Environment Variables

Environment Variables and .envrc in Spry

Spry supports environment-based configuration, allowing you to manage environment specific values in a clean, isolated way.
The recommended method is to use a directory-scoped .envrc file along with direnv.
This ensures all developers or automation pipelines can share consistent environment setups without hardcoding sensitive or system-specific details.

Why use .envrc?

• Isolation: Configuration applies only to the current project directory.
• Consistency: All contributors share the same environment setup.
• Security: direnv only loads .envrc after explicit approval using direnv allow.
• Automation-ready: Integrates seamlessly with Spry's dev and deployment workflows.

Recommended Setup — Environment Variables and .envrc

The recommended practice is to define your environment variables in a local .envrc file.
When you use direnv, it automatically loads these values each time you enter the project directory.

Create .envrc

Create a file named .envrc in the root of your Spry project directory.

# .envrc (bash/zsh)
export SPRY_DB="sqlite://sqlpage.db?mode=rwc"
export PORT=9227

Your project structure should look like this:

Once the file is created, run the following command in your terminal:

direnv allow

This grants direnv permission to load environment variables from .envrc into your shell whenever you enter this directory.

Creating .envrc using a Task

If you prefer automating .envrc creation through a Spry task or script, you can do so using a shell task.

Usage — envrc env -C ./.envrc Syntax

Sometimes, you may see documentation or examples using:

```envrc env -C ./.envrc --gitignore --descr "Generate .envrc file and add it to local .gitignore if it's not already there"
export SPRY_DB="sqlite://scf-2025.3.sqlite.db?mode=rwc"
export PORT=9227
```

What does this mean?

This syntax illustrates how environment variables can be defined and loaded. It creates the .envrc file** by itself.

Manual Script-Based Creation

# Create .envrc file with default values
echo 'export SPRY_DB="sqlite://sqlpage.db?mode=rwc"' > .envrc
echo 'export PORT=9227' >> .envrc

Then run:

direnv allow

Execute via Spry Task

Spry also allows running the environment setup through a task defined in your Spry workflow.
If your Spry configuration includes a task named env, you can execute it as follows:

spry rb task env

This command internally runs the equivalent of:

```envrc env -C ./.envrc --gitignore --descr "Generate .envrc file and add it to local .gitignore if it's not already there"
export SPRY_DB="sqlite://scf-2025.3.sqlite.db?mode=rwc"
export PORT=9227
```

After running the task, you should still execute:

direnv allow

to authorize direnv to load the variables defined in .envrc.

Summary

By following these approaches, you can ensure consistent, isolated, and easily maintainable environment setups across all Spry-based projects.