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Environment variables

devenv defines and respects the following environment variables:

  • devenv variables are defined by devenv. The read-only ones are exported into the developer shell so you can reference them from scripts, tasks, and modules. The configurable ones are read by the CLI to change its behavior. Some may mirror and take precedence over a command-line flag.
  • Externally defined variables are standard, third-party variables that devenv respects but does not define.

devenv variables

DEVENV_ROOT Added in 0.2

Read-only. Points to the root of the project where devenv.nix is located.

DEVENV_DOTFILE Added in 0.1

Read-only. Points to $DEVENV_ROOT/.devenv.

DEVENV_STATE Added in 0.1

Read-only. Points to $DEVENV_DOTFILE/state.

DEVENV_RUNTIME Added in 1.0

A short-lived, per-project directory for sockets and other runtime files (e.g. $DEVENV_RUNTIME/postgres), exported into the shell. Defaults to a short devenv-<hash> directory under $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (then $TMPDIR, then /tmp). Set it to override the directory for a single project. To relocate runtime files while keeping projects separate, set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR instead.

DEVENV_PROFILE Added in 0.5

Read-only. Points to the Nix store path that has the final profile of packages/scripts provided by devenv. Useful for teaching other programs about /bin, /etc, /var folders.

DEVENV_HOME Added in 2.1.3

devenv's per-user data directory. Stores GC roots, the trust database, cached keys, and other persistent per-user data. Defaults to ~/.local/share/devenv (respecting $XDG_DATA_HOME). Set it to override where this data is stored.

DEVENV_MAX_JOBS Added in 1.11

Maximum number of Nix builds to run concurrently. Mirrors the -j / --max-jobs flag. Defaults to 1/4 of available CPU cores (minimum 1).

DEVENV_CORES Added in 1.11

Number of CPU cores available to each build. Mirrors the -u / --cores flag. Defaults to available cores divided by DEVENV_MAX_JOBS (minimum 1).

DEVENV_SHELL_TYPE Added in 2.1

Shell to use for interactive sessions: bash, zsh, fish, or nu. Mirrors the --shell flag.

DEVENV_TUI Added in 2.0

Enable (true) or disable (false) the interactive terminal interface. Mirrors the --tui / --no-tui flags. Enabled by default when the session is interactive.

DEVENV_TRACE_TO Added in 2.1

Enable tracing to one or more destinations, comma-separated (e.g. pretty:stderr,json:file:/tmp/trace.json). Mirrors the --trace-to flag; run devenv --help for the full syntax.

DEVENV_TRACE_DEFAULT_TO Added in 2.1

A fallback tracing destination, applied only when no tracing is configured explicitly (neither DEVENV_TRACE_TO nor --trace-to). Uses the same comma-separated [format:]destination syntax as DEVENV_TRACE_TO. Set it to an empty string to suppress an inherited default.

DEVENV_INCLUDE_ENVRC Added in 2.1.3

Generate an .envrc file when running devenv init. Mirrors devenv init --include-envrc.

DEVENV_NO_AI_AGENT Added in 2.1

Set to any value to skip AI-agent auto-detection, forcing normal output and the TUI even when running under a detected coding agent.

Externally defined variables

devenv also reads the following externally defined environment variables.

SHELL

Detects your default shell dialect and resolves the shell binary to launch for devenv shell and hooks.

HOME

Locates your shell rc files and serves as the base for the XDG default paths.

XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

Base directory for $DEVENV_RUNTIME. Falls back to $TMPDIR, then /tmp.

XDG_DATA_HOME

Base directory for $DEVENV_HOME (GC roots, trust database, cached keys).

XDG_CONFIG_HOME

Locates shell rc files and the Cachix CLI configuration.

TMPDIR

Base directory for build artifacts and a fallback for $DEVENV_RUNTIME.

CI

When set, disables the interactive terminal interface by default.

RUST_LOG

Sets the level and filter for devenv's own diagnostic logging (see also --verbose).

NO_COLOR

Disables colored output. CLICOLOR and CLICOLOR_FORCE are also honored.

TERM

Used to detect terminal color and Unicode capabilities (along with COLORTERM).

HTTP_PROXY

Standard proxy configuration for devenv's outgoing HTTP requests. HTTPS_PROXY, ALL_PROXY, and NO_PROXY (and their lowercase forms) are honored too.

CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN

Authentication token for pulling from and pushing to Cachix binary caches.

SECRETSPEC_PROVIDER

Override the provider for the secretspec integration. Mirrored by the --secretspec-provider flag.

SECRETSPEC_PROFILE

Override the profile for the secretspec integration. Mirrored by the --secretspec-profile flag.