate/pr_preview_test.go
+++ b/internal/generate/pr_preview_test.go
@@ -49,6 +49,46 @@ func TestPRPreviewGenerator_PRFieldsAreNotInterpolatedIntoRun(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, content, "HEAD_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}")
 }
 
+// TestPRPreviewGenerator_DryRunResolvesEnvironment asserts that the plan
+// dry-run step targets a concrete environment so version calculation succeeds.
+//
+// orchestrate setup looks the --environment value up in the manifest's
+// environments list; an empty value resolves to no match and fails with
+// `environment "" not found`. For a manifest that declares environments the
+// preview must pass --environment with the first (lowest) environment, mirroring
+// how the orchestrate workflow defaults its setup environment. For a manifest
+// with no environments the flag must be omitted entirely.
+func TestPRPreviewGenerator_DryRunResolvesEnvironment(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("multi-env passes first environment", func(t *testing.T) {
+		cfg := prPreviewConfig(false)
+		cfg.Environments = []string{"staging", "prod"}
+
+		gen := NewPRPreviewGenerator(cfg, "")
+		content, err := gen.Generate()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		planBody := stepRunBody(t, content, "Compute plan (dry-run)")
+		assert.Contains(t, planBody, "--environment staging",
+			"plan dry-run must target the first environment so version calc succeeds")
+		assert.NotContains(t, planBody, "--environment \"\"",
+			"plan dry-run must never pass an empty environment")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("no-env omits the environment flag", func(t *testing.T) {
+		cfg := prPreviewConfig(false)
+		cfg.Environments = nil
+
+		gen := NewPRPreviewGenerator(cfg, "")
+		content, err := gen.Generate()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		planBody := stepRunBody(t, content, "Compute plan (dry-run)")
+		assert.NotContains(t, planBody, "--environment",
+			"no-env manifest must not pass --environment")
+		assert.Contains(t, planBody, "cascade --dry-run orchestrate setup")
+	})
+}
+
 func TestPRPreviewGenerator_Disabled(t *testing.T) {
 	// nil pr_preview
 	gen := NewPRPreviewGenerator(&config.TrunkConfig{TrunkBranch: "main"}, "")