Posts tagged: direnv https://pype.dev/tags/direnv/atom.xml 2025-06-17T09:52:17Z All posts with the tag "direnv" Nic Payne markata-go source_up for nested .envrc https://pype.dev/source-up-for-nested-envrc/ 2025-06-17T09:52:17Z 2025-06-17T09:52:17Z I have a use case for nesting directories with cascading .envrc files. and ran into an issue where the parent environment was being reset by the child... <h1 id="tldr"><span class="heading-wear-glyph">TLDR</span></h1> <p>I have a use case for nesting directories with cascading .envrc files. and ran into an issue where the parent environment was being reset by the child environment. The fix is <code>source_up</code></p> <h1 id="context"><span class="heading-wear-glyph">Context</span></h1> <p>I manage some infrastructure at home with a folder like this:</p> <pre class="chroma"><code><span class="line"><span class="cl">. </span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">├── homelab </span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">│ ├── .envrc </span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">│ └── stack1 </span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">│ ├── .envrc </span></span></code></pre><p>I do this so that the &ldquo;homelab-wide&rdquo; terraform variables can be exported with <code>TF_VAR_the_variable</code> in the <code>homelab/.envrc</code> and then the stack specific variables in <code>stack1/.envrc</code> get exported like <code>TF_VAR_stack_specific_var</code>.</p> <p>For example, my cloudflare account id is needed in every stack, but the cloudflare zone id is different per stack - so instead of copying the account id var to every stack (however the vars are managed), I can set it in a parent .envrc and share it in nested stack directories</p> <h2 id="problem"><span class="heading-wear-glyph">Problem</span> <a href="#problem" class="heading-anchor">#</a></h2> <pre><code># homelab/.envrc #!/bin/bash export VAR_FOO=BAR </code></pre> <p>So when I <code>cd homelab</code> I get</p> <pre><code>nic in /tmp/homelab  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ direnv allow direnv: loading /tmp/homelab/.envrc direnv: export +VAR_FOO nic in /tmp/homelab  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ env | grep VAR VAR_FOO=BAR </code></pre> <p>You can see <code>VAR_FOO</code> is set&hellip; but now I&rsquo;ll <code>cd stack1</code></p> <pre><code>nic in /tmp/homelab  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ cd stack1 direnv: error /tmp/homelab/stack1/.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content nic in /tmp/homelab/stack1  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ direnv allow direnv: loading /tmp/homelab/stack1/.envrc direnv: export +VAR_BAZ nic in /tmp/homelab/stack1  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ env | grep VAR VAR_BAZ=BAM </code></pre> <p>As you can see <code>VAR_FOO</code> was unset, and <code>VAR_BAZ</code> is set&hellip; so <code>homelab/.envrc</code> was blown away!</p> <h2 id="fix"><span class="heading-wear-glyph">Fix</span> <a href="#fix" class="heading-anchor">#</a></h2> <p>Edit <code>stack1/.envrc</code> with a <code>source_up</code> command</p> <pre><code># stack1/.envrc # NEW #!/bin/bash source_up # source the parent environment export VAR_BAZ=BAM </code></pre> <p>After the edit</p> <pre><code>nic in /tmp/homelab/stack1  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ vim .envrc direnv: error /tmp/homelab/stack1/.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content nic in /tmp/homelab/stack1  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET took 5s ⬢ [devbox] ❯ direnv allow direnv: loading /tmp/homelab/stack1/.envrc direnv: loading /tmp/homelab/.envrc direnv: export +VAR_BAZ +VAR_FOO nic in /tmp/homelab/stack1  (dev) 󰒄 󱔎 NO PYTHON ENVIORNMENT SET ⬢ [devbox] ❯ env | grep VAR VAR_FOO=BAR VAR_BAZ=BAM </code></pre> <p>Both vars are set!</p> Nic Payne https://pype.dev